Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajundaddy
My point exactly. Simply too little too late to knock it down.
According to NOAA the maximum sustained winds were 29 mph between LAX and the Palisades until 5pm when the windspeed increased greatly overnight. Air Attack assets are able to operate pretty well in these conditions right up until sundown when things got real sporty. They just didn't get on it quickly enough to avoid the firestorm that ensued.
|
I apologize for being snippy upstream on this thread. Tempers are running short around here among unimaginable heartbreak...and I'm talking about people like me who did not even lose their house.
This thing will be autopsied to death in the coming months and years and heads will roll. As high as the fire danger was, and it was off the charts, I think it's fair to say that no one saw this coming. The Pacific Palisades are gone and a lot of history and landmarks went with it. It's an almost incalculable loss and that's not even including Altadena which was almost as bad but the entire town was not wiped out. It's a living nightmare.
I do not remember the exact sequence of events because it was such a dynamic situation in the beginning and exactly when the wind speeds were at their maximum. I only remember that air support was badly needed and not able to fly either on Tuesday or Wednesday when the fires were burning absolutely out of control.
As for the empty reservoir in the Palisades, there are always a lot of empty ones here. They are all over the place and exist for drinking/household water, not really for fire fighting. There has never been a situation that I can remember where water supply was the limiting factor in fighting a fire and we have a lot of wildfires here. There are a lot of other limiting factors, mainly dryness and wind.
The same thing that gives us such a great climate in general here, (low humidity), greatly exacerbated this fire. We get basically zero rain for 8 months out of the year and then count on winter rain and snow at higher elevations to replenish supplies as well as reduce fire risk. This winter, it has rained exactly zero times in Los Angeles with the exception of a couple of light drizzles. This is what I mean by a climate caused event and that is NOT POLITICAL in any way. The climate in general in Southern California is very amenable to wildfires and we will not discuss whether that is getting worse right now. Not the right time or place.
Like I said, this will be studied and analyzed to death and many heads will roll.