New southern California fires destroy homes and prompt evacuations – as it happened
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Hillside fire sparked overnight about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, while the Ronald Reagan library has so far survived a close call with the Easy fire
A car burns in a garage as a home goes up in flames during the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino, California, on Thursday. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
A car burns in a garage as a home goes up in flames during the Hillside fire in the North Park neighborhood of San Bernardino, California, on Thursday. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
That’s it for me here in Oakland as I leave my post for the night. Thanks for sticking with me for another day of wildfire news. With any luck, winds should ease up overnight and into the weekend, allowing firefighters to get a handle on the more than a dozen fires that burned today.
Before I sign off, let’s take a look back at the day and see where firefighters stand on some of the biggests wildfires:
Firefighters have continued to chip away at the Kincade fire in Sonoma county, heretofore the state’s biggest fire of the season, and it was 60% contained as of 3pm today. The fire has charred roughly 77,000 acres, but firefighters appear to have made a strong stand.
Evacuation orders have been mostly lifted by those forced out of their homes by the Getty fire that broke out earlier this week in west Los Angeles, threatening some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. Firefighters worked overnight to cool any hot spots and contain any flare-ups within the current fire perimeter, reports the Los Angeles Fire department. An “Extreme Red Flag Warning” remains in effect through 6:00pm, as the historic Santa Ana winds that played a hand in fuleing the day’s fires continue to gust across southern California.
The Easy fire near the bedroom community of Simi Valley north of Los Angeles continues to burn, but firefighters are reported to have been able to hold a line and keep it from consuming additional homes and the 125,000 square foot Reagan Library perched on a nearby hillside. (Goats have also played a role in protecting the library, and they’re finally getting their due). As of this morning, the fire had consumed about 1,500 acres and was only contained at 5%, though responders are believed to have made progress since.
Firefighters battled new wildfires on in California including a fierce blaze in the city of San Bernardino that forced some residents to flee their homes overnight. The Hillside fire broke out after midnight in San Bernardino, a city of more than 200,000 people some 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said. (Photo by Apu Gomes / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images) Photograph: Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images
As we tune into wildfire coverage, we often hear the word “contain,” as in the percentage at which a fire is contained. But what does that mean? It means, roughly, that firefighters have a handle on the inferno. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the fire has been extinguished. In fact, fires can burn long after firefighters have contained them.
In the firefighting world, containment means a certain level of control — specifically, how much of the fire’s edge, or perimeter, firefighters believe they can stop from expanding. A natural barrier such as a river or creek can help. So can human interventions such as using a bulldozer to scrape the vegetation off a swath of land to deprive the fire of fuel it could use to grow.
That’s why even when a fire is 100% contained, it can still be burning and firefighters stay to make sure it does not get out of control.
The percentage is simply firefighters telling the public how much of the fire perimeter they believe will not go beyond their defenses, LAT reports:
Firefighters often set up layers of defense called contingency lines some distance from the containment line. They will scrape the earth clean down to the dirt on ridge tops up to a mile away from a fire’s edge to set up a position to make a future defensive stand. Meanwhile, they work their way closer to the fire, building layer after layer of additional defense by laying lines of fire retardant and using bulldozers, shovels, axes and chain saws to clear out vegetation...
But that doesn’t mean the battle is over:
After a fire reaches 100% containment — which can take months, depending on the weather conditions, the fire’s size and the area’s topography — crews work toward declaring the fire “controlled,” McLean said.
When a fire is controlled, it’s essentially out. Authorities will no longer assign crews to the blaze and will instead send a patrol out daily to ensure no scorched areas rekindle and start another fire.
Most of southern Calfornia remains under a red-flag warning through 6pm today, an alert triggered by crackling-dry conditions and Santa Ana winds moving across the region at historic speeds.
Meterologists warned that conditions yesterday and today could make for a dangerous wildfire recipe, and it looks like they didn’t miss the mark. As of this afternoon, more than a dozen active fires burned across the California, most of them in the southern half of the state.
But, there’s a chance, weather folks say while knocking on wood, that conditions could ease soon. Winds are expected to slow into the weekend, and the San Francisco Chronicle reports that next week a strong jet stream coming in from Russia could undercut the high-pressure ridge sitting off Californai’s coast and bring much-needed moisture to the West Coast.
It would be a very welcome kind of Russian interference.
Firefighters continue to battle the Hillside fire in San Bernardino county, where mandatory evacuations affected about 3,600 residents on Thursday. The blaze that started just after 1am had grown to 200 acres by noon, and was threatening 1,200 homes.
Here are some stunning images from the Hillside fire.
A firefighting helicopter makes a drop near palm trees at the 46 Fire on 31 October 2019 near San Bernardino, California. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
Firefighters mop up a burned down home destroyed by the Hillside fire in San Bernardino, 31 October 2019. Photograph: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Firefighters work to control the flames from spreading as embers blown by wind threatens to burn other homes in the North Park neighborhood at the Hillside fire in San Bernardino, on 31 October 2019. Photograph: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A firefighter sprays water on a leveled home as the Hillside fire burns in San Bernardino, on 31 October 2019. Whipped by strong wind, the blaze destroyed multiple residences. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
Flames from the Hillside fire consume a home in San Bernardino on Thursday, 31 October 2019. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
A firefighter prepares to douse a hot spot while protecting a home from the Hillside fire. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
With the historic Santa Ana winds ripping across southern Calfornia and kicking up new blazes faster than firefighters can put them down, it can be tough to keep track of them all. Luckily, our Los Angeles pals at the LAist have done the heavy lifting and cobbled together the active fires in a handy post.
For reference, Cal Fire has an incident map that tends to generally have the most reliable and up-to-date infomation on the status of fires – when they started, how many acres or buildings have burned, what percentage of the fire that has been contained. That type of thing.
Here are some of the fires burning across SoCal right now:
Hillside fire
The Hillside fire ignited about 1.30am Thursday in San Bernardino and quickly consumed 200 acres and spurred evacuations affecting more than 1,300 people. The fire initially was headed downhill toward the city of San Bernardino, LAist reports.
A spokesperson for San Bernardino county fire said 500 homes are in mandatory evacuation zones. About 500 firefighters were at the scene Thursday. As of 1pm the fire was contained at about 50%.
House burned almost to the studs by #HillsideFire in North San Bernardino. Parts are still smoldering. Near corner of Viento Way and Monte Drive. Neighboring house also burned. @kpcc@laistpic.twitter.com/yn0fZ7UTUK
The #46Fire began after a police pursuit ended in a crash and ignited a fire. It has quickly spread to 300 acres, damaging homes and forcing evacuations in Jurupa Valley. https://t.co/6tlnrxPK7Y
The Easy fire was reported just before 6.10am Wednesday, south of the 118 Freeway near Madera and Easy streets in the city of Simi Valley. As of 6.45am Thursday about 1,700 acres had burned.
LAist writes:
After the Easy Fire began, the fire spread rapidly west toward the 23 Freeway and south toward Thousand Oaks. Some outbuildings had been destroyed and one residential structure may have burned. The flames were also creeping dangerously close to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Authorities reported three firefighters had sustained injuries in the fight to bring the Easy Fire under control.
By Thursday morning the fire was 10% contained and all evacuation orders in the area had been lifted.
Other fires include the Getty fire in west Los Angeles, the Hill fire, also in Riverside county, Orange county’s Castlewood fire, Dexter fire in Riverside, Soledad fire in Santa Clarita, the Brea fire, in Los Angeles county’s Diamond Bar, the Mureau fire, north of Malibu, the Saddle Ridge fire in the LA county’s San Fernando Valley, Tick fire, Palisades fire and Old Water fire, currently burning in San Bernardino.
That makes MORE THAN A DOZEN active fires. That’s a lot of fires.
Camp fire. Easy fire. Hillside and Hill fire. The names can range from ominous to ironic to redundant. But just who names them, and how do they land on a name??
Los Angeles Times has a good explainer on the topic that should add some clarity:
Fires are named almost the instant they are reported, said Scott McClean, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire. The decision is usually made by the dispatcher who takes the call. Less frequently, fires are named by the first responder to reach the scene.
After receiving a report of fire, dispatchers quickly plug its coordinates into a map and look for a nearby feature to use as a moniker. A geologic landmark like a valley, river or canyon will work. So will the name of a road.
“The name helps direct us to the location,” McClean said. “We respond to about 170 fires a week throughout the state. We don’t have time to second-guess ourselves. We get a location and a name, and then we get to work.”
Firefighters have reportedly stopped a blaze that erupted Wednesday night south of the US-Mexican border before it reached San Diego and communities further north.
The blaze broke out around 6pm in Tijuana before heading north into San Diego County. By noon the so-called Copper fire had burned 50 acres and was contained at 15%.
That fire ignited in an undeveloped riverbed area known for its homeless encampments, according to a local fire department battalion chief, reports Los Angeles Times.
Chula Vista Fire (Left) #CopperFire on Otay Mountain (Mexico) (right)
The 125,000 sq ft Reagan library – “the repository of presidential records for President Reagan’s administration” that holds over 60m pages of documents, over 1.6m photographs, a half million feet of motion picture film and tens of thousands of audio and video tapes according to its website – has been preemptively protected by goats.
In May, about 500 hungry goats were enlisted to help eat away at and clear the grasses and vegetation that could catch fire on the hillside surrounding the Reagan library and museum.
The goats were hired from a local company – 805 Goats – to clear around 13 acres of land, reports the BBC.
Scott Morris, who started the company last November, charges around $1,000 per acre of land. With ongoing threat of wildfires, Morris predicts he’ll need to double his herd to meet demand.
A banner hangs at the entrance to the Ronald Reagan presidential library as a helicopter flies over nearby burned hills on 30 October 2019. Photograph: Dean Musgrove/AP
Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted on Thursday for the those forced out of their homes by the Easy fire – what had been a fast-moving blaze in Simi Valley, a bedroom community north of Los Angeles.
The fire at one point threatened 6,500 homes and the 125,000 square foot Reagan presidential library, before firefighters were able to defend a line. The fire is still burning, but firefighters are believed to have contained the blaze. Cal Fire reports that the blaze consumed nearly 1,500 acres since it started burning yesterday.
Anyone still evacuated from the #EasyFire in #Moorpark - you can GO HOME. All evacuations lifted. (you may not have power though... but that's another problem). https://t.co/DXJbplQHtj
Mario Koran here, taking over the fire-watch from my colleague Joanna Walters in New New York.
As firefighters in San Bernardino work to beat back the latest blaze, a number of people on Twitter, across the political aisle have fretted over the possibility of losing a piece of history. Here’s a piece from the library’s webpage about what it actually contains.
Perched on a mountaintop with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and the Pacific Ocean, the Ronald Reagan presidential library is one of California’s most beautiful and unique destinations.
The Library’s 300 acre site, about 45 miles from Los Angeles international airport (LAX), represents the “shining city on a hill” often referenced by President Reagan and appropriately serves as the final resting place of the nation’s 40th President.
As a Presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Reagan Library, under the authority of the Presidential Records Act, is the repository of presidential records for President Reagan’s administration. Our holdings include over 60 million pages of documents, over 1.6 million photographs, a half million feet of motion picture film and tens of thousands of audio and video tapes. Additionally, the Library houses personal papers collections including documents from Ronald Reagan’s eight years as governor of California. Information on accessing all of these records, including how to file a Freedom of Information Act request, can be found under the “I am a Researcher” tab above.
In other words, whether or not you agree with the Gipper’s politics, losing a piece of history compounds the loss of property. So far, the Reagan library has stood unscathed, but flames have so far crept up to its doorstep.
An aggressive wildfire erupted Wednesday morning on the hillsides above Simi Valley, triggering a new round of evacuation in southern California.
Photograph: Xinhua/Barcroft Media
Reagan, as president, made no attempts to hide his disdain for government agencies. Oh, the irony. Washington Post ponts out:
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” That’s what Ronald Reagan used to say, a summation of his belief that government was not just incompetent but malevolent, a ravenous beast that would steal your money and ruin your life. Or as he put it in his first inaugural address, ‘Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
