This is BAD, Eaton fire is close enough we can see the flames. We are west of the evacuation warning areas and the winds are blowing to southward. It’s going to be a very long night.
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lets hope for you, that the wind does not change.
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Yeah Vic, I feel your pain we have been there more than once and is not a good experience .
Wishing you the best to come through this.
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This sort of thing is one of the reasons I spent most of last summer dropping dead (beetle-kill) trees hereabouts and cutting them up for firewood. We lit the slash pile in a heavy downpour and STILL had thirty-foot flames. It burned so hot we couldn’t get within five yards of the flames. One of several piles aroun te yard:
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Thanks guys, we’re still taking it one hour at a time. According to FD it’s burning mostly eastward away from us but there are still fires up in the mountains above. Winds still really bad. Yard is a shambles , Street has branches down all over. Still going to be a long night.
Vic, I can’t imagine what you are going through. Hope the wind doesn’t change directions and pray you and your family remain safe.
The mandatory evac zone is jnow ust North of us. Theres smoke all outside
if it comes closer
do you have prepared the run-out-bag?
needed medicines and prescriptions
personal documents of all kind
property titles
insurance contracts
memory sticks, hard drives
loading cables for phone or laptop
family pics, program CDs
(first aid kit - not essential with firefighters and rescue around)
chocolate/energy-bars and water/coffee
underwear, socks, T-shirt
IF YOU CAN’T FIND SOMETHING FROM THE LIST, GET EVERYTHING ELSE, BEFORE STARTING TO SEARCH!
and the car stuffed full of sentimental thrash. (not just locos)
… when done with that, then pray, that you won’t need it.
Vic that’s so scary, I hope and pray all is safe for you and your family and that your home is spared. I’m reading that the fire is at zero containment this morning, that’s awful.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/fast-moving-easton-fire-destroys-homes-near-altadena/
I used to live in Altadena (long time ago), and recall well how frightening it was when that steep mountain backdrop turned into a wall of flames…
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Vic reported on Facebook that they did get an evac order.
Stay safe Vic.
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Just reading this thread now. Thanks for the update Jon, our thoughts are with Vic and his family, and all his neighbors.
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Wow so sorry to hear that Vic. Hope all is well. Most important stay safe but hope the homestead avoids the catastrophe. Been seeing the news this is a bad one.
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Truly awful. Vic, I’m praying you and your family are ok, and also that your home and all your wonderful creations are spared.
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Watched video of Cal Fire using a bulldozer to try to carefully push cars that were abandoned on roads to make room for fire trucks. Funny in a sad way they are trying to not destroy the cars, when just shoving them would seem to be a much quicker way, but still getting them out of the way.
Vic posted another update on Facebook. He probably hasn’t had tome to get back on here. I’ll quote a bit of his FB post here…
Update, seems like the worst for us has hopefully passed. The winds have died down, there’s still smoke but no worse than past wildfires. We evacuated this morning, took two of the three cars, found parking then went back for the third. We went to the evac center but it was pretty uncomfortable, no seats, people sitting on carpet. We went to eat. After we were able to get back home and spent the afternoon cleaning up the unbelievable mess left by the winds. We had literally a million and a half leaves piled up against all four sides of the house. We bagged 6 big contractor cleanup bags plus the big yard trash can. The rest, more leaves on front and broken branches, we will deal with the next couple days.
The fire itself got close, very uncomfortably close this morning.
So, as of that update, his house is safe too, but it’s not over yet.
Hi all, thanks Jon for posting that. We’re exhausted right now. But the big winds are gone. I knew we had turned a corner, not the final corner, but a big one when I could look up last night and see the moon and some stars. It’s still hazy but I didn’t see any active smoke this morning nor any fire trucks going by like yesterday. If you Google John Muir high school, were then Google the intersection of Lincoln Ave and Montana St you get an idea of how close it was. Pretty much everything North of Woodbury St and east of Lincoln is gone, like literally gone to the foothills. I had a panic attack when I finally saw the fire perimeter maps yesterday and realized how close it was. I’m going to walk up up to the north for a visual survey later this morning. This has without a doubt been the worst 48 hours of my life, even loosing my Mom wasn’t as stressful because we knew it was coming. This was wake up on morning and your entire universe has changed by sundown. I am absolutely heartbroken at all the people how lost homes and businesses yesterday, here and at the other fires. This has been agonizing to watch happen.
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Jon/Vic, thanks for the updates.
Vic,
Glad to hear that you, your family and property are safe for now. As I mentioned earlier, I can’t begin to imagine what you are going through and my heart breaks for you and all those families that have lost everything. Being the son of a firefighter, I’ve seen many homes and businesses burn to the ground, but nothing close to the scale of these wildfires. Keep us posted as you can and you are most definitely in our thoughts and prayers.
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Thanks Vic. I hope you continue to fare as well as possible given the situation.
When someone loses a home or business to fire, it’s usually just their structure, not all the neighboring structures and infrastructure like has happened is many of these fires. Recovering from loosing your home to fire is difficult, but I can’t imagine how hopeless one must feel when their home, their children’s school and most of the local business are instantly gone.
New fire up in Hollywood 
Thoughts go out to all persons displaced and all the first responders.
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Glad to here you and your family are alright first and foremost. But also that you escaped the catastrophe that so many faced. This was an incredibly fast building fire/s
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We got flare ups and more smoke but I saw six firetrucks go by and a helicopter so coverage looks far greater than yesterday
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