BajaNomad

FIRE!

Udo - 11-15-2008 at 10:01 PM

I am sure that there are numerous Nomads living in Baja that have family members living in the Southern California area that encompasses northeast Orange County, western Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
There is a huge firestorm in those areas that has burned several hundred homes as well as many muti-million dollar homes. In the Sylmar area (where the 210, 5 and 14 freeways come together) over 500 mobile homes have been burned to the ground, and according to TV most of the residents north of the 210 fwy are evacuated. Day before yesterday, over 150 homes were burned in the Montecito area of Santa Barbara. This is an area that had many multi-million dollar homes, at least 60 of which burned to the ground.
At this time (9:00 p.m. on 11/15/2008) the winds have died considerably, but air assaults are impossible. It is just horrible watching these huge houses burn down. At this time the TV news is reporting mandatory evacuations for Chino Hills residents as well as the Carbon Canyon area (between the 71 and 57 fwys.)
I'll keep reporting on this if the Nomads wish me to do so. Otherwise this may not be an appropriate post because it is not directly related to Baja land, but with some Baja residents.

[Edited on 11-16-2008 by udowinkler]

Montecito [Tea] Fire

Marla Daily - 11-15-2008 at 10:13 PM

For those worried about friends in Santa Barbara, winds have subsided and our fires seem to be on their way out (fingers crossed). There are 210 houses lost, many of which had additional occupied guest houses. Addresses have been posted [www.santabarbaraca.gov] and [www.countyofsb.org/]. Thank you to all of you who emailed and called. We are on the eastern half of Montecito—the part that did not have mandatory evacuation. We did trailer our two burros well out of harm's way just in case winds shifted. All is well, and we head to Loreto in a few weeks.

Bruce R Leech - 11-15-2008 at 10:38 PM

this is important news to most of us but it is hardly Baja related. I usually turn on my TV to get this kind of news and turn on the Nomads for Baja news.:light:

duke62 - 11-16-2008 at 01:54 AM

Udo. Heard about the fire in Montecito/Santa Barbara area. Did not know of the one in N.E. Orange County, where my wife grew up.

Carbon Canyon? We have friends who live there, one of the few places of refuge from the urban sprawl of L.A.
My friend "Big Al" had a blues band that played at a roadhouse bar there that was one of his favorite places to play in all of California.

How is your area. Are you all Okay?

Udo - 11-16-2008 at 07:32 AM

duke62,
As of 6:30 a.m. I am looking at the TV, and no one has said about any major structure loss in the Carbon Canyon/Chino hills. All I see and hear is "some structure loss" and that namy homes are in imminent danger.
Our area, the San Bernardino mountains, are about 50 air miles away from the fire danger, but there isn't that much left to burn after last year.
Currently winds from the north and east locally, and from the south and east in the Chino Hills area.

DianaT - 11-16-2008 at 08:11 AM

Thanks Udo

Keep the information coming.

Diane

Udo - 11-16-2008 at 09:06 AM

According to the TV channesl in Los Angeles:
Cities afected by the fires;
Started in Corona, near the 91 and the 71 Fwy, blew west and took out about (still counting) 150 homes in Anaheim hills, Yorba Linda, (got close to the Nixon Library), La Brea. Fire on both sides of the 91 fwy on western edge of Orange County. Chino hills (the area between the 71, 91 and 57 fwys.) as well as large portions of Carbon Canyon are severely threatened and several very large homes have already been lost.
The Oakwood mobile home park in Sylmar, (a very nice one) lost between 500 to 600 mobile homes. Every mobile home in the park is gone, and police are blocking everyone from entering because they consider it a crime scene. When the ground cools down some more police will be going through the park with cadaver dogs. They are not sure if anyone was in the park during the fire.
Estimates so far in the Sylmar area (corners of the 5, 210, and 14, just east of Santa Clarita) are that 615 homes were lost, which includes the mobile home park.

I know that many Baja residents don't have TV, and certainly not the Los Angeles channels and the computer news channels are not keeping up with the immediate fire news. I hope I am helping some of you with these updates.

toneart - 11-16-2008 at 10:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
this is important news to most of us but it is hardly Baja related. I usually turn on my TV to get this kind of news and turn on the Nomads for Baja news.:light:


Bruce,
This string is relaying information to people in Baja who may have property in the fire areas of California.

Not everybody has a TV in Baja.

How is your post helpful?:?:

shari - 11-16-2008 at 10:49 AM

My heart goes out to all those affected by this disaster...let us know if we can help in any way.
Udo, thanks very much for posting this...many of us here do NOT have american tv or even watch tv so events like this are very important to be advised of as perhaps we may have visitors from the fire area who need to be notified...so please keep posting when these disasters happen. Often Nomad is the only source of news I have time to check daily so we really appreciate news stuff here, whether it is in baja or not...important disaster news is valuable to us...particularly because fo many people here are from california....be safe everyone.

Udo - 11-16-2008 at 10:51 AM

As of 9:45 a.m. the winds have died down considerably, however a new evacuation has been ordered for Diamond Bar. Most of the Orange County threats have now diminished, and most of the fire activity is now in Diamond Bar, Chino Hills area.
Arnold is now in the San Frenando Valley of Los Angeles area givinga press conference. Will post this later.

Oso - 11-16-2008 at 10:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Marla Daily
For those worried about friends in Santa Barbara, winds have subsided and our fires seem to be on their way out (fingers crossed). There are 210 houses lost, many of which had additional occupied guest houses. Addresses have been posted [www.santabarbaraca.gov] and [www.countyofsb.org/]. Thank you to all of you who emailed and called. We are on the eastern half of Montecito—the part that did not have mandatory evacuation. We did trailer our two burros well out of harm's way just in case winds shifted. All is well, and we head to Loreto in a few weeks.


Marla, glad you're ok. I'm guessing by the use of the verb "trailer", you're talking about actual 4-legged beasts. For a moment I thought that was Doug's euphemism software kicking in. (Maybe not the moment for levity, but sometimes it helps.)


[Edited on 11-16-2008 by Oso]

Bruce R Leech - 11-16-2008 at 03:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by toneart
Quote:
Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
this is important news to most of us but it is hardly Baja related. I usually turn on my TV to get this kind of news and turn on the Nomads for Baja news.:light:


Bruce,
This string is relaying information to people in Baja who may have property in the fire areas of California.

Not everybody has a TV in Baja.

How is your post helpful?:?:


last I knew this was a baja site. and if they have internet then they are getting news:lol: da
turn on your radio 640 am KFI you will grt all the latest. anyone in baja that is not getting the news is that way becalus they want to be. that is one of the nice things about it.:light:

How helpful is your post:?:

BajaWarrior - 11-16-2008 at 06:28 PM

Back to Baja Fires...

Where was that fire burning today? Looked like behind Rosarito? Saw it from San Diego today (Sunday) at around 10 a.m. The smoke blew well out to sea...

DianaT - 11-16-2008 at 06:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaWarrior
Back to Baja Fires...

Where was that fire burning today? Looked like behind Rosarito? Saw it from San Diego today (Sunday) at around 10 a.m. The smoke blew well out to sea...


We heard on the news, and saw the smoke from a very large trash fire in Tijuana. Last we heard it is under control---we hope.

Diane

LA/Cali fires

Carol - 11-18-2008 at 10:14 PM

Thanks for the posting on the fires. I find this useful, even though it's in California, because we're about to drive to Baja and we need to know the best route to take. We usually take 5 but have been considering 395. We'll be coming through next week so things may change, of course.

bajaguy - 11-18-2008 at 10:39 PM

take 395 to the 15, then 15 to the 805, then 805 to the 904. Cross at Otay and take Blvd 2000 to either the free road or the toll road south of Rosarito..........did it last week both ways, no problems

[Edited on 11-19-2008 by bajaguy]

bajabound2005 - 11-19-2008 at 07:30 AM

Large fire a little south and east of Maneadero; can't quite pinpoint it. Started Monday morning and was still going strong last night.