L.A. Fires

JOEJOEJOE

Hoping my fellow Angelenos are all safe from the raging fires.

We live sort of close to the fires, but as of now, we are safe.

pjhawks

Be safe,  horrible images.  Can’t imagine being near that. 

eeriepadave

Isn't @Ernie Vedder from LA? Hopefully he's safe as well as everyone else.

Ernie Vedder

eeriepadave said:

Isn't @Ernie Vedder from LA? Hopefully he's safe as well as everyone else.

We are safe so far. Thanks for checking! 

Wobbie

y’all remember Norm? I just reached out to him. He lives too damn close. His dad was evacuated but they are all OK. He called it apocalyptic. If you haven’t talked to him in too long (like me) and have his #, let him know his old board friends still care.

Bentleyspop

My cousin lives close but hasn't  been evacuated. 
This is the view from his house.

Poncier

Wobbie said:

y’all remember Norm? I just reached out to him. He lives too damn close. His dad was evacuated but they are all OK. He called it apocalyptic. If you haven’t talked to him in too long (like me) and have his #, let him know his old board friends still care.

You mean Cutback don't you?
Hope he and his Dad are OK as well as ecerybody else out there.
Shocking images on the news, we've vacationed in So. Cal the past several years and have spent some time in the affected areas, such a beautiful locale that is utterly devastated now.

JOEJOEJOE

There is a new fire near the Hollywood Bowl

lastexitlondon

I'm thinking of everyone there it looks just hell on earth. One side of your country is on fire the other under snow. Wild . Take care

brianlux

Gifted NY Times article.  We're in Northern California, so in no danger of these L.A. fires, but we've had huge fires up here as well, so I can well imagine some of the fear and anxiety our SoCal friends are experiencing. The difference is that the biggest fires in our area (like the Caldor, King, Mosquito, Park, Tubbs, and Cleveland fires) mostly affected wild lands with too many homes and lives lost as well. That was heartbreaking for both loss of forests and wildlife, as well as property and lives. 

But these Southern California fires are not only taking a lot of wild lands, they are also wiping out large communities, neighborhoods, and big chunks of cities like Palisades and Altadena. It's just overwhelming to read about this and see the images coming out today.

The illustrations in this article are disturbing.  I've never seen anything like this. 

Best wishes and stay safe, SoCal friends!

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/08/weather/los-angeles-fire-maps-california.html?unlocked_article_code=1.n04.tvRb.eDk0U-iocaI9&smid=url-share

Attaway77

Prayers for all, just horrible. I was born in Riverside, lived in Cali off and on through out my life. When you see peoples lives/homes/memories/landscape/nature, etc just disappear that quick, it's tough to see. It's literally 5 degrees where I live now, the earth owes us nothing. 

Wobbie

Poncier said:

Wobbie said:

y’all remember Norm? I just reached out to him. He lives too damn close. His dad was evacuated but they are all OK. He called it apocalyptic. If you haven’t talked to him in too long (like me) and have his #, let him know his old board friends still care.

You mean Cutback don't you?
Hope he and his Dad are OK as well as ecerybody else out there.
Shocking images on the news, we've vacationed in So. Cal the past several years and have spent some time in the affected areas, such a beautiful locale that is utterly devastated now.

yep, the artist formerly known as cutback.

Loujoe

Attaway77 said:

Prayers for all, just horrible. I was born in Riverside, lived in Cali off and on through out my life. When you see peoples lives/homes/memories/landscape/nature, etc just disappear that quick, it's tough to see. It's literally 5 degrees where I live now, the earth owes us nothing. 

Well said. Please take care and love one another.

eeriepadave

Ernie Vedder said:

eeriepadave said:

Isn't @Ernie Vedder from LA? Hopefully he's safe as well as everyone else.

We are safe so far. Thanks for checking! 

CROJAM95

The images are horrifying ! Hope the casualties will not increase, or not by much as it’s hard to imagine everyone got out…. 🙏

soph189

My heart breaks for every person, pet, wildlife that these fires are affecting. So much loss and devastation. Praying the winds die down and they’re able to contain the spread.

xavier mcdaniel

Wobbie said:

y’all remember Norm? I just reached out to him. He lives too damn close. His dad was evacuated but they are all OK. He called it apocalyptic. If you haven’t talked to him in too long (like me) and have his #, let him know his old board friends still care.

Glad to hear. I'm friends with him on facebook and I see his posts. I'll definitely message him to check in.

BrainofBGA

Living in Australia I’m all too familiar with the ever present danger of bush/wild fire. Thoughts and prayers to all those that live in these areas. I have friends and family in Cali (no where near the fires) but doesn’t make it much easier. 

shecky

shecky

Safia Samee Ali, Damita Menezes, Anna Kutz, Kimberly Ponzio, Patrick Ugolini, Cassie Buchman, Jacqueline Hughes

Updated: Jan 9, 2025 / 09:07 PM CST

(NewsNation) — The Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed to NewsNation that the Kenneth Fire is now being investigated as an arson case, and one person is in custody.

More than 34,000 acres have been burned in total as wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area.

As the multiple wildfires rage on, at least 20 people have been arrested on looting charges and 400 National Guard members have been deployed for traffic control and infrastructure protection.

Officials have said almost 180,000 people are under evacuation orders because of all the fires, and thousands have been displaced.

shecky

The Kenneth fire broke out just after 2:30 pm Thursday afternoon and has spread over 800 acres already and continues to spread through Ventura County, FOX LA reports.

The Los Angeles Fire Department initially issued mandatory evacuation orders for the area known as Hidden Hills, but downgraded that to mere warnings, according to the outlet.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

shecky

SORRY TO HAVE TO POST 5 SEPARATE STORIES BUT THIS IS BREAKING NEWS AND EACH STORY HAS UNIQUE FACTS.

shecky

Asterisk on the Street

So far we have been fortunate to not be too close to the fires requiring evacuation. A couple of friends had to evacuate, but their homes are still standing. Lots of smoke in the air with ash and soot on the ground and on cars. Stay safe all.

Spunkie

A few christmasses ago when the moms were packing up all their Xmas gear here, they learned to keep the priceless stuff they dont want to lose handy for when the fire comes. 

Merkin Baller

The planet is becoming less hospitable to our presence on it.... if you're blaming the current politicians in office for these fires, I think you're missing the (burning) forest for the trees. 

Loujoe

True. Super sad that this was arson^^^bad stuff going on. Really hard sometimes but I have to remember to count my blessings. 
Take care all

brianlux

Merkin Baller said:

The planet is becoming less hospitable to our presence on it.... if you're blaming the current politicians in office for these fires, I think you're missing the (burning) forest for the trees. 

So true and especially more so in some places than others.   Places like Southern California and large cities in dry climates- the greater L.A. basin, Phoenix and Tuscon, for example-  are going to have to go through some huge struggles and change in order to adapt to changing climate.  I think the obvious biggest issue is populations that are unsustainable for dry regions. 

shecky

LA fire chief says city failed residents in wildfire prep, budget cuts: 'Screaming to be properly funded'

The fire chief said that staffing shortages and lack of resources have been pressing issues facing the department for years

 By Sarah Rumpf-Whitten Fox News

Published January 10, 2025 5:15pm EST

Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said that the City of Los Angeles failed its over 100,000 displaced residents who were forced to evacuate from the ongoing wildfire siege.

When asked by Fox News' affiliate, KTTV, if the City of Los Angeles, and its Mayor Karen Bass failed the city, Crowley replied: "Yes."

Crowley said that pressing staffing shortages impacted the department's response time when the blaze began tearing across Los Angeles.

"Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service," she said. "That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there's a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn't get done or that there are delays."

Crowley said that staffing shortages and lack of resources has been a pressing issue facing the department for years. She pointed to a series of memos she sent to the city identifying in detail the needs of the department.

"Since day one, we've identified huge gaps in regard to our service delivery and our ability of our firefighters' boots on the ground to do their jobs since day one," she said. "This is my third budget as we're going into 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is we are still understaffed, we're still under-resourced and we're still underfunded."

When asked about how the budget cuts, which slashed the budget by $17,553,814 from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423, Crowley said that they "did impact our ability to provide service." 

"On a normal day, our firefighters are running over 1,500 calls, and they're transporting 650 patients a day – let alone the last three days of what we've had," she said. 

The problems facing the fire department "isn't a new problem," Crowley told the local outlet.

"The amount of calls that our firefighters are running today has doubled since 2010, a 55% increase with 68 fewer people. Full transparency. This isn't a new problem for us," she said. "Since the three years that I've been in the seat, I've sounded the alarm to say we need more."

"This is no longer sustainable. So with that, we are now in a position to be properly funded," she said. "We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so that we can serve the community."

Crowley said that the department has identified gaps in service and sent recommendations to the city.

"We know we need 62 new fire stations. We need to double the size of our firefighters. The growth of this city since 1960 has doubled and we have less fire stations," she said.

"So when you talk about sounding the alarm and asking and requesting budgets that are easily justifiable based off of the data, real data shows what the fire department needs to serve this beautiful city and the beautiful community that we swore that we would. That's what that is about," she said.

Speaking from the heart, Crowley said: "None of us on the fire department are politicians."

"Firefighters are here to serve them, first and foremost. Again, none of us on the fire department are politicians. We're public servants first," she said. "We took an oath to serve the public before ourselves and even before our families."

"So with that, I want to focus on path forward. I want to focus on what the LAFD needs," Crowley said. "What our people need to do their jobs is to make sure that we can save lives and that we can protect property to the greatest capacity."

"But we need to be funded appropriately," she said. "And that's where my head is at."

Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

I TRUST THE OPINION OF L.A.'S FIRE CHIEF, KRISTIN CROWLEY, OVER THE OPINION OF MAYOR KAREN BASS, A POLITICIAN.

F Me In The Brain

Fuck I hate some people. 

Guy Dudebro

Fox News lol. You could have had an additional 50,0000 overpaid firemen and they wouldn’t have been able to stop these winds. And I’m sure it was Karen Bass’ and Gavin Newsom’s fault that we haven’t had any noticeable rain to speak of in forever.