SacBee: SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. A ferocious wildfire had swallowed up many homes as it spread across more than 49 square miles of mountain and desert east of Los Angeles. Exactly how many, however, and to whom they belonged, remained uncertain.
Firefighters were faced with the difficult task of tallying that damage while still battling the huge, unruly blaze amid hot, dry and gusty weather that was expected through Thursday evening.
That left evacuees in a cruel limbo, forced to spend another night wondering whether anything they owned was still intact.
They included Shawn Brady, who had been told by a neighbor that flames had raged down their street. But he was waiting for official word.
“What I’ve been told is that flames are currently ripping through my house,” said Brady, a dockworker who lives on the outskirts of the evacuated town of Wrightwood with his mother, sister and a dog.
“I’m trying to remain optimistic,” Brady said as he sat outside a shelter for evacuees in Fontana. “It’s the not knowing that’s the worst.”
San Bernardino County fire officials could only confirm that dozens of structures had burned, and that big numbers are likely.
“There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing,” county Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said Wednesday after flying over a fire scene he described as “devastating.”
“It hit hard. It hit fast. It hit with an intensity that we hadn’t seen before,” he said.
The shocking thing is that there’s still something left to burn in the Angeles National Forest. I’m mean really, when isn’t it on fire?
Evacuating people is the wrong thing to do.
They need to stay, clear brush away from homes and create firebreaks.
When we had the big fire here, only the homes that people stayed and protected were saved.
JohnS, my oldest son is on a Hot Shot Crew and I’ve seen videos of trees exploding and a wall of flames. Once again you establish your self as an idiot.
This is what happens when a bunch of ignorant people spend decades letting fuel accumulate and dry out while living in the middle of it all.
I life in Florida, but at least hurricanes move slowly enough we have a lot of time to get ready or get gone.
This is a major metropolitan area surrounded by scrub brush and lots if difficult to access areas. This is about as dry as I have seen it in a long time, and El Nino pretty much skipped us last year. Maybe Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” was really about us.
I hope the rains come before the Santa Anas do.
Like JohnS said, a fire came through Malibu in the late 70s, those who stayed behind all saved their houses while others burned down. It’s a tough call though, uncertainty of how much danger you are really in. My house wasn’t in the path so we didn’t have that decision to make, but we have certainly put trash cans of water on the roof at times.
Did the left blame globull warming?
JohnS: A guy I work with nearly died doing just that. The brush was cleared, but a large gust of wind actually blew flames over his head and burned the home behind his. If there are winds at all, embers can carry over a mile – in 2007 we had holes burned in our patio furniture although the fire was over a mile away.
If the fire authorities say evacuate, people need to evacuate.
Lived in Cali most of my life, every year the same story. But it’s getting worse with the environmentalist bullshit.
What’s going to happen next is that they’ll get the rain, and with no growth to shore up hillsides…mudslides…and they’ll blame that on globull warming as well.
Or maybe they could clear the brush around their homes before a fire breaks out?
I don’t live in Cali, but it sounds like you need to treat a wildfire like we treat hurricanes. First, evaluate the risk. If the threat is small enough, batten down and stay the course. If not, get the hell out of Dodge and worry about rebuilding later. All the while realizing that if you underestimate the danger or circumstances change, you could die.
🙂
The fire attacked California because it knew that the liberals nesting there wouldn’t get mad at it!
While I’m sad that those people have lost their homes, but they also did not pay for the extra assessment tax of around $160+ per home per year for fires like this one. Depending on how much acreage you have, that’s what you’re assessed on. I’m assuming all those people have fire insurance – they have to if they have a mortgage on the property. Where I live we all live in the danger of a fire spreading through here. It’s our choice to live here, take the good with the bad. No one is safe from anything.
One more thought. Housing starts are lagging here. If people decide to rebuild, it will be a big plus for contractors, supply stores, etc. My SIL is an electrical contractor, he’s already getting business from the fire in Lake County from last year. He’s very busy and is making the bucks. So, while people lose their homes, it’s a big plus for builders.
I agree that if one is afraid they probably should not stand and fight, just don’t leave in a car, tens of thousands are killed by them every year.
Not long back, when men were a bit more stout than they are today, they would show up in droves to aid in a situation like this. If those thousands of men stayed and fought the fire whole tracts of homes would have been spared.
If you aren’t up to it, by all means, run away. You would probably be a liability rather than an asset anyway. But don’t force those willing to stand and fight to leave.
Golden Fox: The broken window falacy.
“There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing,” county Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said Wednesday after flying over a fire scene he described as “devastating.”
“It hit hard. It hit fast. It hit with an intensity that we hadn’t seen before,” he said.
Every year we hear this repeated with every major fire. Last year it was the Butte fire and the 2 fires near Clear Lake, and others near Lake Hughes.
Well tell that to the firefighters burned in Malibu in the sixties, the firefighters killed in Colorado South Canyon or the smokejumpers killed in Idaho at Mann Gulch, etc, etc, etc. How about the Big Burn in Idaho in 1910 that killed 87 people? Or the Honda fire on Vandenberg AFB in the 70’s!
There have ALWAYS been super fires and just because this generation never saw one doesn’t mean it never happened or this season is somehow special.
What IS different is the population growth.
I was a Calif firefighter and we had plenty of close calls long before it became popular to cover every fire non-stop. We were pretty much ignored by the press until 9/11.
And yes in a free country people should have the right to defend their property. No one is asking firefighters to risk their lives for those who decide to stay. That is their choice.
In the “old days” rangers and sheriffs would go to the local bar and round up as many men as needed who had no training whatsoever and very few ever died.
Firefighting is as basic as it gets. Deny fire, fuel, air or heat.
I WAS a firefighter. I can still use a shovel, chainsaw or hose.
This is just more big brother control of everything all the time.
Even a highly regarded L.A. training cap’t says people who are able should be allowed to defend their property.