Huge fires in Los Angeles California

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gzt

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#318357 9-Jan-2025 19:27

Unbelievably huge fires in suburban L.A.

Looks like somewhere near 25,000 acres on fire maybe half-wilderness and half-suburbia.

Evacuation areas include beachfront Malibu - home base for many well known celebrities.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-fire-maps-palisades-eaton-hurst-2025/

The incoming president is currently blaming the Democratic governor of the state renaming him "newscum" and something about water and endangered fish. Perhaps most of that part can be left for the politics thread.

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#3329701 9-Jan-2025 20:36

i was watching the BBC live feed and it was scary how quick the houses burned but what was strange it wasnt every house on the street, just 1 or 2 while the rest were fine.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Oblivian

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#3329713 9-Jan-2025 21:04

There's a heap of live camera helos up on YouTube atm.

Watching cnbc18.

Fire trucks are lining the middle of them road of Hollywood blvd while they task.

And the streets are filled with people evacuating as it's coming down the hill and nearly at the first suburb.

Chinooks are night dropping. Sound is unmistakable

Eva888

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#3329722 9-Jan-2025 21:31

Terribly sad, I heard of one 90 yr old couple being wheeled out of their family home they’d lived in forever. How do you cope with such a loss at that age. Apparently a number of the expensive homes didn’t have insurance, it had been cancelled by the insurance company a few months back.

Makes one think of firebreaks and how important they are. We once had the bush below the house catch fire and firemen had trouble getting their hoses through our property down the hill to fight it. The land is council and I wish they would make a firebreak so that firemen can have easier access. Am sure all the neighbours would be happy to contribute to get someone to cut a path across the hill if Council didn’t want to.

Oblivian

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#3329726 9-Jan-2025 21:37

Some of the areas are prone after the last fires so having an issue with insurance and freshly rebuilt

Watching this 2 homes went up, collapsed and started 2 more fires as watching it. Bonkers.

The list of celeb mansions now ash is also growing.

mentalinc

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#3329733 9-Jan-2025 21:46

Very sad to see

interesting GIS viewer: https://calfire-forestry.maps.arcgis.com/home/webscene/viewer.html?webscene=0a7381c8b46b4e26a057383424f32c06

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Kiwifan

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#3329751 9-Jan-2025 22:45

I have an 80 year old female friend who is only 18 miles away from the Hurst fire and is beside herself. She has packed as much as she can and is ready to leave as soon as the evacuation order comes through but really how much can you take and where do you go?

Her messages last night were quite emotional but through all that her heart was with those who had lost everything. Although the wind had shifted slightly she said even that far away the smoke was so thick and masks were a requirement.

neb

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#3329861 10-Jan-2025 07:50

Eva888: Makes one think of firebreaks and how important they are.

Years ago, before any of the big recent fires, I talked to a firefighter there and he said the main problem was that people (meaning developers) were extending housing out into high-fire-risk areas that should never, ever have had any houses put on them. I'll post the description he used at some point in the future when things have died down a bit since it was pretty blunt.

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Oblivian

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#3329869 10-Jan-2025 08:14

Man the daylight views are horrendous.

Just... Nothing. Entire burbs wiped out.

And apparently fire insurance is optional/separate cover in the US. Even if they all had it this reminds me of Christchurch, where it gets so out or hand it nearly puts the underwriters out of business.

If lahaina is anything to go by (went there, also shocking.. basically forgotten and fighting over rebuild costs and supplies). Coming back takes even longer.

At least there they had entire hotels during off peak to house people.
110,000 and growing suddenly temporary displacement and have to go elsewhere.

networkn

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#3329880 10-Jan-2025 08:43

Oblivian: Man the daylight views are horrendous.

Just... Nothing. Entire burbs wiped out.

And apparently fire insurance is optional/separate cover in the US. Even if they all had it this reminds me of Christchurch, where it gets so out or hand it nearly puts the underwriters out of business.

If lahaina is anything to go by (went there, also shocking.. basically forgotten and fighting over rebuild costs and supplies). Coming back takes even longer.

At least there they had entire hotels during off peak to house people.
110,000 and growing suddenly temporary displacement and have to go elsewhere.

Overlaying the affected area over a map of NZ is pretty sobering as well.

As of yesterday, as I understand it, it was the equivalent of 100km squared.

Dingbatt

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#3329883 10-Jan-2025 08:55

Oblivian:

And apparently fire insurance is optional/separate cover in the US.

I was watching a video on this particular point. California mandated a maximum premium for insurance. Many insurance companies won’t offer fire insurance because the risk profile is too high and they can’t set the premiums at an appropriate level.

I am really sick of the media focusing on the “celebrities” affected. Those multi-millionaires will just go and live in their holiday homes in Aspen (or where-ever) while their homes are rebuilt. If anybody is really interested in them, they will already be following them on social media.

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#3329892 10-Jan-2025 09:23

We built many years back in a new subdivision and looking out I can see pine trees in peoples gardens that have grown to extreme heights. We have some on either side of us. Never thought much about them in the past but lately it dawned on me what a fire risk they are and maybe should be banned to be planted in built up neighbourhoods so close to homes. I remember then people planted them as they were fast growing and a good wind break.

Whingeing about rainy summers suddenly turns to gratefulness.

boosacnoodle

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#3329893 10-Jan-2025 09:24

Along the same lines, in Christchurch it's absolutely incredible that neither CCC nor Ecan or even FENZ have considered introducing a fire risk overlay, particularly around the Port Hills where a pine fire seems to crop up every other year under suspicious circumstances. This means you can build right up to any particular plantation without any real consideration.

networkn

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#3329896 10-Jan-2025 09:43

Dingbatt:

I am really sick of the media focusing on the “celebrities” affected. Those multi-millionaires will just go and live in their holiday homes in Aspen (or where-ever) while their homes are rebuilt. If anybody is really interested in them, they will already be following them on social media.

I get what you are saying, I was going to write something similar, by the time I started to write it, it occured to me, regardless of how much money you have, having your home burn to the ground, having your kids potentially needing to be disrupted, the loss of your irreplaceables and the impact and work related to rebuilding any home, their impact is still horrendous. It's focused on by the press, as it's more easily relatable IMO to hear about people who are impacted. The human mind doesn't really do scale well. Ie 25000 ACRES is hard to envisage, but a picture of the equivilent overlay in an area you understand is easier to understand. Just like person 'x' you know of, is affected, is easier to relate to than someone you don't.

No-one is suggesting they won't have it 'easier' than people without their financial well being.

vexxxboy

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#3329905 10-Jan-2025 10:05

Dingbatt:

Oblivian:

And apparently fire insurance is optional/separate cover in the US.

I was watching a video on this particular point. California mandated a maximum premium for insurance. Many insurance companies won’t offer fire insurance because the risk profile is too high and they can’t set the premiums at an appropriate level.

I am really sick of the media focusing on the “celebrities” affected. Those multi-millionaires will just go and live in their holiday homes in Aspen (or where-ever) while their homes are rebuilt. If anybody is really interested in them, they will already be following them on social media.

it's not there houses , it is all there personal effects , photos, family heirlooms etc that puts everybody in the same situation whether you are rich or poor.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Oblivian

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#3329913 10-Jan-2025 10:24

Palisades is a wasteland.

Heres some scale overlays for reference

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

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