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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Thousands evacuate as fires destroy Calif. homes |
| 2008-11-15 |
| A wind-blasted wildfire tore through the city's northern foothills Saturday, devastating a large mobile home park, forcing a hospital to evacuate some patients and sending thousands of residents fleeing for safety. The fire broke out late Friday in the foothill community of Sylmar on the edge of the Angeles National Forest and quickly spread across 2,600 acres--more than 4 square miles--as it was driven by Santa Ana wind gusting as high as 76 mph. Dozens of homes were destroyed, officials said, and aerial footage from television helicopters showed rows of houses gutted in just in one subdivision. Fire crews had to abandon a mobile home park that was burning out of control. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #5 I was surprised someone would go to the effort, way back when, to: a) think that Eucalyptus, which grow great in San Diego, which is alike Australia in climate, moisture, etc., then plant tens of thousands of them to use as railroad ties, only to b) find out they don't work as RR ties. Shouldn't "b" have preceded "a"? Something tells me it was a rich man's kid earning his "entrepreneurship" wings without the intelligence to sequence properly. Instead, San Diego has a tinder box of Eucs. Nice. At least, it ain't kudzu |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-15 19:21 |
| #4 It's just fire season, Frank. Next it's the Mud Season, (unless earthquake weather is in the forecast first), then it's Pelosi/Waxman/Waters/Stark/Harmon/Filner/Sanchez/Lee/Miller action for the emergency US bailout money for Arnold's 'stituants. |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2008-11-15 19:06 |
| #3 not so much north of SD county, TW. The Eucs were planted here as materials to use for Rail ties, before finding out they don't work. They don't spread by fire IIUC, but many pines do. Eucs are like matchsticks, with all the oil in them, they do "pop" as they ignite. Prayers to the evacuees and those who have losses... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-15 17:31 |
| #2 There will be more of this -- eucalyptus trees spread by fire if I recall correctly. But the Red Greens refuse to allow the invasive eucalyptus to be removed because in their little minds every tree is sacred... regardless how exquisitely flammable. I'd bet lots of money that the boom was the eucalyptus trees exploding. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-11-15 17:26 |
| #1 Oh, this is bad... this is the sort of thing that I grew up with. I posted a bit about California and fires ages ago, after my parents house burned in the Valley Center fire in 2004, and re-posted here. (I am doing stealth outreach and collecting fans of my writing. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2008-11-15 16:50 |