Fires in Southern California; hundreds of homes burned, thousands evacuated (Los Angeles: house, neighborhood)

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by Axiom

Unfortunately they said the Santiago fire in OC was arson.
It had burned at least 11 homes last I heard (late afternoon 10/23) and things were not looking good at all for a whole lot more folks in the area.

O.C.'s Santiago fire rages - Los Angeles Times

From the linked article:

"Prather appealed to anyone with information about the arson fire, which was set Sunday evening in three places near Santiago Canyon and Silverado Canyon, east of Orange, to call (800) 540-8282."


I really have not heard about any of the others. I think fire officials are pretty busy with other things right now.

yeah, i can imagine the officials would be pretty busy.

3 confirmed arsons? at about the same time, were they? and were they in somewhat different locations? seems the officials might want to have a sense of that kind of thing if someone is doing it on purpose and "keeping ahead of them", right?

[McGowdog]

Originally Posted by Beth56

So using your logic, people living in the Tornado Alley states (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota) should not receive any help because of the location of their homes. Nor should residents of Florida receive any assistance when they are hit with hurricanes. And the people who were devastated by Katrina, let's not help them either.

Your remark was harsh IMO.

Agreed! I was reading some of the posts here and that's not the only one. This is no time to be joking or dolling out judgement.

Our condolences and prayers to the people, firefighters, animals. property owners, etc. This is America. We out here in Colorado could face the same situation at any time. Help's on the way.

[txstate]

The fires started on Government Owned Land and spreaded. Makes you wonder.....

[katenik]

Originally Posted by txstate

The fires started on Government Owned Land and spreaded. Makes you wonder.....

about ridiculous conspiracy theorists, and how they have no shame? yes, it does.

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by car957

NIFC is indicating over 300,000 acres burned or burning. To put this in perspective this is over 200 square miles of area.

True, it is over 200 sq miles. Very over. 300,000 acres = 468.75 sq miles. (640 acres = 1 sq mile) The 270,256 acres currently shown on the map you linked to is equivalent to 422.28 sq miles.

[cynwldkat]

It's true...some of those fires are arson. I haven't a clue if it has anything to do with terrorists but there are some "sick" people that get off when those Santa Ana's get blowing and enjoy starting fires. Very sick people!! I have heard some terrorists theories and it is possible but many of those other fires have been started by embers blowing from the original fire in those strong winds. This is not that unusual for CA this time of year. Everyone who has lived in CA for any amount of time is aware of it. When I lived there we always dreaded this time of year....I always lived in the mountains!! It seems once one fire starts many follow. The big problem now is all those people building their houses out in the brush and woods. The population keeps pushing out and it gets harder and harder to keep those fires away from the homes.

[citybythebay]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaDreamin'

I don't understand why firefighters from other states are not coming in to help. Personally, I think in times of such disasters, that should be mandatory in every state to send in volunteers.

I know there is a large group of firefighters coming from NE Ohio.
I'll be in that group. However, I am not a firefighter, but I do have
family & friends in the SD area.
I feel that I would be of more help in SD than feeling helpless
watching this unfold on TV.
We just got flights out today....

[desertgirl]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The news here (Phoenix) said 14 AZ engines with teams and 45 fire managers from NM and AZ have been sent to the fires. That was yesterday, so maybe even more have gone in by now.

Count Nevada in. On Monday, 35 fire trucks with 4 member crews were sent out. Yesterday, a strike team with members from the Nevada Division of Forestry and the Elko and Mount Charleston fire departments were sent. A strike team is made up of 5 fire engines and about 20 firefighters.

[McGowdog]

I thought I'd heard that Colorado was sending some help as early as yesterday. I wish things could have been done to put things in place sooner, like Sunday.

DENVER -- Four C-130 cargo planes, 14 managers and eight fire engines are on their way from Colorado and Wyoming to Southern California to fight wildfires.

Two of planes are from the 302nd Airlift Wing, a reserve unit at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The other two are from the 153rd Airlift Wing, a Wyoming Air National Guard unit in Cheyenne.

All the planes are equipped with modular airborne firefighting equipment, which converts the planes to aerial tankers.

I hope they get a handle on it soon and that the winds die down and we can pray for some moisture to that area!

Southern California is in our thoughts and prayers.

[hello-world]

Arson investigated in California fires - Yahoo! News (broken link)

could it be that the fires WERE a bit too concurrent and effectively distributed - upwind, about the periphery, ending mainly just north of the border?

(just found this one)

WorldNetDaily: California fires spark suspicion of terror again

hm. is this even a solid source? there's another article there pointing to the other "of course" scenario - "global warming induced drought sparked fires". the irony in all of this, whether or not there's any merit, seems so thick it's surreal to me.