SoCal Fires

[johnh]

Our paper is reporting that a fire is heading toward Acton which as I recall is where squarefour lives. Having just endured a nearby wildfire (without incident, thankfully) we're just concerned about their well-being. Any news?

[slomove]

I guess Dion may be busy packing up :(

This fire has a size hard to imagine. Last night we saw the ridges above Altadena alight with flames and the same fire is barreling down Aliso Canyon to Acton, almost an hour drive from here. Anybody got a little rain?

Gert

[johnh]

I guess Dion may be busy packing up

After our recent fire scare I'm seriously thinking 'trailer' for the Seven. If we were forced to leave this time it would have remained in the garage. :-( With four cars and two of us you are forced to make choices. This time it would have been the S-10 with the personal belongings and the wife's Miata with the cat and a few other things.

[soareyes]

It was snowing ash all day today in Victorville, and we are not very close to the fire. We stayed inside all day because the air quality was so bad. Hopefully Dion is out of harm's way.

Stan

[johnh]

Websearching seems to indicate that sqaurefour is west and a little north of 'downtown' Acton. About 3.75 miles from the fire this morning. At that time the fire was growing mostly east and west. Very nasty.

[moosetestbestanden]

The fire is about 1/2 mile from the house as a crow flies but we're not really in jeopardy (I hope) unless the winds pick up. We're south of the mountainside and the on-shore flow is helping to keep it contained to the mountains only. Tujunga north has been under mandatory evac since early today. I went up and watched the dozers & Skycranes do their thing for a while today - those chopper pilots have all the respect I can give any human being. They are amazingly skilled and brave.

I believe it started Wednesday somewhere near the ranger station on the lower portion of the 2. Thursday morning it looked omnious but was getting less attention (in the media) than the Azusa blaze and waaay less than the 100 acre Palos Verdes weenie roast. Million dollar homes trump forests don't ya know.

I watched it crest the top of the mountain north of La Canada Thursday evening w/ another guy and we both knew things would be getting ugly at that point. But we had no idea just how ugly, probably because we both believed that w/out heavy Santa Ana winds it wouldn't grow as it has. Well over 100,000 acres now and no signs of stopping.

I worked w/ a WAMU guy some years back who has a house in the lower portion of Big T. I'm 99% sure it's a goner as the fire I saw today was well before where he is, er, was, and low on the mountainside. There was a beautiful brand new equestrian facility there to. I say was because that's likely the case w/ them too.

But houses can be rebuilt (after you sue your insurance company to get what you've paid them for). The irreplaceable loss is that every bit of real conifer forest in the western-most portions of the Angeles National Forest is toast. *ALL* of our formerly beautiful driving (and cycling and moto) roads are going to be charred wastelands now, until the winter storms hit and the mudslides start. Then there won't be any roads at all, at least for a while.

This one SUCKS. Bigtime.

[johnh]

The fire is about 1/2 mile from the house as a crow flies but we're not really in jeopardy (I hope) unless the winds pick up.

I hope things work out well for you, our situation was similiar, close but unless the winds moved, ultimately safe. My thoughts are with everyone who is impacted by the latest fires.

While California really needs the rain hopefully this winter will bring a lot of small rainstorms well spaced out to minimize the chance of slides.

[soareyes]

Hidden Springs Cafe burned

The Hidden Springs Cafe on Angeles Forest Hwy burned in the fire:

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/03/popular-bike-and-car-stop-hidden-hills-cafe-burns-down-in-la-sta/#comments

I haven't heard anything about Newcomb's Ranch so I assume it is still standing?

Chris is right, some of our favorite roads are going to look like a moonscape for a long time :(

Stan

[mopho]

Sucks for sure. I was just up there the week before for a shoot too. Disappointed I hadn't the chance to drive all the way to the end since they reopened the top of the road.
On a positive note, in the next year or so it will be incredibly beautiful when things start growing back and flowering

[mopho]

A pic of what's left of Hidden Springs

[mopho]

There is lots of talk on the internets of Newcomb's Ranch being destroyed too, some saying that they heard it from people who work there. But I did find this that says it is still standing http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/2009/09...-survived.html

[moosetestbestanden]

On the basis of this map here I'd say that Newcomb's hasn't gone yet, but it's close. That's the direction that this is heading now, the western and northern edges having burned everything that there was left to burn.

I suppose the flowers will be cute and stuff for the week or so that they bloom each spring but for the most part it's going to be pretty Lunar up there for decades. We won't be seeing any decent sized pine forest like what was just lost up there for a good long while.

By the way, the fire ecology of this part of the world is pretty complex but for the most part the notion that SoCal mountain forests are supposed to burn from time to time is pretty much bullshit. The only cause of all the major fires in SoCal over the last decades has been a biped mammal. Not lightning, not spontaneous combustion, not static electricity, not God. Just good old fashioned human stupidity or depravity, two conditions that are in no danger of becoming extinct around here anytime soon. This one is no different - investigators have determined that this fire was 'human caused', either deliberately or through negligence. Either way the effect is the same and the damage done.

I'm going to take a little tour up there as soon as the roads open, particularly up lower Big T. I reckon it'll be pretty ugly.

[escondidoron]

By the way, the fire ecology of this part of the world is pretty complex but for the most part the notion that SoCal mountain forests are supposed to burn from time to time is pretty much bullshit. The only cause of all the major fires in SoCal over the last decades has been a biped mammal. Not lightning, not spontaneous combustion, not static electricity, not God.

Your point seems reasonable to me so I did a little checking on this topic.

I don't know anything about the make up of the forest in the San Gabriels (isn't that the mountain range under fire siege currently). However the situation relative to fires further north in the Sierras where the giant sequoias live is well adapted to recovery following fires. Possibly this is a source of generalization on the part of the public that could lead to a misconception that California forests are adapted to recovery following a fire.

As a reference I would point to the following link, pages 357 - 359, of a book, Fire Ecology, United States and Southern Canada By Henry A. Wright, Arthur W. Bailey, copyright 1982:

http://books.google.com/books?id=H7N...nation&f=false

Figure 14-4 is a picture from 1890 that shows evidence of "frequent" fire damage to the bases of the giant sequoias. Note the time to denote frequent is not clearly defined here. The text notes that Douglas squirrels feed on cones and are the primary dispersal medium for these seeds. The text also notes that "explosive reproduction follows when numerous cones are opened by the heat of a fire. Thus ample seed is always available for reproduction and giant sequoia appears to be well adapted to fire."

[slomove]

......Not lightning, not spontaneous combustion, not static electricity, not God. Just good old fashioned human stupidity or depravity, two conditions that are in no danger of becoming extinct around here anytime soon.........

I could imagine it was a Duratec engined sportscar that has the exhaust on the wrong side and torched the shrubbery when lifting the throttle

My car does that occasionally but having the exhaust on the proper side it does not matter ;-)

[mopho]

I could imagine it was a Duratec engined sportscar that has the exhaust on the wrong side and torched the shrubbery when lifting the throttle

And that is near Chris's neighborhood too, hmmm......