It's raining ashes...again.
 

If I go outside I can't breathe. SoCal is up in flames again. I hope our members in the Anaheim/Yorba Linda areas are OK as well as anyone up in the Santa Barbara region. And the north SF valley is going up in smoke too. With almost 100% chance that temps will break all records again tomorrow, it ain't gonna be pretty.

2 to 3 freeways are closed at this time. Fire on both sides and one can't see to drive it's so thick.

I-5 is closed through the Newhall Pass (me). I came back from Maui at 6:30 AM this morning. Had to go to Ventura County to take a route home. At least I got home. No smoke at my place now, I'm just north of the 5-14 interchange where the Sylmar fire is going.

I'll be watching the news all night from my house in Fullerton. These pix are about 3.0 miles away taken from Bastanchury and State College Blvd about 20 minutes ago..

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1226793042.jpg

Yorba Linda
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1226793225.jpg

Brea
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1226793243.jpg

Glad to hear you're still clear Hugh...I figured you might be very close to the Sayre fire. He had a crew that was supposed to finish location shooting up outside Valencia today. I was on set yesterday and it was crazy windy. Luckily we're supposed to be in Iraq in the piece so we won't have to add the dust and whatnot in post. I don't know if anyone was able to get up there.

This is the worst Nov I can recall for fires. It was wicked hot the last few days.

Oh yeah, for November this is terrible. Not that it would be any better in Oct., but usually we are passed the critical point by this time of year. It has rained once already which makes this even more unique.

We go through this every year and I've always wondered exactly what it's like to see your home and everything inside go "foom" up in flames. I really feel for those people. You'd have whatever you had time to throw in your car, the clothes on your back and that's it. Pretty lousy. Even if you had insurance, I imagine there's all kinds of red tape and nonsense you'll need to go through for YEARS.

I've been inside all day nursing a cold and have no desire to go out and choke on the smell of burning forest. Here's hoping everyone makes it through okay.

you guys have one hell of a land use planning problem

I smell like a campfire. It permeates my home and I also was out at a clients and had to deal with the smoke and traffic.

This one smells more so than the others. We are getting to be fire connoisseurs.

At least it's not raining men.

There was a small fire in Oakland Hills this week too - saw it driving home at around 5pm. Unusual for this time of year...

Smokey sunset in Malibu earlier this evening.

http://homepage.mac.com/drew1/.Pictu...y_Sunset2a.jpg

For all of you who wonder why I live in Los Angeles, here is my 18 acres of backyard. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1226810361.jpg

I got some good video of the "Freeway Complex" (lamest name ever.....) fire as it burned through the Santa Ana River while on my first evacuation. I'll try to put some of it together and post it. I was later forced to evacuate again....... sigh.....

Sweet looking piece of the planet Hugh.

paint ball would be fun there

so how does this affect the smog?
i can imagine one fire being worth a multitude of smoking cars?

Smog and smoke (from fires) are different. The air is heavy with the smell of smoke and during the day, you could actually see the smoke at ground level. Smog tends to be visible from a distance, but you can't see it in front of you and only the most sensitive can smell it and are affected. There is no way I will rollerblade with the present conditions. If it were a school day, the kids outdoor activities would be suspended. Smog does not leave a trace - well, not really. The ash at the moment, is like a thin layer of snow.

It's now 0:32 and my place stinks indoors, like a campfire. Outside is even worse. It's kind of like when all the farmers burn their fields where you are. <- Except the acreage burning is huge over here.

Dave

Current conditions as of 12:18 am PST

Smoke
Feels Like:63°
Barometer:30.02 in and steady
Humidity:37%
Visibility:5 mi
Dewpoint:36°
Wind:CALM
Sunrise:6:25 am
__________________________________________________ _________

Strange when your current weather condition is "smoke". Smoke was thick and we were getting not just ash, but entire burned leaves. Filthy mess, but not complaining when so many have lost homes.

Here's a view I took Sat. morning from my front yard. We're about 4 miles from Brea and the fire had just got going. Isn't Pelicanite PatrickB from Brea? Hope he fared well.

Brea fire on left / Corona - Yorba Linda fire on right

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1226825731.jpg

Put it this way:

I feel like roasting hot dogs and making s'mores....

Good luck to all you guys...I can't imagine what it must be like :(

They closed the 405 today through the 118. The freeway traffic was a mess. Last time the 405 was closed, IIRC, was the Sylmar Earthquake in 1971.

I'm sitting in the lobby of the hotel where my wife works in Anaheim right now - even though this is a large, high-rise building with filtered and conditioned air, there's still a perceptible smoky smell in the air and I've got a headache from it. It's better than being at home though (at least the air here is reasonably filtered). At home even with the windows/doors mostly closed it was a lot worse.

If fire season is here, it means mudslide season can't be far off...

Hell, I rode in it. Didn't intend to. When I left the house, the air was clear, but thirty minutes in, the wind changed direction and the smoke blew right over me.

I had a taste of blood in my mouth on the way home...

Good thing California has strict laws against polluting emissions. You wouldn`t want all these old Porsches polluting the air in days like these :rolleyes:.

Aurel

The 405 was closed most of the day one day last month due to fires in the Sepulveda Pass.

Hopefully, things will get better soon.

Just shows that everywhere has it's "thing". For the Gulf coast-hurricanes, NE - snow, NW- rain, middle - tornadoes.

Funny you should mention that.

I went to grade school in SoCal. I remember being taught that the area has ALWAYS had a smog problem--long before there were cars. Guess what the cause of all the smog is? Wildfires...

Yep. That's true.

At least we're not stupid enough to build next to a volcano.

The school kids up there still have lahar drills?

sammy - you seem to be a little confused about NW topography

-- you might ddirect that question to others however

sunset on Sunday

http://nostatic.com/photos/floordots640.jpg

no green?

is that your boy on the rock nostatic? cool pic :)

That only happens if you rip out your own heart.

Well, the upside I suppose is you get to nail Kiera Knightly. Well, once every ten years anyway.