Big wildfires in LA area

[Tortuga]

This was a neighborhood in Altadena. 

 

[Doug]

So, here's a question maybe someone with experience can help with:

 

I am indirectly affected by the fires.  Due to the winds, So. Cal. Edison shut off the power.  Our Wednesday MWM was cancelled.

 

The winds knock down trees, and one of the families had a tree come down on their mobile home.  The family (grandma, mom and grandson) went to stay with another family initially.

 

I have a three bedroom / two bathroom mobile home I could provide to the family until they get things sorted.

 

The issue is the mobile home community has an HOA.  I contacted the president of the HOA to explain the situation, and to make sure it would be okay for this family to stay in my house as my guests.  He said he would need to consult with the board members and get back to me.

 

Why is it even a question?  Because, in this park the owners are not allowed to rent their houses.  I would not be renting it.  This park is an "over 55" senior park.  The family are two people under 55.

 

So, if you have experience with an HOA, or California mobile home law, can the HOA deny my request outright?  I would think they could put a time limit on their stay, as an emergency measure.

 

Thoughts?

[Cool.As.Ice]

9 hours ago, Tortuga said:

This was a neighborhood in Altadena. 

 

That’s bad. Looks like a war zone, almost

[Lance]

I don’t know… some things are better to act and ask for forgiveness.. later 

People are dying and in desperate situations being a Good Samaritan should not come with a penalty. The minimum it will give them is some place to stay until things settle down.

We went through this 2 years ago .. brothers used their motor homes and travel trailers to move temporarily on to brothers properties until the fire storms passed .. technically they would not be able to set up a temporary mobile home park .. but it was an emergency and no one complained.

Edited Saturday at 10:33 AM by Lance

[Cool.As.Ice]

The fire seems to be mainly in the mountains in the south of Angeles Nat’l forest, and the Malibu area. Wonder if someone who lives in the area can give us a heads up on the ground situation.

 

I used to fight wildfires myself years ago, I know how dangerous they are. It’s not so much the flames that kill you, but oxygen-deprived superheated air.

 

No news on jw.org yet, they’ll probably have a full report sometime next week.

[Dustparticle]

 

You going to hear lawsuits and politics about this disaster. 

[Watching and Waiting]

This is a good summary as of this AM. It is stunning. 
 

Link to LA Fire Department 1/11 6AM Update for Palisades Fire

[Dustparticle]

 

 If you travel to  Manhattan Island and by looking at the map of the size of destruction. It is bigger than the Island and it is not over yet too.

[shelby]

This is such a tragedy. I have seen the Santa Anas blow tractor-trailers onto their sides going through some of the canyon roads.  Humans are as powerless against this force as with a tornado.  This reminds me of when the Oakland hills caught fire and that very affluent area burned to the ground from the rooftops down.  It stopped 3 miles from where my great aunt lived at the time.  
 

The cruelty and stupidity of the comments on articles about the fires just blow me away…when I thought nothing could surprise me.

[chuck83]

 

Sadly, this is running rampant, looting. I want to move so bad. Oh well...

[shelby]

Looting through an evacuation area…real smart.  

[hatcheckgirl]

Are you ok where you are bro Mike?

[Julsey]

I so wish that when events such as these occur, we could have video of Jehovah’s organization in action. Usually it’s months before we see anything, and often it’s only a few pictures and a couple of paragraphs. 😞

[Doug]

20 hours ago, Lance said:

I don’t know… some things are better to act and ask for forgiveness.. later 

People are dying and in desperate situations being a Good Samaritan should not come with a penalty. The minimum it will give them is some place to stay until things settle down.

We went through this 2 years ago .. brothers used their motor homes and travel trailers to move temporarily on to brothers properties until the fire storms passed .. technically they would not be able to set up a temporary mobile home park .. but it was an emergency and no one complained.

 

I hear 'ya.  I'm new to this mobile home community and it's well known I'm a JW.  I felt it was wise to ask rather than act.  While I was out in service this morning the answer came by text.  The HOA board of directors said No.  I didn't like the way they put it, they said "my friends cannot move in because it's an owner-occupied only community".  Of course, I never asked if my friends could "move in" as if they were going to stay. Makes me wonder if my request was even communicated accurately. Anyway, I'm keeping my powder dry for now.  There's an HOA meeting next Saturday.

The family's situation is not as bad as it could have been.  They have insurance!   So, they should be able to rent a house while their mobile home is replaced,  Hopefully, I'll see them at the meeting tomorrow.

I went to look at the mobile home.  The tree broke at about 50 feet up. Even up there, it was about 20 inches across.  I can't believe that massive tree came crashing down onto three mobile homes at around 9:45 pm and no one was injured!  A dog was killed, poor thing.

[Amygdala]

https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/are-arsonists-responsible-los-angeles-wildfires-rcna186949

 

There is suspicion that a homeless man started the fire by setting trash on fire. Or if not the case, the thought is someone started a smaller fire and that set it off in motion, called copycat arsonists. Perhaps some angry homeless people out there. But just a suspicion. Lots of actors are incensed on social media.

[SteveAus]

1 hour ago, Amygdala said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/are-arsonists-responsible-los-angeles-wildfires-rcna186949

 

There is suspicion that a homeless man started the fire by setting trash on fire. Or if not the case, the thought is someone started a smaller fire and that set it off in motion, called copycat arsonists. Perhaps some angry homeless people out there. But just a suspicion. Lots of actors are incensed on social media.

 

Just before the Eaton fire, surveillance cameras and witnesses spotted arcing powerlines, according to this report

[Amygdala]

Wouldn‘t doubt it.

[Pabo]

1 hour ago, SteveAus said:

Just before the Eaton fire, surveillance cameras and witnesses spotted arcing powerlines, according to this report

 

We had that happen across the road from our home a couple of times, but more scarisly during the Sir Ivan Bushfires period in 2017. It was hot and windy 49°c (120°F) with winds up to 120kph (90mph) gusts. A power line connector broke on a power pole and a powerline landed onto another powerline that was underneath it, which dropped a hot piece of burning metal into the long grass below it. It sounded as if a shotgun was fired.

 

Luckily I was moving our hoses around the yard in preparation of any fires that may happen to come our way, and when I had noticed the fire at the base of that power pole, I ran and turned our fire pump one and then started dragging the hoses that I had laid out from our western side of the property to the southern side. Our neighbour too had seem the smoke issuing out from the base of the power pole (who was going to the toilet at time) and  contacted his neighbouring landlord, who came down from his home and his quadbike and noticed one of the hoses that I had laid at the front entrance. He traced the hose back to the tap and turned it on as I was starting our pump at the rear dam. I dragged further hoses to the front of the home, crossing the road and we ended up with about 150m (165 yards) in my brother-in-laws paddock extinguishing the fire. Within about 7 minutes it have burnt out about 2 acres. We had the fire out before the bush fire brigade got to our location, which they were sitting prepared awaiting in town (5minutes away) for any spot fires being reported.

 

The scariest thing that the winds were coming from the west, but the fire was traveling just as fast westward against the wind than it did going eastward with the wind. My brother-in-laws paddock had long towering grass, which bent over qith the wind, but the fire was burning underneath in the opposite direction. Whilst we were out in the paddock, we had the fire at our feet but the long grass prevented us from seeing it when it bent over.

 

So if LA was getting 160kph (100mph) winds fanning that fire, it is going to be catastrophic conditions to deal with. Fire can be a scary thing to deal with, especially if you are not prepared for it. We are always upgrading our equipment and preparing for bushfire season, even in winter, as we live in a notorious place for winds, and also there are many people who really don't know how when to light a match. 

 

Nornally, it can be lightning, powerlines, working in paddocks with slashers or machinery or motor bikes that emit a spark from their exhausts, or people's plain stupidity throwing out cigarette butts, glass bottle onto the side of the road, or just being sick in the head about lighting fires. But what I have been seeing is people discarding their vaping devices onto the side of the road out from their car windows. They are even more dangerous than cigarette butts, as they can be hidden from the grass on the side of the road, and if you hit one of them with your mower/slasher blade, you can start a fire due to the lithium battery that these devices have in them. An you would not be able to put the out easily as well!

[Witness1970]

On 1/8/2025 at 4:15 PM, Osprey said:

 

That is a very good point of course, and I agree wholeheartedly.

 

 

Wow, I am not sure I would have a courage to bulldoze Tesla's, their batteries may start burning violently if damaged.

Better to move the cars so fire equipment can get in.  The firefighters are risking their lives every day to fight the fire.

[Witness1970]

On 1/8/2025 at 1:20 PM, Qapla said:

We have a family in our area that lost everything when Paradise, CA burned in 2018. They evacuated as directed but could not really take much since the fire was moving so quickly.

 

They were in our congregation for a while but are now in a neighboring one.

So, they moved all the way across country.  Away from the wildfire area to the Hurricane prone area.  Global warming is not only making the fires worse but also making hurricanes worse.

[Witness1970]

I have heard talk about Insurance companies refusing to write new home insurance in California and Florida.

 

Fighting climate change would be cheaper than paying for all the damage done by the wildfires and hurricanes.  

[LeolaRootStew]

1 hour ago, Witness1970 said:

I have heard talk about Insurance companies refusing to write new home insurance in California and Florida.

 

Fighting climate change would be cheaper than paying for all the damage done by the wildfires and hurricanes.  

 

California has been burning for hundreds of years. It's getting worse because of mismanagement. "Fighting climate change" would be incomprehensibly more expensive than the solutions they are already aware of.

 

An article from 2020 complaining about the same things:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/decades-mismanagement-led-choked-forests-now-it-s-time-clear-n1243599

Edited 19 hours ago by LeolaRootStew

[Tortuga]

8 hours ago, Amygdala said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/are-arsonists-responsible-los-angeles-wildfires-rcna186949

 

There is suspicion that a homeless man started the fire by setting trash on fire. Or if not the case, the thought is someone started a smaller fire and that set it off in motion, called copycat arsonists. Perhaps some angry homeless people out there. But just a suspicion. Lots of actors are incensed on social media.

Several years ago, we had a large fire in our area that started when a homeless man lit a small fire in an open field to cook his lunch. Investigators found several conder blocks and a small grill.

[Tortuga]

I wonder if solar panels made things worse during the fire. It seems it would be easier for sparks to get blown under the panels and ignite the roof. It seems it would be harder for the firemen to get water on and under the panels. I have read that it is more difficult for firemen to use normal firefighting techniques and vent the roof of a burning house because of solar panels. I wonder about the health hazards when the panels burn. Typically, a fireman would wear SCBA but I saw a lot of newscasts, and no one was wearing SCBA.

[daydream]

1 hour ago, Tortuga said:

SCBA

Self-contained breathing apparatus

a respirator worn to provide an autonomous supply of breathable gas in an atmosphere that is immediately dangerous to life or health from a gas cylinder. They are typically used in firefighting and industry. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-contained_breathing_apparatus

 

Spoiler