Engine 23 will handle...

With Santa Barbara up in flames and brushers breaking out in Santa Clarita and Yucaipa, everyone's on high alert. So it was unsurprising to hear the brusher call drop for a burn out in ritzy Pacific Palisades and LAFD sent out a full Channel 9 assignment. Enroute, old Engine 23 said they saw some smoke that was more likely a structure than a brusher. A minute later, Engine 23 said they could handle the call. OCD put out the broadcast:

"Units responding to 17420 Camino de Yatasto, Engine 23 will handle.....sandblasting at a mansion."

Santa Barbara Redux

It's only May but things are hot again up in Santa Barbara County. Winds are blowin' again and small brusher that lit off this afternoon has already eaten about 450 acres by 2130 hours. So far, no homes have been lost but up to 2,000 are threatened. The fire started about a mile west of last Fall's nasty Tea fire. A bunch of strike teams have been mobilized and this one has the capability to get ugly, again.

Hot Time in the Old Towns...

Wow.

Best picture of firefighters being over-run that you'll ever done see. (They all made it out alive and unhurt)

I was in the midst of a long and winding post last night, and then sort of ran out of steam. There's so much fire and so much scanner activity, it's just been very hard to keep up, though I've been listening almost nonstop for the last two days.

All of the usual outlets have good coverage so I point you in those directions. I'll surely post something more coherent and thoughtful when the situation has calmed and I have time to put some energy into a real post. Also, don't overlook San Diego; that's where the real tragedy is unfolding (again).

p.s. What's crazy is that since Sunday morning, the wind has been negligible in the greater L.A. Basin. Not a wisp of wind in the last 36 hours in the Beverly Hills and West LA area.


photo: Karen Tapia-Anderson, LA Times

Nasty Out There...

...Already. October's typical mix of fire and brimstone has arrived with a vengeance. At 0745 on Sunday morning, with Red Flag parking restrictions set to go into effect in 15 minutes, City News Service--and my scanner--already report three big brush fires crackling through the northern part of the County.

--Nearly 200 acres have been burned up at Castaic Lake, near the Ventura County border, with the fire being pushed north, away from populated areas.

--LAFD is working a brush fire in the Porter Ranch area where the City and County adjoin. It started at 0550 this morning and it's going strong.

--The main event this morning sounds like a brusher the County's got burning up in Malibu, near Pepperdine University and Malibu Canyon Road. Two mutual aid Strike Teams (1 from Long Beach) are on the scene, and the County has requested two LAFD helos already.

It's going to be a long, messy day as the wind has yet to even truly pick up. Check back for updates.

On One Hand...

...the LAFD and allied agencies did a great job keeping the flames off the multi-million dollar homes in Los Feliz. On the other, their pilots were grinding it out all day and all night making crucial water drops. Luckily, none of them augered any of those Bell helos into a dark hillside or sliced through a power line or we'd all be reading a story much different than this one.

The backslapping today becomes the second-guessing of tomorrow when a bunch of firefighters get overrun on a dirt fire road or a helicopter crashes while flying night missions into smoke and fire over urban areas.

photo: Mad Science flickr

Another Barn Burner**

LAFD is working a major emergency brush in Griffith Park right now. Great vantage from my office on this 95 degree, no humidity day. LAFD's been pouring resources at it for awhile and staging at the Greek Theatre. For about 20 mins, looked like it was darkening down, but then the wind shifted and all hell broke...

Hot, dry brush is fueling this one and they've got a ton of City and County companies committed and no knockdown in sight. So far, no homes destroyed, but this thing still looks really ugly.

It's a busy day throughout the sizzling county.

***UPDATE*** So three-plus hours into the incident, the fire's still raging. Probably going to top out at over 150 acres when all is said and done. They've got a 20-year-old arson suspect being treated for severe burns at Hollywood Presbyterian right now.

It'll be at least 24 hours before this one is fully done. Meantime, the Johnny-Come-Lately L.A. Times got their act together today and are blogging the incident. Welcome to 2007, kids! (Sample of some text taken from the LAT Web site home page(!!!) at 11:33 p.m. The bold is mine. "BREAKING NEWS BLOG: According to the bayor, the blaze has now burned 600 acres."


Meantime, everyone is getting hammered on the call volume because of the heat, but since the Griffith Park incident is virtually all Engines, the City still has plenty of Light Forces available for the other crap.


Out in Malibu, Ventura County Fire is sending a helo to air-ambo someone out of LACoFD's 71's first-in over to UCLA Hospital.

***UPDATE*** 11 p.m. So today's fire might not be the "big one" of the summer (or even the Spring if it stays so hot and dry) but with 33 LAFD companies on the scene and probably at least that, if not more in mutual aid, Griffith Park is getting pretty worked over by fire.

When I started listening to this one go off on OCD 9 at around 1:30 this afternoon, the LAFD was doing what it usually does so well--flood the area with resources. They requested engine companies in groups of 10, which were then divided into As they ramped up the assignment, the wind shifted and moved the fire quickly into tinder dry brush that hadn't burned in years. What happened next is both amazing and fairly predictable: Fast moving flames fed by erratic winds (often caused by the fire itself) and and years of overgrowth long due for the burner.

Again, credit to the LAFD and allied agencies is plenty due here. So far, I've only heard of one structure getting minor damage (I think some embers got into the attic on a hillside home on Shannon Drive. Wood shake roof, natch, the culprit. For shame!) and no lives have been lost. Injuries have been limited to the alleged fire-starter who may have tried to extinguish the blaze before stumbling onto the Roosevelt Golf Course and being scooped up by the LAFD and transported to the hospital.

Mayor Tony V. on the tube right now, tie loosened doing his thing. Meantime, fire is still burning hot and heavy and throwing out tons of embers, which are one of the greatest dangers in a situation like this. Pray for the Marine Layer to make a return to the coast tonight, bringing higher humidities with it.

Also amazing to watch the LAFD and LACoFD helos doing extremely dangerous night drops. They've been on the fire lines for almost 10 hours now and have to contend with smoke, fire, unseen power lines, and, of course, the rising hillsides that like to eat aircraft.

LAFD on the tube right now saying the fire is "laying down for tonight" and they'll try to get a knockdown tomorrow. Councilman LaBonge says it's the worst fire he's seen in Griffith Park since the 1960s. That's what happens, my friends, when the vegetation doesn't burn for 40 years.


photo: laist.com

More Wind = More Brushers

Some of the strongest winds this L.A. native has ever experienced here are raking the Basin right now. My modern office building is creaking and groaning; the wooden parking gate arm has snapped off and one very expensive home has burned to the ground in Beverly Hills on a gnarly hop-skipping brush fire going on right now around one of my favorite park areas.

Stepped out of my car in BH this afternoon during the windstorm and immediately smelled that brush fire smell. Quick secret call to the LAFD PIO confirmed they had one acre of brush going up on N. Beverly Drive. The fire straddled the border between LA City and Beverly Hills, a mutual-aid nightmare.

While eating, I saw the usual suspects LF92 and LF58 blast by going north on Beverly, as well as Battalion 18. Towards the end of the meal, E26 (stationed down at Arlington and the Santa Monica Freeway!!!) and E43 from Cheviot Hills/Palms heading up to the fire. After lunch couldn't see a good loom-up because the wind was blasting so hard but headed up to the area to see if it was still going.

Streets were closed and traffic was bad so I flipped a U and headed back to work as E47 came up Beverly from Sunset. By the time I got back to my desk and flipped on the Bearcat, they had Strike Teams staging up at Sunset and Beverly including a LACoFD unit based in Carson and entire Downey FD team! Crazy. Santa Monica Fire is in on it too under a Strike Team arrangement.

They got a handle on it but it's still windy as hell.

Lunchtime and Lost Comms

Invariably, the big stuff goes down when I'm at a meal and far away from my scanner. In fact, the last time a huge structure fire dropped in Beverly Hills, I was sitting at the same joint watching BHFD and LAFD units cruise by. Of course, I'm sans scanner the whole time so I don't find out what's cracking until I get to my radio!

This time, as I swung a right on Wilshire I look up to see heavy smoke sitting overhead, but my view is obscured by high-rises, so I couldn't see the origin. Thought at first it was a big commercial structure since it was putting out a ton of dark smoke, but when I finally got a glimpse of the hills a few minutes later, could see the smoke charging over the ridge on the Valley-side. By the time I got up to my office, had a great view of the fire and the helos were but little specks in the distance making water runs.

Turned to OCD 9, but all the fun was pretty much over by then. Just the usual mid-incident requests for random crap. The traffic on the Tac Channels was also pretty routine about fire roads, flare ups and hose lays. I missed all the unit dispatches, which is usually the best shit.

Anyway, they're getting a good handle on it right now and never ceases to amaze me how good these LAFD and LACoFD guys are when it comes to this stuff. Burbank FD got in on it, too.

photo: deposee

March Scorcher

As is sometimes the case here in SoCal, for a few days at least, we've skipped Spring and gone straight into Summer. The picture shows flames burning through the Anaheim Hills yesterday, a locale that's way out of Code6Charles' world. I followed the story with limited interest since it's so far south of where I live. LAFD, as is custom, did send two strike teams down there to help and the County also pitched in, but I'm not sure which specific units mobilized. Even though we're setting record temps again today (92, or so, right now), they've managed to knock that thing down after it burned more than 2,000 acres.

Up here in the hot city, I was scanning during the workday and tuned in just in time to hear an LAPD airship report a fast-moving brusher not far from the Griffith Observatory. It took awhile for BC11 to get on scene as the first unit, and E82 was already giving size-ups as the units got on scene. Only about an acre in heavy, remote brush, but they quickly upped the assignment. They flooded the zone with dozens of land-based units--including a pre-assembled Strike Team staged at FS88 in Sherman Oaks. Air Ops got in on it, too, with an assist from the County.
Funny thing, only saw a wisp or two of light smoke from my panoramic office view.

Right now, however, more than two hours into the incident, they're sending E34 into staging and things are still going strong. Hope they don't get another brusher today.


photo: Jebb Harris, OC Register

LAFD Gets Into the Action...**

***WRAPUP 12:39*** Shit, folks, that was quick. They grabbed it at 2 acres and are sending rigs home. The helos are actually already back at home at Van Nuys airport. That was a lot typing for a little fire!

***UPDATE 12:01***: Here's a rundown of the currently committed companies (and where they're normally stationed, to give an idea of how the department floods the zone on Red Flag days):

E76 (first in company--Cahuenga Pass)
E41 (Hollywood)
Task Force 27 (Hollywood)
E60 (North Hollywood)
E82 (Hollywood)
E86 (Toluca Lake)
E97 (Studio City/Mulholland Drive)
E7 (Van Nuys)
E52 (East Hollywood)
E39 (Van Nuys)
Pre-formed Tactical Team w/ E85 (Harbor City), E38 (Wilmington), E3 (Central City)
2nd Tac Team w/ E61 (Miracle Mile), E1 (Lincoln Heights), E11 (Pico-Union)
Division 1 (Command officer who covers central and west LA)
EMS 11 (Paramedic Supervisor from Battalion 11's district, Pico-Union/Rampart/Westlake)
RA86 (Toluca Lake)
BC5 (Hollywood)
BC14 (North Hollywood)
BC 10 (Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks/Encino)
BC 11 (Pico-Union/Westlake)
Helicopters, 1, 4, and 6
Bulldozer team

LA County is also sending a full brush assignment consisting of 4 helos, 5 engines, 4 camp crews, 1 water tender, 1 dozer team and 2 BCs.

No one's fucking around on this one....


# # #

Not to be left out of the brush fire fun, but City Fire is just getting on scene of a bunch of palm trees and brush involved next to the northbound 101 (Hollywood) Freeway at Lankershim.

Hollywood's Battalion 5 is now the Universal IC, requesting a full brush assignment, including helos to the scene. Pretty much every LAFD resource assigned to Hollywood is now committed. E76 is first onscene with E82 just rolling up and some North Hollywood units are also enroute. E60 is heading to the Mt. Lee helispot (at the Hollywood sign) to refuel the water droppers.

Batt. 5 is in charge, for now. The action's on OCD Channel 9 and Tac 13, for now. With Division 1 enroute and two additional Batt. Chiefs ordered, it's getting bigger on the resource side, though it may scale back down just as quick.

OCD is blitzing in the their pre-deployed tactical teams that consist of three engines each, two engines and a BC shy of a full Strike Team.

They're shutting down parts of the northbound 101 as the fire just jumped a road and is heading towards Universal Studios. Started at 1/4 acre of grass but growing. IC thinks they can get a quick knockdown once the two water droppers are overhead.

I can just now see the smoke popping over the Hollywood Hills from my office window.

Malibu Burns (Again)***

***WRAPUP*** 10:39 01/09/07: Looks like they kept it to five homes and a guest house destroyed. Good work all around, though not good enough to save Suzanne Somers' home. So much for the Three's Company theme song: "Come and knock on my door..." Part of the reason these things don't often get too out of control in LA County is in part due to the fire agencies' ability to dump a ton of resources very quickly onto a major incident--especially if they're ready for it in a Red Flag sitch.

Also, a big hat tip to Kevin at L.A Observed for the inbound link today!

***UPDATE*** 19:28: IC is requesting the Gas Co. get a CHP escort since they're stuck in traffic on PCH trying to get to the scene. Fire's mostly quieted down except for a few residences that have gas main breaks and are threatening nearby exposures. I'm headed home and might do a wrapup later. Quick work by LACoFD seems to have paid off as much as possible.

***UPDATE*** 19:11: IC is releasing one of the water-dropping helos and things are darkening down along the line of burned structures. But the KTTV feed just showed a live shot of units in staging with an LAFD strike team arriving on PCH. Only caught the last two units in the strike team but it included LAFD Engine 63 (Venice) and Engine 71 (Bel-Air/Beverly Glen). 71's interesting because its station is located in a high brush area in the middle of "Red Flag" country. So they probably have at least one, if not two units moved up to 71s.

# # #

Funny, as I update the blog in the New Year and what should happen? Malibu encounters its annual burn.

I spent the better half of the day reminding co-workers that we usually get a hot spell at least once in January. I remember enjoying the surf off my former home in Manhattan Beach in past Januarys, marveling at the hot weather before it would turn "cold" again at the end of the week. I also recall that Malibu burns at least once a year, sometimes in January.

Not a huge surprise given the Red Flag warnings of the past week or so. LACoFD had predeployed units out in Malibu (and likely every other brush area) given the weather conditions so they were able to dump a bunch of units right on top of things when it lit off.

So it came as little surprise when the AP bulletin hit and I sit here now glued to the LACoFD Blue 2 frequency (470.4375). After about 1 hour and 20 mins, Malibu IC reported 8 homes destroyed and another 5 damaged. Likely, they'll lose them all. Since I'm on Blue 2 and sitting in Beverly Hills, I can't hear anything on the simplex Tacs and I'm not scanning, just sticking to the main operations frequency.

Likely a ton of moveups on Blue 3 and Blue 8. Baywatch Malibu is standing by offshore as Lifeguard units are also committed. For a time, they backed off the structure protection teams over concerns of a high-pressure gas line under the homes. Then, they had a water pressure drop and order four water tenders into the scene. Water pressure is now being restored.

They also declined a request for additional helos from both LA City and County fire. The LACoFD chief is also on scene, so now we KNOW it's a big one. Looking at a live KTTV Feed I found online, it looks like the structures are pretty much burned out and the big fire is laying down.

A bunch of additional Strike Teams are at staging now on PCH, and LAFD and Ventura are also ramping up units. Looks like they'll probably confine this to the brush that's burned uphill and hopefully make a stand on the homes lining the beach.

Tons of good scanning on this one and a good thread over at LACountyFire.com (unofficial).