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LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

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Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#11

Post by 0xffff2 »

kaycebasques wrote: post #8

Map of evacuation zones: https://protect.genasys.com/Search?z=9.689266971108566&latlo... Looks like 3 independent fires?

Yep, 3 separate fires. The first in West LA blew up late yesterday afternoon and blew through a bunch of residential areas by the looks of it. From watching Flight Radar, it seems to be getting most of the air resources, although that could just be because wind conditions are favorable on that fire today. The second fire near Pasadena started yesterday as well, but really blew up overnight. The third fire up North I think started overnight.

There's been a huge amount of wind throughout So Cal today and yesterday that is driving the rapid spread of these fires.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#13

Post by cindycindy »

throwup238 wrote: post #10
mrbluecoat wrote: post #3

JPL would be a national loss. I hope it doesn't come to that. Stay safe, SoCal folks!

All the big campuses here like JPL and the Getty are built for this (it’s more or less standard now for insuring anything high value). They have landscaping designed to slow down fires, dedicated water systems, and firebreaks all around the buildings. The civilian evacuation order is because the area south of the fire is densely built up with single family homes without much in the way of defenses and JPL has to comp…

Will look into options for supporting these folks. Thank you for the level-headed and informative response.

I prefer HN over some other news sources, which seem less concerned about presenting information to the degree the news article can vouch for. Media literacy is a two-way street and we need better reporting standards. If reading and writing is a lot like parsing, then anyone who spreads misinformation is just a parsehole.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#14

Post by JumpCrisscross »

With much of California, Texas and Florida property damage is concentrated where folks built where they shouldn’t have [1]. (At times nudged on by subsidised insurance [2].)

Is that true in this case, too? (Being so close to LA, it doesn’t strike me that it could be.) If not, is my general thesis off?

[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1204923950/arizona-california...

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09218...

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#16

Post by sapphicsnail »

I was in Pacific Palisades when the fire started yesterday. I've never seen one spread so fast. It went from there being smoke way in the distance and people going about their lives normally, then 90 minutes later the fire was everywhere and people were panicking and evacuating en masse.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#17

Post by bragr »

throwup238 wrote: post #10
mrbluecoat wrote: post #3

JPL would be a national loss. I hope it doesn't come to that. Stay safe, SoCal folks!

All the big campuses here like JPL and the Getty are built for this (it’s more or less standard now for insuring anything high value). They have landscaping designed to slow down fires, dedicated water systems, and firebreaks all around the buildings. The civilian evacuation order is because the area south of the fire is densely built up with single family homes without much in the way of defenses and JPL has to comp…

The Getty Villa has reported that some landscaping burned, but the buildings and collections are safe.

https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/getty-villa-threatened-pal...

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#18

Post by Dalewyn »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #14

With much of California, Texas and Florida property damage is concentrated where folks built where they shouldn’t have [1]. (At times nudged on by subsidised insurance [2].) Is that true in this case, too? (Being so close to LA, it doesn’t strike me that it could be.) If not, is my general thesis off? [1] https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1204923950/arizona-california... [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article…

Deserts are generally uninhabitable by their very nature, but these persistent fires are primarily due to lack of proper underbrush care and other preventative measures.

California fires are a classic case of "We tried nothing and we're out of ideas!", speaking as a former Californian I honestly think the faster solution at this point is for enough of the state to burn down that pretending the problem doesn't exist is no longer good enough.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#19

Post by grumple »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #14

With much of California, Texas and Florida property damage is concentrated where folks built where they shouldn’t have [1]. (At times nudged on by subsidised insurance [2].) Is that true in this case, too? (Being so close to LA, it doesn’t strike me that it could be.) If not, is my general thesis off? [1] https://www.npr.org/2023/11/06/1204923950/arizona-california... [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article…

Your thesis is way off, and people didn’t understand climate back when these areas were settled. And really, we still don’t know how to or can’t politically manage wildfires well.

Part of climate change is that this man-induced change is making previously hospitable areas much less so.

Re: LA wildfires force thousands to evacuate, NASA JPL closed

#20

Post by throwup238 »

I live south of the evacuation warning zone and the wind and fires have turned the entire San Gabriel Valley into an apocalyptic scene. Detritus littered all over the roads (with tons of dry flammable eucalyptus branches, yay!) and there’s ash falling from the sky in big flakes. Air quality in the tank though it was even worse a few hours ago and everything smells like smoke.

This is the worst fire I’ve seen in SoCal since the Valley fire.

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