Okay, this is not good.
In the latest on the Porter fire, one of the two big fires now burning in Los Angeles County (the other is the Marek, or Little Tujunga Canyon fire), according to the City News Service, LA County Fire Chief, Michael Freeman, said right now firefighters were trying to:
“…..do our very best to keep that fire from getting through the Susana pass or making a run down toward Pacific Coast, and again, that is a real possibility with the wind conditions…….
“There are homes in there, there is some ranch property. The information we’re getting is that a lot of the fuel over there is considered to be light to medium brush … but in the wind conditions, of course, that makes the fire move very rapidly, and it’s a very dangerous situation over that that firefighters are contending with.”
At the moment, those who live in canyons that lie between the west San Fernando Valley and the sea are watchful. Very watchful.
Here is the repeatedly updated evacuation map for the Porter Ranch or Sesnon Fire at the LAFD website…..and for the Merek (Little Tujunga) fire.
The City of Chatsworth website is also excellent.
Fires are also burning in Newport Beach and at Camp Pendleton.
4:15 p.m. – A news conference coming.
4:48: The press conference is still going, but the message is fairly clear: The wind, which is down a little, is giving the firefighters a break. But, the wind is expected to kick up again tonight. So there is still the worry about the Porter Ranch/Sesnon fire heading toward the sea.
“Is there danger that the fire could come out of the hills and threaten homes in the flat areas?” asks a reporter.
“Yes,” says a Ventura fire chief.
The winds tonight are expected to exceed 60 miles an hour—between 11 p.m. tonight until 11 p.m. Tuesday morning.
6:50: The winds have died down considerably. The smell of smoke, where I am in Topanga Canyon, is about what it was this a.m.. (Never the scent you want to have greet you when you get up early to let the dog out during Santa Ana weather.)
Evidently the trigger point for the next round of evacutions will be if the fire reaches Bell Canyon, then voluntary evacuations will be issued for City of Calabasas North of the 101 and Hidden Hills. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
11:35 p.m. The wind has not arrived. At least not so far. (I’ll continued to update as long as I’m awake.) This evening, LAFD’s Brian Humphrey said the crews are “prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws at us. It depends on the winds. In this situation, wind is king.”
(Photo by LA Times reader, Alie)
Fire spreads, people evcacuate, houses burn, people rebuild, fires spread…. It seems as if a better plan is in order.
Good luck and godspeed, Celeste. I’ll keep you in my thoughts.
We’re fine Randy, but thanks. We’d have to have very bad luck for it to get to us. But in this weather, once it starts then everyone’s very on edge because, where there’s one fire, there always seems to be many.
Take care – thinking of you.