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Thread ID: 84021	2007-10-21 17:41:00	News From SoCal	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
603898	2007-10-21 17:41:00	I read the NZ Times this AM . . . . interesting things in youse guys side of the equator too . We are in a massive fire situation here again . . . Malibu has had some very serious loss of homes and buildings because of downed power lines that sparked fires all over the place . The winds are running over 75 MPH/120km/hr Humidity below 10% . . and this is at the beach! Temperatures at 90ºF/32 . 22ºC The big winds are forecast for later today . . . in about 5 or 6 hours (no metric equiv) Looks bad . . . so far burned (and this list is very incomplete) Malibu Animal Hospital . . . spec'g in horses and larger animals . Many animals were in this compound at the time . A castle . . no name yet . . but there are a few of these in the area . Beachfront homes . . so far it looks like two or three . . . Canyon homes . . unnumbered yet, but the count's high! Malibu Civic Center . . was a staging area and rescue site for displaced persons at the time . Malibu Canyon Presbyterian Church . . there were services in this building . . no specific loss of life numbers yet . Possibly some Pepperdine University buildings . . . people were in this building at the time . Malibu Crest Homes tract . . loss of many homes . . unnumbered yet The fire has not yet actually hit Pacific Coast Highway . . but firebrands have set some fires . The Sandpiper Pet hotel is likely going to burn right now . Several deer have been hit by responding fire trucks and rescue equipment . Propane tanks are exploding; gas is escaping and also burning . This area has no city-provided gas . . so they use tanked fuel . There is ZERO containment yet . This is updating constantly . . . I'll have numbers later . . as of 6AM, the estimate was 500 acres of prime houses and land . . . that may be larger by a lot by now . Above us here in Anza, the winds are at about 60-80MPH/97km-129km, and gusts to 90MPH/145km . . . we have absolutely NO wind here in San Jacinto/Hemet right now . Interestingly . . . the ZACA Fire which has been burning for months in Ventura may now re-flame and take off again . The dust from the scorched land there is blinding the fire fighting aircraft in Malibu . We expect the temps to rise to 110ºF/44ºC by Tuesday . . or since today's Sunday, in 2 days . The winds are forecast to run for at least another day or so . The fire is now running both North and South at the same time . . . the winds are pushing it thru the canyons at hellish speed . There is no consideration for getting in front of the fires with ground crews yet . The last fire that caused firefighters to die was when they had no escape route . They don't want to repeat that scene . Almost all the fire fighting is via aircraft (over 200 so far), and NOT ground crews except for clean-up work and fire watch . Strangely, we seem to have earthquakes right after these Santana Winds when they happen .	SurferJoe46 (51)
603899	2007-10-21 18:06:00	That castle that burned out is called The Malibu Castle Kashan owned by Lily Lawrence {LINK} ( . keyhole . com/ubb/showthreaded . php?Number=208874" target="_blank">bbs . keyhole . com) If you look at that map, you'll see purple colored ground cover . . . it's called Ice Plant and at the time it was in bloom . The last fire here was in 1993 . . . and the loss of homes then was large too . Seems like these builders never learn and build over again . Serious homes are lost . . . maybe over 100 or so by now . 1,000+ acres right now . The fire is at Pacific Coast Highway right now . . . . A wind gust of 109MPH/175 . 4kmh; sustained at 87MPH/136 . 79kmh has been reported and the winds are not yet at peak .	SurferJoe46 (51)
603900	2007-10-21 18:23:00	Thanks for the news Joe, looks real nasty. NZ news sites are slow to pick up on the story, not even a mention as yet.	Safari (3993)
603901	2007-10-21 18:55:00	Thanks for the news Joe, looks real nasty. NZ news sites are slow to pick up on the story, not even a mention as yet. You must concentrate Saf,it mentioned Mel Gibson being moved out on the 7 news this morn.	Cicero (40)
603902	2007-10-21 19:00:00	Lots of cross-communications right now . . . the houses lost run all the way from 2 to 100 . . . but I think it's a lot less than that . The fire's shifting to the SouthWest . . . right at the major homes-area . . . and there's NO containment yet . Zero human deaths so far . Converging forces of over 1,000 new ground personnel to fight the fire . . . and another dozen or so aircraft both fixed and rotary wing . This area has burned frequently since recorded history what with the Santana winds about this time every year . The super-scooper aircraft can only get to fresh water in Piru Lake (I fish there sometimes) right now . . as the ocean is running a sea-state of about 6 or 7 . . . very heavy waves from the offshore winds . The Skycrane Helicopters with the 1,000 gallon water tanks can use the ocean water . . but don't like to as it's damaging to the aluminum tanks and plumbing . Thousands of homes are still threatened in the Malibu Beach Colony to Pepperdine University . There are stairways that are made from railroad ties that are burning . . . 2 miles away (3 . 2km) from the actual fire! Strange! We won't get any smoke here from the fires as they are to the North of us and the wind's blowing straight out to sea from where the fire is . We are about 180 miles/290kms away from there . {LINK01} ( . google . com/news/url?sa=t&ct=:ePkh8BM9E2IF2mHACaLyIFSSASuISjVgA1ElBuwgKgMil2" target="_blank">news . google . com vACbPMSODFPB5eVs0PbFmhjAovVq83AgB9tw32/3-0&fp=471b2c1e595ed281&ei=dqcbR4HQH564qwP9oaXhDw&url=http%3A//www . nationalledger . com/artman/publish/article_272616777 . shtml&cid=0&sig2=NRqW-uR5xYe-BwL8VxKpag) {LINK 02} ( . google . com/news/url?sa=t&ct=:ePkh8BM9E2IF2mHACaLyIFSSASuISjVgA1ElBuwgKgMil2" target="_blank">news . google . com vACbPMSODFPB5eVs0PbFmhjAovVq83AgB9tw32/1-0&fp=471b2c1e595ed281&ei=dqcbR4HQH564qwP9oaXhDw&url=http%3A//www . chicagotribune . com/news/nationworld/la-ex-winds22oct22%2C0%2C7198838 . story%3Fcoll%3Dchi-entertainment-front&cid=0&sig2=E01FE0r5ibhxdNaDNVM0Uw) {LINK 03} ( . google . com/news/url?sa=t&ct=:ePkh8BM9E2IF2mHACaLyIFSSASuISjVgA1ElBuwgKgMil2" target="_blank">news . google . com vACbPMSODFPB5eVs0PbFmhjAovVq83AgB9tw32/12-0&fp=471b2c1e595ed281&ei=dqcbR4HQH564qwP9oaXhDw&url=http%3A//www . huliq . com/38930/wildfires-in-malibu-hodge-castle-consumed&cid=0&sig2=zzi_OsRhWKB9cN59M3FeeA)	SurferJoe46 (51)
603903	2007-10-21 19:18:00	Two new fires just broke out . The Castaic Lake fire . . . . and the Julian fire . Castaic is NNE of Malibu about 25 miles/40km . . . 1,000+ acres so far . . . projections are for it to burn two weeks or more . The Julian fire is immediately SSE of me by about 50 Miles/80km . I can see that smoke . . . . . ! Too early to tell . . but the Julian fire is at about 4,000 feet altitude . . . and they now expect to send 2,000 firefighters to that fire as it is very dangerous for a burn there . Castaic is gonna be allowed to burn itself uncontrolled for a while . . . the firefighters are too thin to fight on that many fronts right now . The winds in these areas are very high . . I don't suspect arson . . . . yet .	SurferJoe46 (51)
603904	2007-10-21 22:59:00	Latest News . . . . . . . . . . . Castaic Fire (Ranch Fire) 1500+ acres, 11 hour old, winds at 55+ MPH/89kmh, possibly 40 homes, 8 businesses, 2 churches Malibu Fire (Canyon Fire) 3000+ acres, 10 hrs old, winds calm to 95+ MPG/152 . 9+kmh, possibly 40 houses, 2 commercial bldgs, 2 banks and + 1 church Agua Dulce (Sweetwater Fire) 3000+ acres, 4 hrs old, winds 65-85+ MPH/104 . 6-136 . 8+kmh, unknown property loss or casualties Piru Creek Fire, 200+ acres, 3 hrs old, winds 80+ MPH/129kmh, unk loss to property Julian Fire (San Diego County) 2 hrs old, winds 65+ MPH/104 . 6kmh, unk damages yet . Fontana (no official name yet) 1 hr old, winds over 100 MPH/161kmh, has flipped over semi-trucks and cars on the freeways . no reports on fire damages yet . Devore Fire (no official name yet) less than 1 hr old, no numbers on acreage or winds . There are reports of four more fires in Riverside County . . where I live . . . but Riverside County goes all the way to Arizona and is very large . New fire reports out of San Diego County, but they are right on the edge of my local news area, so I won't have much info on them yet . One fire (so far) reported in San Bernardino County . UPDATE: between the I-15 freeway and Sierra Avenue . . about 2 miles apart . . . smoke is traveling in a SSW direction, so the true Santana winds are not kicked in yet . True Santana winds come directly from the East and are heated by compression thru the canyons and between the mountains and as they drop in altitude from 7,000 feet to almost sea level they also heat up . The wind and the sun are setting in about 2 hours . . and the fires will also set down for a while if the winds let up too . Usually the winds will slow at sunset and then pick up again at sunrise and start all over again . We expect faster and hotter winds tomorrow with much higher temps (102ºF/39ºC) and much lower humidity . . . less than 8% . The Fontana Fire has just been named the Sierra Lake Fire . We are right now getting some high winds here in Hemet/San Jacinto . . . about 40MPH/65kmh . The heat is rising and I/we are getting ready for the full Santana effect tonight . We are getting light smoke here right now . . . time to close all the windows . FLASH: New fire in Rancho Dominguez . . . unk activity yet . Now we are getting ash falling on us . . . yuck!	SurferJoe46 (51)
603905	2007-10-21 23:04:00	NZ news sites are slow to pick up on the story, not even a mention as yet. www.nzherald.co.nz tvnz.co.nz	stu161204 (123)
603906	2007-10-22 00:38:00	05:29 Monday morning...your time Agua Dulce fire is now 20,000+ acres/8,093.712 hectares/80.937 sq kilometers, 3,800 homes threatened. One death in the Julian fire, San Diego County Malibu Canyon Fire is 10,000+ acres. Some areas report SUSTAINED WIND speeds of 108MPH/174kmh	SurferJoe46 (51)
603907	2007-10-22 01:02:00	Stay safe Joe :) & I Hope the fires stay away from your place, & Do keep us up to date on what’s happing. Could you post some photos from your place?	stu161204 (123)
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