It's happening again... Four fires are burning in Southern California. Here is a map of where they are. Will post news feed updates and pictures as they come in.



Here's a pic I took outside my Vons (market) last night..

Thanks R !! I was happy to hear the fire in Palos Verdes is under control as that's where my sister lives.

This heat sure doesn't help.

Glad to hear your sister is okay, M.

Those fires are scary. The smoke must be awful. Stay safe you guys!

Thanks for the update Robert. We just don't get much information back here on the East Coast, just very sketchy news. Being a born and raised SOCal girl, I'm always interested.

Marcie glad your Sister is ok. PV is not very far from Manhattan Beach where I grew up.

It sure isn't JoAnn...I love Manhattan Beach ! I talked to my sister and she said there wasn't any smoke on her side of the hill. The people evacuated have all been ok to come back home. They contained it quickly. It was in the Portuguese Bend area, close to Waferer's Chapel overlooking the Pacific.

Now I sure hope they can get the other SoCal fires out...

Stay safe and out of the smoke, guys!

Keep us updated Marcie. Hope things settle down out there.

Those fires are so awful. I have heard people say that they sit up all night just watching the direction of the smoke. Stay safe Robert!

Here's an update:

Aug 29, 8:09 AM EDT

Calif. Firefighters Wage Fierce Wildfire Battles

LOS ANGELES -- A wildfire that exploded in the mountains north of Los Angeles has spread over nearly 8 square miles of bone-dry forest, sent up massive billows of smoke and cast an eerie orange glow against the night sky.

The blaze in the steep San Gabriel Mountains above La Canada Flintridge spread out in all directions Friday, the most active flanks to the north, deeper into the forest and east, said Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea. The fire was creeping slowly toward the city of Altadena, but no homes were immediately threatened Friday evening, Florea said. It was zero percent contained.

A major goal was to keep the fire from spreading up Mount Wilson, where many of the region's broadcast and communications antennas and the historic Mount Wilson Observatory are located, officials said.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation notice early Saturday morning for many residents with homes located within a half-square-mile area and on the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. An evacuation center was set up at La Canada High School.

With hundreds of homes in La Canada Flintridge evacuated, hundreds more residents were packed and ready to move on a moment's notice.

"We're boxed up and ready to go," said La Canada Flintridge resident Steve Buntich, watching helicopters line up to siphon water from a golf course reservoir. He said his wife and children had evacuated to a friend's house for several hours, but had since returned home.

Firefighters made good progress Friday against a fire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula fire that roared to life on the south Los Angeles County coast Thursday night. As many as 1,500 people were forced to flee at the height of the fire, but calm, windless conditions allowed water-dropping helicopters to extinguish much of the fire. It was 90 percent contained, late Friday, officials said. Six homes received minor exterior damage, and the only structures destroyed were an outbuilding and gazebo. No injuries were reported.

Elsewhere in the Angeles National Forest, more than 1,600 firefighters working in 102-degree heat had achieved 85 percent containment of a 3.3-square-mile blaze in a canyon above the city of Azusa. No structures were threatened or damaged

"We're getting a handle on it. It's just taking a little longer than expected," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Rachel Mailo.

To the north in the state's coastal midsection, a nearly 8-square-mile fire threatening Pinnacles National Monument kept 100 homes under evacuation orders near the Monterey County town of Soledad. The blaze, only 15 percent contained, was started by agricultural fireworks used to scare animals away from crops.

In the southern part of Monterey County, firefighters had 100 percent containment of a 5 1/4-square-mile fire that had threatened 20 ranch homes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday in Los Angeles and Monterey counties.

"It's fire season, clearly," he said. "There's tremendous amount of heat all over the state."

A nearly 3 1/2-square-mile fire in Yosemite National Park was 10 percent contained, said staff member Erik Skinrud.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office ordered guests and staff at the Yosemite View Lodge, just outside the park's western gate, to evacuate Friday afternoon due to the fire. People without lodging were offered beds in a shelter in Mariposa staffed by the Red Cross.

Residents of the nearby community of El Portal watched as water-dropping helicopters refilled from the Merced River.

Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said officials closed a campground and a portion of Highway 120, anticipating that the fire would spread north toward Tioga Road, the highest elevation route through the Sierra. The number of firefighters was expected to double over the weekend to 1,000.

Southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County, a 1 1/2-square-mile fire in the San Bernardino National Forest was 5 percent contained. Temperatures reached 106 degrees in the region.

In San Diego County, three fires totaling 1,000 acres burned on the Camp Pendleton Marine base but posed no threat to buildings, Cpl. Gabriela Gonzalez said.

- - - -

Here's some pics from various locations taken over the last 24 - 36 hours...

From Angeles National Forest



From Corona, CA



I took this one from the Costco parking lot yesterday in Burbank, CA



La Canada/Flintridge



From Pasadena, CA



From Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (NOT current - from the fire at its' worst)



From Temescal Canyon, CA (yesterday)

Thanks for the updates Robert. You and Paul stay safe. No heroics!
Marcie - good news for Merrily.

Robert, I cannot remember so many fires at one time in so many different areas. I used to live in Santa Monica, and have a lot of friends all over the tri-county area, so I appreciate the updates.
Lynn

It is hot and dry here, no humidity but I don't think there's any winds either so this will help the fire fighters. This heat wave is suppose to break too. I sure hope so.

R,

My daughter lives in Burbank and she appears to be close to where you live.

The weather has been horrible here. I fear this is just the beginning of another tremendously challenging and terrible fire season for SOCAL. Hardly any rain all year and almost no humidity. Lots of dry brush. A recipe for disaster, as it's been for the last several years.

I completely agree D & M! Scary.

Here's a few more shots I took while running errands around Burbank today. We were on Verdugo and Alameda headed towards the hills. Looks like it is getting worse to us. Have not scanned the reports or watched the news.

I live 35 miles away from the plume of smoke and you can see it at my house - it looks much closer than it is. There were no homes burning as of this afternom. Much of the area is brush and homes are close by but being protected. Our neighbor is on the fireline there and Frank's son is on one of the other fire lines in Riverside County since he is a Battalion Chief. The smoke here is quite thick (you can smell it) even this far away and the car has ashes on it from running errands.

Thoughts and prayers are with you all.

On a lighter note ,
you are welcome to all the rain we are having on this side of the Pacific,as we come out of winter and into spring.

Stay safe all of you, will keep prayers coming your way for an end. Our news tonight though, says that Santa Ana's may kick in tonight or tomorrow - hope they are wrong.

Please Marcie and Robert keep us updated. Thanks for the photo's Robert, very scary indeed.

Here are some posts I moved from another message:

Posted by Helen:
fire up in La Canada/Flintridge area is still burning furiously, houses lost and fireman dead, Very tragic and it continues. The fire closer to me in Arcadia/ Glendora area is mostly under control. I was able to see it from my backyard. Altho I am a good 10 miles away, my house sits up very high so I can see quite a distance. The fire in Palos Verdes area is 100% contained. Sadly this is likely just the beggining as we are very dry here. I actually saw some dumb SOB throw a lit cigarette out of his car window on the freeway on friday.

Posted by Joanna
Thanks so much Helen, watching closely so sad, have son in SM and he has friends/family in surrounding areas -- guess it is fires there and/or hurricanes here - stressful I know - we are so fortunate to have this board to discuss the CA fires, b'days, recipes at holidays (fun side line most enjoy, so humorous) and MOST OF ALL travel in the "best" sense of the word with fantastic advice from such nice people - thank you B&K!!!!!!!


Posted by jhp
Can someone tell me what a "Station Fire" is? I mean, I know this awful fire is one, but I'm not from CA and just heard the term several times on the news today.

Here's hoping they will soon contain this monster, and that all our CA friends (along with the many other millions who live there) will be safe.

Posted by Ralph
The name " Station Fire" was used as , the local tv news said, it started near a station. The station was a ranger station I believe.

Joanna, do not forget that we get to talk about
" Heidi's " on this board also. We need to remember Tony's favorite subject.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the HO DOWN. Carol and I are having a hard time waiting.

Posted by Kathy
All the fires here are given nicknames by the Fire Departments usually based on something geographical or unique to the area - no different than the way we name the B&K cruises.

The latest on the fire is that 12,000 homes are evacuated but not all are in harms way and a lot of people are under order to leave but they are not going! The Station Fire is mostly in a forested area that has not burned for 50-70 years. There are three fires in SO Cal burning now. Palos Verdes is still burning but oontained. There is a fire in Yucaipa/Hemet - not far from Palm Springs on the other side of the mountain but that is small. The Station Fire is 30 miles wide and 20 miles long. The smoke and ash unbelievable. The communications towers for most of So Calif are in that area and they are expecting some outages. They are bringing in some relief fire fighters from San Diego. Frank's son is deployed in Yucaipa and will be moving his battalion (he is a battalion chief) to the Station Fire shortly. Our neighbor is with LA County fire and he is not expected home until the fire is out - predicted to be after Sept 15th

You can listen online to the local news at www.knx1070.com or www.kfwb.com - those are the local all news stations.

Oh no, another fire in Palos Verdes in Westfield area (Crenshaw & Silver Spur). This is 1 block away from my sister's home. They're hosing their home down. There are planes dropping water over the fire now so hopefully it will be contained soon. It's on all 3 local SoCa TV channels now.

Oh goodness Marcie - lets hope it gets contained as quickly as the other one did. Good thoughts for Merilee and her family. Keep us posted please.

Oh no, Marcie. Still at work so unaware of this. It is sooo very stressful when the fires are close. I hope your sister is OK.
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Helen

Good news....This PV fire was caught quickly and all is OK now. Whew....that was waaaaaay too close. It was caused by a burning car that caught the brush on fire.

Now if they can just take care of the others. It's been determined that the big St. Angels National Forest fire was arson. 2 firemen lost their lives, homes destroyed and 144 acres burned and it's still going strong. So sad. I sure hope they catch the arsonist.

Marcie, I am so glad that everything is Ok for your sister. I just cannot believe how bad it has been, and it isn't even the "season" yet.
Lynn