This is the north village neighborhood in the Palisades.
Just saw that Pali High is estimated to be 30% destroyed but maybe there are parts that can be saved.
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As ever, it’s just heartbreaking.
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That is horrific.
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someone I follow on Insta posted a video of her street. Every house except for three have burned to the ground. Hers is one that remains. Lucky? I guess so, but I can’t imagine returning to a neighborhood that looks like a war zone.
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Per Fire Captain on site last night, it was too windy and dangerous for water drops from the air on hills and ravines, so the fires raged all of last night before they coudl begin working in earnest.
And they lost water. “During questions, one official said at 3 a.m. “all of the fire hydrants went dry.””
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My husband worked as a National wildland fire rehabilitation specialist for many years. We both worked in an area of the country (not CA) where wind fueled fire events were common.
With the drought conditions and the very intense winds, there is barely anything anyone can do to control a fire. Especially when homes are dispersed throughout the burning area. Usually a change of weather or the fire burning towards a large manmade or natural fuel break (running out of fuel) are what slows that type of fire so that firefighters can gain ground. Steep ground doesn’t help either.
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The house I’d lived in until this past September (and my D and SIL still own) is in the mandatory evacuation area, not far from where the Eaton fire started. D and SIL’s friend and realtor sent them pictures taken from the downtown Sierra Madre, from the local grocery store’s parking lot as she was evacuating. It was fire, fire and more fire. Truly awful.
It’s especially devastating because of all the people we know still living in the evacuation area. We use to hike and picnic all the time in the areas that have burned.
D and SIL are anxious for their house. It’s insured, but for an amount that doesn’t include the extensive renovations they had put in over the last 2 years. Luckily, at least right now, the wind is pushing the fire away from the house.
What is more horrifying is the information my younger D texted to us. Her best friend is a senior medical fellow in critical care at UCLA. She says the hospital is deep into serious planning to evacuate the hospital. The friends says they think it’s 50-50 whether that will happen and it’s huge logistical nightmare trying to arrange transfer for all of her critical and seriously ill patients. There just aren’t enough hospital beds available to accept them all. Not to mention enough transport or even whether some of her patients will survive the move.
The friend is also stressed since she lives in West LA not far from Santa Monica and Venice. She’s afraid of losing her house.
What an awful, awful situation.
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Because of the intense wind.
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Winds are gusting at up to 60 MPH down steep canyons in unpredictable directions. Embers are landing up to 3 miles away from the fire’s edge.
There’s no way to contain that.
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DD lives in Pasadena and is due south of the Eaton fire. Her school (Caltech) is advising the students to shelter in place for now. I am extremely worried and anxious as you can imagine.
She has a pet so she has to fend for herself and for her pet. She has packed a “go bag” already and has the news on and has set herself up with the ability to get alerts from city and county.
She has the ability to leave at a moment’s notice and has a car and is able to drive to safety, assuming clear roads, etc. I was up most of last night obsessively looking at the fire maps and worrying.
The wind last night was so fierce. She recorded what it sounded like from in her apartment and it sounded like she was in the middle of a hurricane. It does not help that her apartment is very old and not insulated/sealed up well. The air quality is horrible but luckily I had bought her an air purifier/filter system that has been working overtime to keep her inside air clean.
I know tonight will be another sleepless night for me. If she loses power and can’t communicate with me I think I will go nuts.
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Please keep us updated.
Everyone on here who has family and friends in these affected areas, please keep us updated.
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I apologize if I offended anyone. Maybe amazed was the wrong word choice. I didn’t mean to imply or insinuate that the firefighters weren’t doing anything or that they should have made more progress. I was watching last night at 2am and it was terrible. I was hoping conditions would improve overnight and when I turned on the news this afternoon and that wasn’t the case I was surprised.
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I don’t think anyone has been offended. I read your post as being in complete shock that the fires were so horrific that they could not be contained at all.
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Damn! Fire just jumped and is walking distance to my buddy’s place. He’s packing emergency and important documents - I can’t bear it! I’m begging him to come here to us.
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I wasn’t offended. 
My response may have sounded curt. I lt wasn’t meant to be.
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This just posted:
A Mandatory Evacuation Order is now in place for residents between Runyon Canyon and Wattles Park.
The boundaries are:
To the West of Laurel Canyon Blvd.
To the North of Mulholland Dr.
To the East of the 101 Freeway.
To the South of Hollywood Blvd.
If you are near the #SunsetFire and are asked to evacuate, please do so immediately.
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Per AccuWeather, LA area fires will top $50B in damage.
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My friend is in San Marino and has essentials in her car in case evacuation is required. He S left his apartment and is sheltering with her, her H and D. Scary times for so many people. I’ve been in the areas that are being burned—very awful to see the carnage.
Sorry about catastrophes elsewhere too, of course.
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Just saw that Billy Crystal’s home, where he lived since 1979, is gone. Tragically there will be a lot more celebrities in the same situation before this is over.
We have friends whose son lives in Pasadena a little SW of the Rose Bowl. So far they’re ok, but the parents are at an Airbnb in I think Claremont that lost power.
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