LA fires

[fluffy]

I'm sure that our LA Song Fight! contingent has better things to be doing than to check the forums right now but I hope that everyone who lives in the area is safe and avoiding catastrophe as best they can.

[Caravan Ray]

Agree. Having been in Sydney in the fires in 1994. Bushfire is terrifying. Hope all are Ok.

[Jerkatorium]

Thank you. I live in Los Angeles (in "the Valley") and the fire line is still five miles away, up at Mulholland Drive. Five miles is far away, and the fire would have to travel downhill against the wind... but it's still a threat so we have a couple of "go bags" by the door just in case, and we've been brainstorming what else to pack and where to go if we get evacuation orders.

Past years I'd always reassured those who asked (and reassured myself) with the fact that I live in an area with a lot of asphalt and concrete, so the seasonal California wildfires are unlikely to ever directly affect us. After seeing the devastation of the Pacific Palisades fire, with whole neighborhoods turned to rubble despite being blocks and blocks away from any significant amount of greenery, I've had to re-assess.

My whole life I've appreciated green spaces, so this week it has been weird driving around seeing any wooded areas I pass as a threat/liability.

We're going to have strong winds through Wednesday. The current belief is that after Wednesday the fires should be a lot more manageable. Right now it already seems noticeably better; Friday and Saturday we could see the flames of the north edge of the Palisades fire from our backyard, then yesterday (Sunday) no flames were visible and the smoke plume had mostly subsided. We haven't had a power outage for days. But the Santa Ana winds could get everything going again so we'll see.

I don't know of many other Song Fighters in the Los Angeles area. I know that mo is/was living in Los Angeles (not doxxing him; he said as much himself on the SFBB and the 2J1V podcast). My best wishes and hopes go out to you mo, I hope you have been unaffected by the fires. And the same to anyone else in the Los Angeles area.

[fluffy]

There's quite a few Song Fight!ers of yore. PrayForMojo, State Shirt, Ross Durand, and Rabid Garfunkel all come to mind.

[Caravan Ray]

I saw Rabid post on Facebook he was evacuated but later allowed home and his house was OK.

Growing up in south east Australia - fire is a present threat every summer. But I have never had to evacuate. Terrifying stuff.

[mo]

wait, I got doxxed again?

[mo]

jokes aside, yeah, I am in a pocket of LA that's right between Palisades and Eaton Fires, so easily far enough away from either not to have to worry too much about the possibility of actual fire--although we did have multiple power lines downed during the initial wind event that honestly could have caused fire right here. The smoke was pretty bad though, like very bad headaches, after a couple days my wife and just went to visit other family in San Diego to get away from the smoke. We know several people who lost everything in both Palisades and Altadena, so our thankfulness for ourselves has been tempered by the need/desire to help them