Even though no flames are seen, there are still embers in the ground that can be spread by the wind.
Destruction: 12 homes destroyed, five damaged.
Size: 656 acres.
Containment: 15 percent.
When people are told to evacuate their homes because of dangerous fire conditions, people often say, “But I don’t see any flames.” The realistic reaction should be to think of a brush covered hillsides as a campfire or a fireplace. Until the embers under the burned wood/brush are entirely out, the wind could blow them to an unburned area and a new fire started.
“All it takes is one ember, one ember to head downwind and start a fire,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said at a 2:15 p.m. news conference today.
Science magazine, in a 2017 article titled “In California Fires, a Starring Role for the Wicked Wind of the West,” explained that “’California’s biggest and deadliest fires have been propelled by Santa Ana winds, which can gust to 100 mph. That wind speed makes smothering fires nearly impossible,'” said Chief Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).
“‘In many cases, it’s all we can do just to try to control the path of the fire, trying to keep it away from people and homes,’ Berlant said. ‘Stopping a fire when wind is 50, 60, 70 miles per hour is almost not possible.
“‘These fires burn into anything that’s in their path. A wind-driven fire is like a freight train and stopping a freight train on a dime doesn’t happen.
“’Helicopters can’t drop water or flame retardants in high winds,’ he said, ‘because the gusts blow the liquids away.”
Dangerous Santa Ana winds are expected to start tonight around 11 p.m. with the National Weather Service predicting that some winds in canyons and hills may gust to 70 mph. and the winds may last about 12 hours. By Halloween, the winds are supposed to be mild.
Mandatory evacuations remain in place for a good share of Pacific Palisades north of Sunset Boulevard, from Chautauqua to Temescal Canyon Road. Residents east of Temescal and above Sunset are in a voluntary evacuation area.
Do not wait until the last minute to evacuate. Pacific Palisades only has three ways in and out–Sunset, Temescal and Chautauqua–and we’ve already witnessed evacuation chaos this week.
Residents on Nextdoor Palisades have been complaining about the traffic gridlocked that ensued early Monday morning (in the dark) when mandatory fire evacuation orders went out.
One resident wrote: “Yesterday we tried to evacuate but Temescal was closed, Sunset was closed [eastbound at Chautauqua], and only Chautauqua was open which was like a parking lot. We moved 10 yards in one hour”.
Another wrote: “Can you please explain why southbound PCH was closed, diverting all traffic [onto Sunset and] into a mandatory evacuation area, making it impossible for residents to evacuate?”
In a Daily News Opinion piece today (“Congestion Kills, so Why Do Politicians Make It Worse?”) the authors write: “When the Camp Fire obliterated the town [Paradise] in 2018, many people were unable to evacuate due to congestion. Eighty-six people died, some of them in their cars as they tried to flee.”
Pacific Palisades has an evacuation route problem, just as Paradise did.
Residents don’t have a lot of different roads to choose from to reach Sunset, particularly those evacuating from the Highlands, Paseo Miramar, upper Marquez Knolls, Castellammare and the hillside neighborhood north of Bestor. Most of those roads have only one way in, one way out.
The closest evacuation center for residents is the Pali Rec Center, which was also located in the mandatory evacuation area.
Evacuation Center: The Palisades Recreation Center is listed as an evacuation center. Yesterday, the park was in the middle of an area for mandatory evacuations. Circling the News stopped by the gym today and asked why.
There’s one road going to the Rec Center, which has pine trees and eucalyptus on either side. The woman inside seemed to think that firefighters would be able to come and save the residents sheltering there because there was defensible space. I sent an email to Councilman Mike Bonin’s office and Lisa Cahill was going to look into it.
Finally, where are the police?
One reader wrote: “I drove into the Palisades yesterday after they had lifted some of the evacuation orders. I was quite surprised at the lack of police presence. Not only were the roads north of Sunset open, there were no police at all.
“The lack of police presence and the potential for looting in this situation was a concern. Sad, we have to consider this but it seems to be a good time for robbers. Especially if we are to keep our windows unlocked for the firefighters.”
Cones were placed on northbound lanes of streets (except for Swarthmore) off Sunset Boulevard, which were under mandatory evacuation.
Today, Tuesday, there were orange cones up to stop people from turning north into the Alphabet Streets off Sunset, with the exception of Swarthmore. One could freely turn up that street and then gain access to the Alphabet Streets, which are in a mandatory evacuation area, by making an illegal left turn. Even though Caruso’s Palisades Village is in a mandatory evacuation area, one store owner said that Rick Caruso was leaving it up to store owners if they wanted to open or not. Yesterday afternoon, only Erewhon appeared to be open. On Tuesday, several stores were open around 2 p.m.
Mandatory evacuations north of Sunset go further east than Chautauqua. And voluntary evacuations north of Sunset are west of Temescal. But these may change. See the LAFD Alerts pages at LAFD’s website.
Just fyi, there were multiple police vehicles and many very helpful LAPD officers on Rimmer Ave throughout the day and night yesterday (Monday). This morning (Tuesday) there were none and we saw several looky-loo drivers cruising the area.
We followed evacuation orders and spent 3 days at the local Red Cross shelter, which sprang into action in front of our eyes, at the basketball court of our local park.
It was a strange experience, but an eye opening one and not unpleasant. The cots were hard but clean and felt secure, two beautiful huge blankets kept us warm, but not quite warm enough the first night. No problem, get another one.
The Red Cross operation was so well organized, the staff efficient and helpful, delightful to deal with (NIGEL, Jennifer, Chuck, Joe etc,) The food was excellent and plentiful, donated by various restaurants and other businesses.
Teams of counsellors came around to inquire about our needs and concerns, probably the norm for those situations. We, the fairly small group of locals, were fortunately not in the same situation as real fire or disaster victims, just inconvenienced by the utmost concerns if the powers that be.
We came away with much respect for the ®ed Cross disaster services.