CA - Pacific Palisades - 30,000 People Ordered to Evacuate From L.A. Wildfires #2

steeltowngirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Messages
8,027
Reaction score
115,300
Last edited by a moderator:
For reference, Santa Ana winds blow generally east to west. Hot air rises over the deserts, then "falls" down the cooler western sides of the coastal ranges.

Its relatively rare to see them blow full strength for a week at a time. Usually, they just lasted say, 2-3 days in San Diego.
 
For reference, Santa Ana winds blow generally east to west. Hot air rises over the deserts, then "falls" down the cooler western sides of the coastal ranges.

Its relatively rare to see them blow full strength for a week at a time. Usually, they just lasted say, 2-3 days in San Diego.
It's a convection effect caused by the landscape, then? I think I'd been assuming it was seasonal.

MOO
 
Coming from a rainy island on the other side of the world, I'm not too familiar with either wildfires or the geography of Los Angeles. What direction do these Santa Anna winds usually blow in? If it's north to south, isn't that potentially very bad news for Mandeville Canyon and Brentwood, looking at a map?
www.nytimes.com

What to Know About the Santa Ana Winds

The winds are common in California in the colder months, but they can sometimes help spread dangerous wildfires.
www.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com
 
"High winds and red flag advisories warning of "a particularly dangerous situation" were set to activate Monday night and last through at least Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Winds in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties could reach between 55 and 70 mph, with some stronger gusts at higher elevations.

"If fire ignition occurs, conditions are favorable for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, including long range spotting, which would threaten life and property," a critical red flag warning from the weather service office in Los Angeles said.'


 
For those of us who have a lot of ash in our yards, I found some useful information on safely cleaning it up on this page:

A few points -

Do not use leaf blowers to clean up ash, as it will re-suspend harmful fine particles into the air where it might get inhaled.

Wear protective gear.

Thoroughly wash fruit and vegetables from your garden before eating.

More details at
 
www.nytimes.com

What to Know About the Santa Ana Winds

The winds are common in California in the colder months, but they can sometimes help spread dangerous wildfires.
www.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com

The predominant wind in the Southern California is an Onshore wind, blowing moist cool air from the ocean eastward onto land. This is why the area tends to have very pleasant weather without scortching summers. The Santa Ana winds blow in the opposite direction, and come in from across the large desert areas so they have very low humidity, unlike the onshore winds.
 
For those of us who have a lot of ash in our yards, I found some useful information on safely cleaning it up on this page:

A few points -

Do not use leaf blowers to clean up ash, as it will re-suspend harmful fine particles into the air where it might get inhaled.

Wear protective gear.

Thoroughly wash fruit and vegetables from your garden before eating.

More details at
Strictly my opinion...

I'm not sure I'd be comfortable eating vegetables with soot or near the fire. There's so much pollution in the air and add the household debris/chemicals, varnishes from wood, paint, plastic all oil based, nope not me.

Growing up (farming) we peeled most of our vegetables and fruits. I was shocked first time I was served a hamburger with skin on the tomato.
Moo...
 
The Los Angeles fires may have been a reignition of a blaze that began on New Year’s Eve due to residents setting off fireworks.

An analysis by the Washington Post found that the blaze began on part of the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, a place where an earlier fire had been ignited and put out.

Satellite imagery shows that 20 minutes after the Palisades fire began last Tuesday, the outline of the smoke matched with the burn scar from the previous blaze.

 
The Los Angeles fires may have been a reignition of a blaze that began on New Year’s Eve due to residents setting off fireworks.

An analysis by the Washington Post found that the blaze began on part of the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, a place where an earlier fire had been ignited and put out.

Satellite imagery shows that 20 minutes after the Palisades fire began last Tuesday, the outline of the smoke matched with the burn scar from the previous blaze.


This is fascinating - and thank you for the extra detail. I hadn't seen the part about the burn scar. The two guys who led authorities to this site have been on SM.

Smoldering roots is how it's being referred to in MSM, as one of the hypotheses.

This sparked the usual conversation at my house (get rid of all sales of fireworks and invest money in drone task forces to find firework law violators).

It was the most massive year of fireworks that I can ever remember, this year. And they are of course illegal - and the places that do have the drone tax forces had way fewer fireworks. There are still nearby locales (to Los Angeles) where selling fireworks is legal. The entire state should ban all of them.

Gosh, I sound old and cranky there - but it's been tough watching things burn this week.
 
This is fascinating - and thank you for the extra detail. I hadn't seen the part about the burn scar. The two guys who led authorities to this site have been on SM.

Smoldering roots is how it's being referred to in MSM, as one of the hypotheses.

This sparked the usual conversation at my house (get rid of all sales of fireworks and invest money in drone task forces to find firework law violators).

It was the most massive year of fireworks that I can ever remember, this year. And they are of course illegal - and the places that do have the drone tax forces had way fewer fireworks. There are still nearby locales (to Los Angeles) where selling fireworks is legal. The entire state should ban all of them.

Gosh, I sound old and cranky there - but it's been tough watching things burn this week.

I'd like to know more about the Fire Road on the east side of Pacific Palisades. This is between the upper level of housing at Monte Hermoso Dr down, past what looks like a small electrical substation, to the east side of PP, at Lachman Lane.

There are metal gates at both the top and bottom. I am assuming the access is restricted to fire crews or SoCal Edison crews only, but could it also have been once intended as an evacuation route?


Top of the fire road at Mount Hermoso Dr.


Bottom of the fire road at Lachman Lane


Top of the Skull Rock trail in the region where the purported fireworks and prior fire would have been. That is brittle, bone-dry terrain and no normal person would think it was ok to have any sparkable material like fireworks or matches in this region. This must have been a nightmare to have to get firefighers to on NYE.

 
Last edited:
This is fascinating - and thank you for the extra detail. I hadn't seen the part about the burn scar. The two guys who led authorities to this site have been on SM.

Smoldering roots is how it's being referred to in MSM, as one of the hypotheses.

This sparked the usual conversation at my house (get rid of all sales of fireworks and invest money in drone task forces to find firework law violators).

It was the most massive year of fireworks that I can ever remember, this year. And they are of course illegal - and the places that do have the drone tax forces had way fewer fireworks. There are still nearby locales (to Los Angeles) where selling fireworks is legal. The entire state should ban all of them.

Gosh, I sound old and cranky there - but it's been tough watching things burn this week.

There was a horrendous NYE fireworks explosion in Honolulu that killed 4 people: 3 women and a 3 yr old child. Six victims have also been sent to mainland burn units in Arizona for months-long stays.

This happened on the driveway of a home in a residential area where a large amount of totally illegal fireworks were being set off. The fireworks were compacted into a "cake" and it tipped over and prematurely ignited the other large amount of fireworks nearby. The scene was like a huge bomb blast and the first responders were very traumatized by the severity of the injuries there.

Criminally insanely stupid.

 
Last edited:
“We are not in the clear.” -LA Fire Chief says, Extreme fire behavior continues — and winds expected to pick up later today / tomorrow,


23 active missing persons reported since the Los Angeles fires.Grid search of devastated areas continues.Sadly they find more dead each day.

@BrianEntin
 
The predominant wind in the Southern California is an Onshore wind, blowing moist cool air from the ocean eastward onto land. This is why the area tends to have very pleasant weather without scortching summers. The Santa Ana winds blow in the opposite direction, and come in from across the large desert areas so they have very low humidity, unlike the onshore winds.
So if I've got this right, the prevailing direction of the Santa Ana wind is from the north east. I think that would have the effect of blowing the Palisades fire back across the already burnt area.
 
"Trash tycoon reveals how
'miracle' Malibu house survived wildfires when everyone else's burned.

1736795614802.jpeg

The property was designed to withstand earthquakes and features ultra-sturdy construction,
including stucco and stone walls,
a fireproof roof, and pilings driven 50 feet into bedrock to withstand the pounding surf below.

'I thought,
If we ever have an earthquake,
this would be the last thing to go.

I honestly didn't think that if we had a fire,
this would be the last thing to go.
The architecture is pretty nice.
But the stucco and fireproof roof are real nice'.

The fireproof design appears to have proved its worth
turning into a fortress against flames.

Remarkably,
Steiner's home seemed to emerge as the improbable lone survivor.

'People started contacting me, saying,
Your house is all over the news',
Steiner said.

:)

1736796004450.jpeg

One home appears to be standing alone, untouched,
amidst a sea of smoldering ruins in the Palisades fire in Malibu, California."


It even made a headline in my country in Europe :)

"He designed a fireproof house.
This is what it looks like after a fire in the USA."

1736796204924.jpeg


 
Last edited:
So if I've got this right, the prevailing direction of the Santa Ana wind is from the north east. I think that would have the effect of blowing the Palisades fire back across the already burnt area.

Yes, but there is a huge amount of as-of-yet unburned scrub along those canyons and ridges and is impossible to clear in time for higher winds.

High winds would just spot more fires down the hill and if the wind shifted just a little, could easily send undefensible winds and embers down into unburned areas along the eastern and southeastern fronts such as Mandeville Canyon, Brentwood, and much closer to Interstate 405.

Local erratic winds could end up sending embers north and west back into the Encino, Tarzana, and San Fernando Valley regions, or northwest into the Calabasus Hills or anywhere south of the 101 freeway. That's why those areas are still on evacuation alert.

And, of course, new fires could break out anywhere, including Orange or Riverside counties.
 

DNASolves

Staff online

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
85
Guests online
1,487
Total visitors
1,572

Forum statistics

Threads
616,389
Messages
18,349,731
Members
237,047
Latest member
JCwillfind
Back
Top