So heartbreaking - really feel for these folks. I have a niece in LA who just evacuated 2 days ago to her boyfriends family about an hour away somewhere - she said it was really devastating and the smoke was everywhere.
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Seattle will take in LA shelter pets to free up space in LA shelters.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-to-take-l-a-shelter-dogs-cats-to-help-with-fires/
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My D22 is a third year at UCLA. Many students have left campus since classes were cancelled. My D is staying in Venice right now, at her girlfriend’s family’s home. Not in an evacuation zone, but I’d prefer it if she came home to the Bay Area. She says she wants to stay for now. She has a good head on her shoulders but damn, I have spent all day so worried and so sad.
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And to support the theory that not all fires might originate of the natural source
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Caltech cancelled classes yesterday and today and was planning on having classes tomorrow, but I do not know if that is definite. I wish they would switch to remote learning so that DD can fly home–but nothing has been said about that yet.
While I feel pretty confident that DD won’t have to evacuate based on how the fire maps look, I worry about the air quality and the water potability, even though thus far the water authority has said the water supply in her area is drinkable. I do not know enough about water testing to know what can be detected now versus what could pop up in the water supply down the road.
She is taking precautions as best as she can (stays indoors and wears N-95 mask when she has to be outside) and she has an air purifier. She said when she came back from a grocery store run today, her clothes were covered in ash. She said the air quality is so bad. But she filled her tank up with gas and still has her go-bag packed. So we shall see how it goes.
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@old_music_prnt , I’m so sorry for your brother. I assume/hope he and his family are okay. The loss of the schools is particularly heartbreaking, as they anchor the community and bring people together. I can think of at least 10 schools or preschools in the Palisades alone that are likely gone, along with the places of worship, grocery stores, cafes, etc. And those that might have survived won’t have a community to serve until things are rebuilt. Fortunately the sense of community is strong there and they will come back.
I second your comments regarding those stretching to cast blame. When the wind is so strong that planes and helicopters cannot attack the fires from the air, there is only so much that can be done to contain the spread when fuel is plentiful and bone dry.
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And for the Altadena area at least, most of the housing that burned would not have been considered to be in high risk areas. The wind just carried the embers so far and resources were already stretched so thin. Houses every where could be more fire resistant but a huge amount of the damage was urban fire not wildfire.
I watched them knock back the Kenneth Fire today. The winds were down enough to have air resources on it immediately. Enough mutual aid fire fighters were in the area that they could have trucks at the ends of threatened streets. It worked so smoothly, like it’s supposed to.
But climate change is impacting things like when and how rain falls, storms form, and wind blows and things aren’t like they used to be.
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I live near the Kenneth fire. Citizens detained a man setting fires, called the police, and he is now suspected of arson for starting the Kenneth fire. The photo I saw showed him with a small propane tank type thing. These fires are not all accidents.
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Photographer illegally flies drone into Restricted Air Space, clips tanker airship, and grounds it.
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When I was a teen I was home-displaced and lived with 2 families in Malibu (sounds ritzy, but in the 70s Malibu was affordable housing). We just found out both homes are gone.
I’m in shock. I’m numb. I know I am because I have no appetite, which is not how I normally deal with stress. It’s so overwhelming. Really.
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Hope the drone owner is found and prosecuted. 
How incredibly reckless!
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I believe they have the name of the suspected operator of the drone. I suspect serious charges will be levied and prosecuted.
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I guess Ocean water can be used but a specific aircraft is required?
took out one of just the two amphibous planes capable of repeatedly scooping 1,600 gallons of water from the ocean and delivering it onto nearby flames, Cal Fire told The War Zone .
In a act of good judgment, the NFL has moved a playoff football game on Monday from LA to Arizona on Monday night.
Only mentioned it because it wasn’t above
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I found this paragraph to be a salient point. From my Axios newsletter
**The [lack of sufficient water]to put out the fires wasn’t as simple as a few bone-headed decisions by incompetent people. It’s [exceptionally complex] Municipal water systems aren’t built for this many fires requiring this much water from this many hydrants. Fixing this, if super-fires are indeed a new normal, would be a domestic Manhattan Project.
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Caltech stopped UG classes. Graduate classes are taking place in a different location. My son was there for 6 years, so it is sad to think of the losses. most schools are closed. I had a home in La Cresenta, haven’t tried to learn if it burned. Schools there are closed.
Mostly, I worry for my cousin and her son. He and SO are evacuated, staying in a hotel. She is an artist. How much of her paintings are/were still in their apartment?
I feel so badly for those of you in the area, or having friends and family there.
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Actually Caltech cancelled all classes for both undergrad and grad students–so there have been no official classes. Its campus was closed to all but critical and essential functions until today, where it has reopened to community members. However, classes will not resume until this Monday.
DD, a grad student, has only had Zoom meetings where necessary but has not had classes. Caltech has been advising students to stay indoors and limit outside activities due to the air quality. I was hoping that it would switch to remote learning to limit the students’ outside exposure until things settle down a bit, but no such luck so far.
There was a little bit of confusion about whether the water supply was potable. Caltech had initially advised students not to drink the water based on its conversations with the local officials/water authority. This information directly conflicted with what the water authority had stated (that only the evacuated areas’ water supply was non-potable). The next day Caltech reversed its position and told students that the “campus” water supply is potable and linked to the water authority web-site for more info. This of course caused concern among students (and me 
) because I was wondering how the students were going to manage getting enough bottled water on any regular basis.
I called the water authority myself to get clarification and was told that a bunch of people had called it with the same concerns (conflicting info). She asked my for DD’s address and confirmed that as of that day, the water was safe to drink. (DD lives adjacent to campus.) However, the rep from the water authority did inform me that of course this could change as the fire situation changes and she advised me to tell DD to stay vigilant.
So, this is why I am concerned about the water supply. I am sure that Caltech did not issue that first email blast willy-nilly. So, why was it first told by the water authority that the water supply was not safe? Was it a misundertstanding? Perhaps it was acting out of an abundance of caution in issuing the first advisory. I dunno.
And could there be contaminants in the water supply that do not show up in the water supply testing for a few days/weeks? This is what I do not know and causes me concern.
Note: I will admit that I was very angry for the 12 hours or so that Caltech had that “do not drink the water” advisory out there, but did not say anything about switching to remote learning. While I understand that not all students could leave campus, some could which would have alleviated the burden on the school and the city as far as the water issue goes. Perhaps the admin was considering it but did not disclose it. Who knows.
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A member of my son’s musical group’a parents own a house that is nearer to Pasadena, in the potential path of the Altadena fire. Apparently the house survived, though there is ash all over the place. They said that it looked like the fire stopped right where their pool was…talk about a close call.
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There is an irony to it, though. The stadium in Arizona is State Farm stadium, several months ago they dropped several thousand policy holders in the affected area in Pacific Palisades…
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