Final Update: 11:00hrs -10-16 - 100% - The fire will be turned back to the forest and a Type 3 organization at 0600 tomorrow.
The following structures were lost during the fire storm on the morning of October 13th: Skyview Terrace Mobile Home Park, 6 residences damaged and 38 destroyed; Dexter Canyon, 2 residences damaged and 2 destroyed; Lower Lopez Canyon, 1 residence damaged, 1 commercial building damaged and 2 commercial buildings destroyed. The evacuation center at San Fernando High School remains open. The Marek Incident is being managed by CIIMT-4 until 0600 tomorrow morning when it will be turned back to the forest.
Update: 11:00hrs -10-15 -Everyone evacuated for the Marek fire can return home. Previously, Lopez Canyon was off limits to people and livestock, and Kagel Canyon was off limits to livestock.
Update: 20:00hrs -10-14 - 4,826 acres, 80% Containment. 39 Primary structures , 5 out buildings destroyed.
The Marek Incident is being managed by CIIMT-4 under Unified Command with Los Angeles City Fire and Los Angeles County Fire.
Closures/Evacuations: Lopez Canyon remains under mandatory evacuation with limited access to some businesses and Kagel Canyon is open to residents only. All other evacuations were lifted today. All freeway and road closures were lifted today with the exception of Osborne Road south of the 210 Fwy and Pacoima Road to Pacoima Dam. The evacuation center at San Fernando High School remains open. The large animal evacuation center located at Pierce College and small animal evacuation center located at the North Mission Shelter remains open.
Significant Events: On the west and south perimeters, resources continued line construction, patrolled and mopped-up. On the east perimeter resources made good progress mopping-up. On the north perimeter resources continued line construction and were successful with planned burnout operations. Resources continued to provide structure protection. Resources made good progress on rehab operations.
Planned actions: Continue structure protection. Hold and improve constructed line on the north and east perimeter. Patrol and mop-up in all divisions. Continue rehab operations.
Update: 08:00hrs -10-14 - Fire is cooling down, Containment lines coming together, Good progress. Firefighters will continue structure protection, construct and improve fireline where possible, continue patrol and mop-up around structures and along containment lines.
Update: 07:00hrs -10-14 - Marek (CA-ANF-3833) 4,826 acres, 70% contained. The Santa Ana winds did not materialize to the extent predicted overnight. Occasional short range spotting and wind and slope driven runs were observed. Major progress was made on construction and improvement of containment lines overnight. A ¼ acre spot fire in Kagel Canyon was contained.
Mandatory evacuations and road closures remain in effect for Lopez Canyon, Kagel Canyon, Little Tujunga Canyon, Lake View Terrace north of the 210 Freeway, Sylmar on the north and east interface, east of the Pacoima Wash and north of the 210 Freeway from Hillside to the 5 Freeway. Evacuation centers are located at San Fernando High School and Sylmar High School. A large animal evacuation center is located at Pierce College and a small animal evacuation center is located at the North Misssion Shelter.
Update: 16:00hrs - 5500+ acres 5%
Update: 12:00hrs - Per Press conference - One Fatality from fire severely burned, no identification yet, Occurred on Foothill blvd in Los Angeles. The male adult was found deceased in burned over makeshift wood and cardboard shelter at Paxton and Foothill, with deceased Dog.
One Firefighter injury yesterday(Minor Back injury).
450 homes evacuated. Governor will be asked to declare state of emergency.
Next official update at 1600hrs.
Update: 11:00hrs - Lakeview terrace, Skyview mobile home park, has lost 34 to 35 homes, damaged a self-storage area. Next 36 hours are critical the wind is dictating this fire.
Update: 10:40hrs - Aircraft responding to a new Fire start about eight miles due west of Mareck fire in Santa Susana mountains in grass and light brush along ridge line, moving into oaks.
This fire is in the Porter Ranch area. Near the Renaissance home development and is about 5 acres currently.
Update: 10:20hrs - 3800 residents evacuated, Structure protection currently ongoing in Sylmar/Maclay area, MacClay health center and UCLA Olive view Medical Center have evacuated most fragile infirm patients and newborns this morning, This is a boot's on the ground fire with Dozer's and Hand crews working in rugged terrain, heavy brush.
Update: 09:30hrs - Per Press conference - This fire is a very fluid situation during the 4:00 am wind event the wind gust's reached 65 miles per hour with sustained winds of 50 miles per hour, the fire's wind driven embers jumped eight lanes of the Foothill freeway, five streets of mobile homes in Sky Terrance have suffered burned homes, 1500 acres added to fire perimeter since this morning's wind event, Fire burning on both sides of I-210 possibly minor commercial and industrial damages but no commercial structures lost. Lopez Canyon landfill lost structures and equipment.
Aircraft have been up since first light and are flying at this time including the super scooper's.
The Wildlife Way station north of the fire perimeter is not endangered at this time, since fire is basically moving south to southwest away from Wildlife Way station. Most horses in the fire area have been evacuated to Hansen Dam area.
Little Tujunga Canyon fire flares up; new evacuations issued in the area as winds continue to drive fire, The fire has made a run and crossed the 210 Freeway, the 210 freeway is closed for nearly twenty miles in the area.
A wildfire in Little Tujunga Canyon has flared up due to high winds, the fire jumped containment lines last night. Approximately 20 structures were destroyed this morning. Now a Flare up of 150 acres on the west side of the fire is causing concerns..
Closures: 210 Freeway has been closed in both directions between the 118 Freeway and Interstate 5. Hard closure Northbound I-5, SR-2, to I-210. The eastbound 118 Freeway has been closed at Glenoaks Boulevard. The transition roads from the northbound and southbound 5 Freeway to the eastbound 210 have also been closed.
Update: 09:00hrs - Current evacuations: Sky Terrace Moblie Home park, Lopez Canyon Road, McClay Road, Mesa Verde Road, Top of Hubbard to Maclay Streets to Gladstone Avenue.
Area near El Cariso Regional County Park and El Cariso Golf Course.
There are commerical evacuations near Arroyo and Gladstone Arroyo Avenues.
Update: 07:00hrs - 3,712 acres, 5% contained, Opliger's Type 1 Team has been dispatched to the fire, Dietrich's Type 1 Team is staged and standing by at the Ontario Fire Cache.
Update: 06:00hrs - The fire has made a run and crossed the 210 Freeway, Both sides of the 210 are closed from I-5 to the 118. Gusts have been reported at 49 mph.
Update: 04:30hrs - High winds, Extreme fire behavior with 200' to 300' flame lengths, with rolling evacuations, homes have been lost.
Evacuation: Evacuation orders been issued for Sky Terrace Mobile Home Park, Maclay Street at Harding Avenue, along with Lopez and Kagel Canyon. Officials said more evacuations were very possible. Evacuation Center has been set up at the San Fernando High School.
ALL PERSONS evacuated by the fire are encouraged to visit the American Red Cross shelter at San Fernando High School to register their well being, even if they will not be staying at the shelter. Mission College will be closed today.
The American Red Cross Shelter is at San Fernando High School, 11133 O'Melveny Avenue in the City San Fernando. The nearest cross streets are Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Fox Street.
Google evacuation map: LINK
Significant events: At 0400 hours 30-45 mph erratic NE winds significantly increased fire behavior on the south and west perimeter pushing fire across containment lines. Approximately 20 structures were destroyed this morning. The fire is making significant runs to the west/southwest towards Sylmar and has spotted across the 210 Fwy. The fire is also heading north towards Bear divide and Los Angeles County Camp 9. A Type I Incident Management Team has been activated...
Structures: Approximately 20 structures were destroyed this morning. Multiple structures currently burning. A mobile home park was destroyed within the half hour.
Any news about the Wilflife Waystation?? Are the animals ok?
ReplyDeleteThe Wildlife Way station north of the fire perimeter is not endangered at this time, since fire is basically moving south to southwest away from Wildlife Way station. Most horses in the fire area have been evacuated to Hansen Dam area.
ReplyDeleteOut of the Path of the fire...
ReplyDeleteAbout 5:30 Sunday morning at Blue Star Park I woke up to hear a commotion outside which included yelling and sirens. We were being told to evacuate. But the real reason I woke up to begin with was not the commotion, but the red glow on the hill that I could see through my bedroom window. It started getting brighter and then I could see tall flames licking above the horizon of the steep hill high above us. I knew instantly that it did not bode well for the other trailer court on the hilltop just behind the hill I was seeing. It was nearly certain to mean that there were losses there. (In fact, this one had over 50 homes in it and I saw later that nearly 35 or more were burned!)
Knowing that I would soon have to evacuate, indications being so obvious, I jumped up, dressed and started grabbing the things I thought I should take “just in case”. This included paperwork on vehicles and the home, and most of my backup disks for my work on the computer, program disks, the computers (because of the work in them not backed up on disks yet), a bit of juice to drink, some underwear and a few other items.
I forgot to take my new passport and could have included more clothes, but time was short and, of course, I was not thinking quickly enough. Also, I could not take much more in my vehicle as I had returned from an art show just the evening before and had put off unloading it until the next day when I would be more rested. I just did not have more room to put things in the already packed pickup.
I really recommend making a plan for such emergencies as to what to take in a short amount of time and what to keep in a packet that can be grabbed in one swoop if time is that short. It would be well to check with the insurance to see if you need to carry extra to cover personal things; I did not realize how much I could lose until I went over it in my mind. And not the least of it, it would be good to go through the house and video or photograph what you have so you can PROVE you had it (and remember what you had). Also, it wouldn’t hurt to have a second set of things at a relative or friend’s place even as far as out of state; like backup disks of important jobs or work, contracts, papers, other legal documents.
But my feeling was pretty strong that I had nothing to worry about anyway, so I chose to just get going and not worry about the rest of it all.
I got outside and talked with a few other residents and saw that people were lining up their vehicles so as to exit the mobile home park. I got in line to wait. (We had to wait since the roads out are through residential areas and they also were evacuating. In fact, I suppose we waited at least 15 minutes or half an hour after I got in line—time can be SO flexible on occasion.)
While standing around I saw people responding in various ways, but not really how it was reported in the news. I saw no panic or feelings of doom. In fact, some like myself were actually a bit bored by the sitting and waiting. Some took pictures and were watching with interest as the fire raced down the hill and in only a few minutes had already jumped the freeway.
I saw flames on the south side of the 118 that looked over two stories high. Trees on the hill, the few that were there, flamed instantly into torches that lit the early morning. I did not know until later that a transient had a place just west of the main road that paralleled the west and north of the park, and he ended up caught in it and was killed, along with his dog.
The smoke got thicker and I saw embers blowing about. By the time traffic started to move it was definitely time to get out. Thick billowing smoke was blowing directly down the street toward me about 60 miles an hour; not smoke one could see through like we’d already had, but so thick you couldn’t see into it at all. This was like that you see coming off a burning tire.
I still wasn’t worried; we were moving and it would take only a minute to be well away, and the professionals were doing a good job. I drove down the street until I could turn to the east and get out of the smoke that was blowing over the south of the city there and found a place to park. Then I called a friend and arranged to stay at his house until I could either get back into my home or arrange something else.
I went to his place (he was out of town but his wife let me in and showed me an extra room I could stay in.) I showered off the smoke and got busy on the laptop (thank goodness there was a local wireless network I could get into) and started collecting information about places to call for data about the fire, what agencies were in charge, who to go to to answer further questions, etc. I also looked to see what news and videos were available.
The frustrating part of it was in realizing that the news agencies seem to report facts, but they turn out to be generalities and are so vague that anyone really wanting specific data can’t get it; the vague and general facts only tend to stir up a person and disturb. I suppose this to be partly because accurate data is not available in all the hubbub, but really, that is often what the news people seem to DO.
I think there should be some group or section attached to the firefighting teams or the police that go in as soon as it is relatively safe and take pictures and videos with commentary on exact addresses and such that could be posted on the web or on TV so people could see if their homes were safe.
The last several times I have watched news of fires down here and in other places the common factor seemed to be that owners were kept in the dark for days and maybe up to a week or longer as to whether they even HAD a home any more.
This is just SO unnecessary as, like I say, a small trained crew could safely go in, record accurate information with photos or video, and post it where it would be readily available to owners and families.
Sure, the authorities might argue that they do not want to have other people in there they would have to watch, but do you know, I saw them letting a reporter into the same place next to where I live on the next afternoon while preventing residents from entering. It was SAFE at that time. And, sure, the reality was that heavy winds were expected later in the evening that might blow more fire in there and it WAS a good idea to keep us out for one night so we were safe and not in the way. But that afternoon it was SAFE for a reporter doing essentially what a crew would do; take pictures and gather information.
One of the residents on that northern and western end of the park where the fire came closest was quoted as saying had he not broken out through a locked exit gate that “people might have died” and he’d seen his home burn and (I think) 28 years of life was lost as a result. No, his house still stands and no one was really endangered so dramatically. But he got good coverage by telling his story on TV and to the news.
I was finally allowed in after 9 am Tuesday. But the power was off and I had an appointment so I showered and went to that. I spent the day helping someone get some things done and returned home in the evening. By about 6 or 6:30 the power was restored (our power was interrupted by damage to lines up the canyon and along the highway near us).
I spent the evening watering my plants outside and washing down the walkway, the house, and the carport so the smoky smell would abate. (It really helps!)
Today my internet connection got restored so I could once more do work on web pages, but I also spent some time talking with neighbors and the manager who was presiding over the work being done outside. The only place lost out of all those here was directly across the street. It was a total loss. But the fire department put it out and protected the neighboring houses pretty well. There was some scorching and a bit of heat damage to a few things, but overall no really significant loss to any other structures. The cable lines at the distribution point was in front of that house and these got burned and is the reason I had to wait for it to be restored.
Yes, the people in the canyon and on the hill really took a beating. I was fortunate to be where I was and we came through relatively unscathed. My hat off to the fire crews, the police, and to the officials who did so much to protect us as much as they did!
What a great comment, Thank you for sharing your story!
ReplyDeleteBob - Editor