Southern California - Malibu Ablaze Again

Kanan, Corral Canyon, Latigo Canyon???
Lots of wind, 45-50mph.

Just saw this on the news :(
Hope that everyone is ok, and that they are able to get the fire out quickly.

I just did a quick check, as I saw the smoke out my window towards the hills. My brother lives a couple of miles from here closer to the fire and is out of town so I drove over there. The fire is burning west from Corral Canyon. It has crossed PCH and is burning on both sides according to news reports. This may be an arson fire.

Kanan is closed at Mulholland, essentially the top of the Rock Store. Smoke is blowing offshore and north. The cloud is huge. Latigo and other canyons are affected by closures so riding in the SM's today is out.

Wind is building here. Went from calm to 10 mph in 5 minutes. This is going to be a bad one.

Sheldon

Joy just called and said the winds through the Santa Monica mountains are horizontal and just getting thick. Not a good day to ride near them.

She also expressed concern that GMR will be closed as a precautionary measure with the strong winds.

Joy just called and said the winds through the Santa Monica mountains are horizontal and just getting thick. Not a good day to ride near them.

She also expressed concern that GMR will be closed as a precautionary measure with the strong winds.

In the past 30 min, winds have increased even more and now pushing 15+ in the gusts. Smoke has blown over the hill as it gets pushed towards the coast.

Don't know what our shop ride (Agoura Cycles) will be planning at 8. Sundance has two rides on the calendar at 7:30; one to Hidden Valley which should be okay and another through the SM's near Calabasas/Stunt.

At least it's relatively warmish!

Sheldon

We could see the orange flames as far away as Marina del Rey. Very sad. :(

I rode up the Rock Store to the top of Little Sycamore just yesterday. Everything was so beautiful, I sure hate this.

STeve

Didn't see any flames on my ride this morning in the Woodland Hills area, but was on the wrong side of the mountains to see them. I did see several choppers and at least one water bomber aircraft flying towards the fire.

Looks like the fire started at the peak of Corral Canyon. The fire burned over Latigo and they're trying to stop it at Kanan Dume. Mandatory evacuations through Trancas in the east and Mulholland in the north.

Our shop ride charged through Hidden Valley today, no effect from the fires at all as the smoke blew elsewhere. The cloud is still quite large but it sounds like they are getting a handle on the burn. I drove Kanan to Troutdale and all is clear; closure of the road is farther up.

Sheldon

just my luck, i had planned a nice long ride through kanan and mulhuland today.

35 homes have burned so far, one of which was Flea's :(
Axl Rose's house was on fire, but was saved.
They think the fire was set by a rave at 3:30am

What a difference an hour makes. I just went for an hour's ride in North Ranch, when I left my house it looked like an atomic bomb had just gone off over the edge of the hills. Now it looks like just a little residual smoke in the air. I hope that means they got a handle on the fire. My heart goes out to the injured fire fighters.

STeve

I heard from some newscast today that once the wind forecast came, they started to assemble firefighters and equipment, before the fire even started. Looks like it worked, they have it 25% contained already.

Wow, I've been watching this off an on today and I can't believe what a fire season it's been.

^ Terrible. I can't understand why someone would think starting a fire is a joke or funny, especially with all the damage they cause.

Flea's house didn't burn.

Flea's house didn't burn.

That is great news! Curious why channel 7 is reporting that it did?

Ok, channel 7 just showed Flea's house that did burn to the ground. They added that he did not live there, and that it was a rental.. but it was indeed owned by him :(

Total homes lost now up to 49 :(

Flea's house didn't burn.

Rock star's home burned

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/25/california.wildfire/index.html

I hope Ronjon's okay. He hasn't posted. I'm going to give him a call. I don't think Topanga Canyon was threatened this time, was it?

I hope Ronjon's okay. He hasn't posted. I'm going to give him a call. I don't think Topanga Canyon was threatened this time, was it?

All's well. I was out of town last week til Friday and got back just in time for my parents to visit for the weekend. Haven't had much time for posting.

I remembered watching a TLC episode some years ago on communities setting up wireless fire sensor devices (sparsely spread in an area) that is used to provide advance warning. Not sure if they're actually practical/in use though.

I think part of the problem in preventing these kinds of fires is that the area is just huge. Also, the homes are often spread out throughout the area, and for the most part, they don't really form cohesive neighborhoods.

Plus, one of the most defining characterstic of chaparral is it's affinity to burn. Fire is intrinsic to the ecosystem in this region. Just because we continue to choose to live in the middle of it, doesn't change that. Exactly why it needs to burn, and how to manage it effectively remain controversial topics.

A small summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral

As always, it's ultimately about the money.

Found your article: http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1160288/what_caused_malibu_fire_safety_patrol_cuts_putting_parkland_at/?source=r_science