Station Fire - Signs of the Times

The Station Fire, at 93% containment, is making news again. Mount Wilson is once again in danger as thermal imaging has shown there are many underground hot spots. Apparently, fire can burn down a root line and create underground embers which can be blown by wind and create a larger fire. And the Santa Ana Devil winds are due to hit tomorrow night.

Before moving on from this topic, I wanted to share some of the many signs that have cropped up in town after the fire. This one is on the back of a motor home near the (closed) entrance to the forest.

This is at the entrance to the Deukmejian park. You can see the old winery clearly from the freeway. It was saved but the park remains closed.

I can't resist a little marketing 101 lesson. Up until the last week, it was a common to see firemen coming off shift and stopping to get a bite to eat as a group. These heroes look tired and worn and dirty. Their faces are often smudged with soot.

I saw a group of them leaving Starbucks one morning and it brought tears of gratitude to my eyes. Apparently the gratitude is a group sentiment. People are walking into restaurants and picking up the dining tab for firemen.

So there's a local news guy doing a remote from the burger joint up the street - Tommy's. His spiel goes like this:

"We're here at Tommy's burgers where a group of firemen are having dinner. [Camera pans to firemen and then cuts to a field piece of other local restaurants and shots of firemen eating.] Everywhere you go here in Sunland - Tujunga, residents are so relieved the fire has moved on and so grateful to the firemen, that people are spontaneously picking up the dinner tab for the firemen. Over at ___________ [local sit-down mom and pop restaurant], a woman walked in and saw a table full of firemen, asked for their tab and paid it. It was $180 with the tip. We were down at Taco Bell and witnessed people insisting on paying for the meal of the firemen walking in. And at ________ and __________[other restaurants], the owners picked up the tab. Clearly, the people here are so grateful that this fire has moved away from their homes and deeper into the forest.

The camera cuts back to the reporter in the field. "Yes, indeed, the folks around here are indeed grateful and here at Tommy's, the food isn't free but the people dining here have been so happy to see the firemen, hugging them and giving them the thumbs up."

OY! If that's not a marketing opportunity missed, I don't know what is! The BFF and I were sort of shocked. The manager at Tommy's was so generous with us when we managed the football snack shop, allowing us to purchase their famous chili for a song and resale it at the school for a handsome profit. We can't imagine him missing the chance for good publicity. But there must have been a disconnect somewhere.

The newcast must have had some impact because, the next evening, this sign appeared:

Residents have put up signs. This one was two houses away from an arm of the Mt. Luken's fire.

Alpine Village showed their gratitude too. And so did businesses.
And now, their are signs up everywhere adversing duct cleaning, ash removal and of course from contractors wanting to rebuild.

Which has led to the appearance of these signs:

Fire On the Mountain - With Update 8 am 10/14

Updates below. It's going to be a loverly fire season in LA LA land. After fighting insomnia for a few hours, I turned on the news which is hard thing to find on our local stations on a Sunday. I was surprised to learn of a local fire. I decided to get up and take a peek at our mountains but went to grab the camera first. I could see this blaze - just one ridge line from my creek - from my office window. These were taken from the back porch. They are a bit blurry...It is pitch black at five a.m.






Gee, our impending wind storm has really shown up for the party yet! We're expecting those later in the day. It will be a tension filled Sunday in the neighborhood.


7 p.m. Life goes on in our canyon. Mabel and I even got a mid-day hike in as the winds were blowing SW toward Burbank. It wasn't even smoky where we are. The fire is about 5 miles away and the fire department has a web site they update if anyone is interested. This fire is named the Marek Wildland Fire.

This morning, the BFF and I were headed out to run a few errands for my upcoming show and we spotted seven fire trucks on the freeway headed toward the fire. It's nice to know the calvary is on the way. Still, our wind storm is predicted to last for two days with sustained winds in the 20-40 mph range and gusts of 60 mph. That will make fighting this fire very difficult!

10/13 - 10 am The fire is actually about two miles further up the canyon than I originally thought but with all the smoke and 65 mph winds... Everyone in this valley is on edge. The freeways are all closed and traffic along our one road is moving slow.

When I went to bed last night, I could no longer see fire on the mountain. But after the winds kicked up, I kept hearing sirens and by 4 a.m. the orange glow was back. Sleep was intermittent...kept having to get up and secure stuff blowing around the yard and banging on the walls. When I woke, I DIDN'T hear the sound of choppers...NOT reassuring when fire is nearby. It's was too windy. Now they are flying but not as much as yesterday. And the fixed wing tankers are a no-go in this wind. We're all on standby in case the winds change...

10/13 - 6 pm I'm sorry about the fire link. Yesterday, they updated about every 1/2 hour - hour... today: Nothing! And once the Sesnon fire broke out at Porter Ranch with all those Chi Chi Poo Poo homes, the local news, which had been covering Marek all morning, moved there. What's a few trailers burning when million dollar homes may go up in flames?

Hiking buddy and I went up Alpine tonight to see if we could spot anything other than smoke. We were pleased to see white smoke over Marek but the Sesnon fire (17 miles from here) looked HUGE! I did find an update on the news just now (on the crawler tag) that Marek is back down to only 5% contained and over 3200 acres. And with the winds expected to gust 65 mph until around noon tomorrow, it's going to be another tension filled night.

Tuesday 10/14 - 8 am - Last night, actual flames (instead of the ominous orange glow) were visible on the mountain. But the winds were not horrendous and the smoke plume seems thinner today. The Inciweb site says the fire is 70% contained. Last night they posted to say only 5% - so that's a great improvement overnight. So things seem to be getting better.

I'll be happy if the winds die down as predicted this afternoon. Knowing how far burning embers can travel scares the hell out of me. Last night, watching the all important Sesnon fire (praying for news on Marek), a house caught on fire a couple of miles from the closest fireline. And the stupid news anchors were all "How did this happen. This is very suspicious." Do your research a-hole! Did you learn anything at all in the Griffith fire last year???

During that fire, the battalion chiefs all thought they had either multiple arsonists or one very quick one. The fires were breaking out miles apart. When they finally realized the park was locked down, then they knew the arsonist was the wind (after the initial blaze).

Don't even get me started on these stupid news people. I love the little girls with their goggles, respirators, fire jackets and manicures. But the dumbest of them all has to be KTLA's Eric Spillman. Dude, if I wanted to "listen to the wind," all I have to do is open a window. Tell me some real news!