Fire! Dang fires that start at night are scary! (Thousand Oaks: homes, college)

[JGC97]

Many of us up north are watching the news and hoping they get a handle on this soon. We are thinking of all of you.

[JanND]

My daughter gave me a link yesterday which may be helpful to folks there readyventuracounty.org which has updates on evacuation info. and shelter info etc.

[CA4Now]

How a group of friends saved a stranger's house in Ventura:

The story behind the photos: How a group of friends saved a stranger's house in Ventura - LA Times

[Dashdog]

Have been in similar situations up here in Santa Barbara in the past, even was evacuated at 1 AM several years ago with one of the fires Had 3, 50 lb dogs at the time so ended up spending a very hot night in the car with them in a park out in Goleta. This Fire reminds me so much of the Painted Cave one we had here as it moved so very fast and jumped the freeway. You get the Santa Ana winds along with a fire and it becomes bad fast The wind can take those embers quite a distance and spread the fire far.

I work at Cottage Hospital and last night most of the nurses working in the ICU with me live in Ventura and Carp and were so worried as they were getting calls about their areas being evacuated and we had heard the 101 was closed so they were thinking they were stuck here so it was nice to see the 101 get opened right before change of shift. I hope they all still have homes to return too. Sending prayers to our neighbors down south.

This has been such a bad fire year for California.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

To date: 5th largest fire recorded in California History and still growing. To date 230,500 acres burned. 644 single family homes destroyed, 138 other buildings destroyed including Vista Del Mar psyche Hospital. Only 10% contained

[JanND]

I have found a very informative web site regarding keeping myself updated on these fire....The legend also has a way to check on other disasters, frequent updates, lists of shelters including animal evacuation sites and emergency contact numbers, road closures etc.

It is one of the most comprehensive sources that I have found while trying to stay appraised of the threat these fire pose for my adult children there. I made sure that I sent this to my kids and I wanted to share this link with others...also there are icons that represent other maps for other fire dept.s incl. Cal Fire. and a drop down menu where you can look at other disaster info.

US Wildfires | Google Crisis Map


Thomas Fire General Information

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by Electrician4you

Amazing how these fires start at night in high wind. Out of nowhere.

Sad to hear and see so many misplaced and destroyed lives. I hope everyone gets out ok. Very sad to see more people losing houses and businesses. I came in to work today and the smoke is bad.

And with these fires, will you ever, ever know if an arsonist was behind it?

I read a book, some time ago, where a Fireman in L.A. was arrested for setting fires around the L.A. area, can't recall the title of the book.

And it may not just be a Fireman, it could be a variety of suspects, including members of the lumber companies.

A big potential whodunit that's unsolvable!

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by tijlover

And with these fires, will you ever, ever know if an arsonist was behind it?

I read a book, some time ago, where a Fireman in L.A. was arrested for setting fires around the L.A. area, can't recall the title of the book.

And it may not just be a Fireman, it could be a variety of suspects, including members of the lumber companies.

A big potential whodunit that's unsolvable!

True, we may never know. Someone was mentioning this on a local Facebook page. One guy said that all fires were started by people. Found that funny because the post started with a report on the largest 20 recorded fires in California and the list was visible in the post.

8 of the 20 were started by lightning.

3 more were started from power lines.

1 was started from an illegal campfire, meaning it was not intentional.

The Matila Fire was not determined how it started (The Matilija fire in 1932 also in Ventura County)

The Thomas Fire is still under investigation.

What that comes down to is of the 20 largest fires 12 were not intentional or forces of nature. Only 8 were set by people intentionally.

Lots of smaller fires that are set by people all the time. It could very well be that many smaller fires are set by people for what ever reason. We know that it does happen a lot.

[oh-eve]

It is bad. For once I am glad I am too poor to afford living where I want to be (Ojai). In South Oxnard we smell it and see it but are safe. A lot of my coworkers and friends had to evacuate and I hear very sad stories left and right. I hope this comes to an end soon.

[CamaroGuy]

Originally Posted by oh-eve

I hope this comes to an end soon.

Ditto to that my lady!