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Topic Archive: Fires
Over the weekend, La Crescenta author Bernadette Murphy had a nice opinion piece in the L.A. Times invoking John McPhee and his seminal writing on debris flows out of the...
Posted October 6, 2009 6:33 PM
This is pretty dramatic. Photo from NASA Earth Observatory, hat tip to Emily Green of Chance of Rain. Click it to see full sized....
Posted September 9, 2009 6:29 AM
See more by Steve Greenberg in the LA Sketchbook archive....
Posted September 8, 2009 8:13 AM
Times Op-Ed columnist Gregory Rodriguez, who is the man behind Zócalo, ponders today what it means that so many Angelenos were torn between horror and awe by the Station Fire's...
Posted September 7, 2009 6:25 PM
Firefighters from Tuolumne and Calaveras counties knew well the history and scientific treasure that was at stake when the Station Fire threatened the Mount Wilson Observatory. They made it their...
Posted September 5, 2009 1:25 PM
Residents who lost their homes in last year's fire at the Oakridge mobile home park in Sylmar urged patience for the latest crop of rebuilders on KPCC's Off-Ramp. Also on...
Posted September 5, 2009 12:59 PM
While local television has been skimping on fire coverage, the L.A. Times has been going all out. I'm planning to give props in my KCRW segment today (4:44 p.m. at...
Posted September 4, 2009 12:37 PM
At the morning shift change at the Hansen Dam command post, more than 1,000 firefighters paused to remember Capt. Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, the County Fire veterans who died...
Posted September 4, 2009 8:42 AM
Ted Kennedy's letter about Sirhan — plus more politics, fires and books — in the news and notes hidden below the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA...
Posted September 3, 2009 9:28 AM
Staff writer Susan Orlean has been in Los Angeles some of the summer and offers a blog entry on The New Yorker website about the week of fires. Excerpt: All...
Posted September 2, 2009 12:03 PM
See more LA Sketchbook by Steve Greenberg in his archive. Click on the cartoon to view it larger....
Posted September 2, 2009 9:37 AM
Improving fire conditions and a familiar name appointed to the Board of Public Works lead this morning's news and notes. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA Biz Observed,...
Posted September 2, 2009 9:25 AM
The San Francisco Fire Department refused a state request to send a strike team south to join the thousands of firefighters — many from out of state — on the...
Posted September 1, 2009 3:50 PM
Here's the latest page from the U.S. Forest Service command post, with evacuations and other data. The Station Fire stands at 121,762 acres....
Posted September 1, 2009 10:18 AM
Where Eric Spiegelman's weekend fire film has drama and altitude, Dan Finnerty's has flame. Lots of flame....
Posted August 31, 2009 10:56 PM
I love this paragraph for what it says about the quirkiness of Los Angeles, or at least of the Tujunga area. Much more authentic and telling than the media meme...
Posted August 31, 2009 7:15 PM
If it's not a word, it should be. TJ Sullivan's daily view from the Westside captures perhaps the week's most voluminous pyrocumulus cloud yet, dwarfing the InterContinental Hotel in Century...
Posted August 31, 2009 5:54 PM
Incident commander Mike Dietrich just told the 5 p.m. media briefing that the weather is still working against firefighters in the Angeles National Forest. "This is a very angry fire...
Posted August 31, 2009 5:20 PM
While other local TV stations have been skimping on fire coverage, PBS station KCET is doing more than it ever has before: as of 1:30 p.m. today, Channel 28 is...
Posted August 31, 2009 4:55 PM
I'll do a fire news roundup after the 5 p.m. briefing at Hansen Dam. Meanwhile, flying in or out of Los Angeles has been more visually dramatic during the fires....
Posted August 31, 2009 4:28 PM
The webcam on UCLA's tower in the Mount Wilson solar observatory complex has no picture right now. Not clear if the outage is traffic or fire caused. [* Update: Comes...
Posted August 31, 2009 11:38 AM
Steve Greenberg weighs in on the early fire season. And please, close cover before striking. Click to view bigger and go here for the LA Sketchbook archive. Fires coverage gathered...
Posted August 31, 2009 9:10 AM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's face was not in evidence in the fire coverage this weekend — it has been a county, state and national forest show. But with the fire coming...
Posted August 31, 2009 9:04 AM
Wow. The Station Fire is now at 85,000 acres — and there have been no Santa Ana winds pushing this monster along. Some homes were lost last night near Acton,...
Posted August 31, 2009 8:06 AM
What begins as a behind-the-scenes video of the fire camp and media swarm at Hansen Dam turns into an emotional briefing on the deaths of two Los Angeles County firefighters....
Posted August 31, 2009 1:22 AM
View to the west from the Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory tower cam five minutes ago. Smoky, but operating. Click to embiggen. Earlier at LA Observed: Mt. Wilson in danger (with...
Posted August 31, 2009 12:59 AM
The two firefighters killed in a vehicle accident Sunday on Mount Gleason above Acton were identified by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Tedmund Hall, who lived in San Bernardino...
Posted August 31, 2009 12:29 AM
Here is today's image from Earth Snapshot. Click it to biggify....
Posted August 30, 2009 9:57 PM
Tonight's briefing at the fire command post at Hansen Dam began with deputy chief Mike Bryant of the county fire department announcing that two of his men died about 2:30...
Posted August 30, 2009 9:23 PM
KNX News Radio just tweeted (and presumably reported on the air) that firefighters have been pulled off Mount Wilson: "Officials expect critical communications point to be overrun by fire about...
Posted August 30, 2009 5:43 PM
* Updated through the afternoon The fire front in the San Gabriels stretches 19 miles east to west, with containment essentially at nil. Previously evacuated area in La Cañada...
Posted August 30, 2009 2:53 PM
Channel 9's fire coverage in the 9 o'clock hour included several minutes with reporter Dave Lopez on the battle by firefighters to save the La Cañada Flintridge home of the...
Posted August 29, 2009 9:53 PM
Los Angeles lawyer web content producer Eric Spiegelman, an LA Observed reader from way back, made a time lapse video — 90 minutes in 24 seconds — of the smoke...
Posted August 29, 2009 8:42 PM
The city La Cañada Flintridge has been emailing out expanded mandatory evacuation areas all morning as the Station Fire spreads unchecked, now over 7,500 acres. Authorities now want to clear...
Posted August 29, 2009 12:13 PM
Fires and more Villaraigosa shakeup follows lead the news and notes tucked after the jump. Follow LA Observed updates on Twitter through the day....
Posted August 28, 2009 9:30 AM
Channel 4 has cut into programming to cover a wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that looks to be starting to burn buildings. The fire was reported just before 8...
Posted August 27, 2009 9:51 PM
It's been exceptionally clear out near the beach this week, but today from Downtown or so east the drifting smoke from the brush fire above Azusa has spurred an official...
Posted August 26, 2009 1:05 PM
Smoke is much reduced out here. Jonathan Alcorn shot this photo when the plume was still growing....
Posted July 8, 2009 3:43 PM
The Getty Museum is being evacuated down through Brentwood as a precaution due to a fire burning in brush a ridge or two to the north in Sepulevda Pass. Damn...
Posted July 8, 2009 1:47 PM
Lori Jablons sends this photo of a brush fire burning this afternoon in the hills behind her Lake View Terrace neighborhood. "You can see the flames within the smoke, and...
Posted July 5, 2009 3:11 PM
News coverage of the Jesusita Fire is everywhere. Status report from Santa Barbara County Fire as of 11:15 p.m.: • 2,739 acres burned • 10% contained • Damage assessment in...
Posted May 7, 2009 11:30 PM
Driving home tonight from Downtown, the air grew freakishly warmer the closer we got to the beach. Ninety miles north in Santa Barbara, high winds kicked up Tuesday's wildfire to...
Posted May 6, 2009 10:43 PM
Santa Barbara and Montecito residents who lost their homes in last week's wildfire include actor Christopher Lloyd and retired Los Angeles Times Senior Editor Noel Greenwood, who oversaw the coverage...
Posted November 17, 2008 11:51 PM
Here's NASA's shot of SoCal's fires as seen from space. No wonder the South Coast AQMD wants us all to stop breathing so hard. Oh -- and from LAist: A...
Posted November 17, 2008 3:46 PM
The worst of SoCal's many fires are in Orange County (above), where more than 150 homes have burned and 1,000 more are in harm's way. OC Register Lots of first-person...
Posted November 16, 2008 8:20 AM
Dear Glendale, Not enough smoke in the smoke-choked air for you? Not to worry! Those fireworks we planned for the Christmas tree lighting on Saturday night which, in a burst...
Posted November 16, 2008 7:30 AM
Why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because PCH to Santa Monica, where I was supposed to meet friends for dinner and a movie, is a parking lot. An...
Posted November 15, 2008 6:22 PM
That's the word from the National Weather Service, which expects high winds in LA County to last until 2 p.m.. Meanwhile, fires now burn in Montecito, Sylmar, Corona and Brea....
Posted November 15, 2008 1:00 PM
Between the Times' photogs and picture editors, they've got some great fire photo galleries on the site. But just as remarkable are civilian shots like this one. Here's a link...
Posted November 15, 2008 9:51 AM
The strong smell of smoke woke me and we've got another fire. In Sylmar this time, driven by what the LAFD called near-hurricane-force winds. At least 2,600 acres burned and,...
Posted November 15, 2008 5:16 AM
The latest stats on the Tea fire in Santa Barbara County stand at 2,500 acres burned, more than 100 homes destroyed, and more than 1,800 news items that mention Oprah...
Posted November 14, 2008 5:05 PM
Even as water-dropping aircraft dip into low reservoirs in the Santa Barbara area, residents have been asked to cut their water use to near-zero. Wash your face and brush your...
Posted November 14, 2008 9:03 AM
Mandatory evacuations as a wildfire races through the Santa Barbara area, tears through Montecito. Winds gusting to 50-plus mph. Power out in parts of the city. Stories from LA Times,...
Posted November 13, 2008 7:41 PM
Here we go again -- more hot and windy weather on the way. Guy McCarthy at Watershed News gathers the details: Just a few days after a cold front contributed...
Posted November 13, 2008 3:17 PM
On tonight's NBC Nightly News, my ears perked up when anchor Brian Williams introduced a story by saying a world-famous museum came "dangerously close" to being burned by fire today....
Posted October 23, 2008 6:54 PM
The Getty Center will remain closed today to visitors and most staff to help reduce traffic congestion resulting from this morning's hillside brush fire (now out) in Sepulveda Pass. The...
Posted October 23, 2008 10:08 AM
Kagel Canyon looked scorched but almost serene over the weekend. The locals had put up signs thanking the firefighters who knocked down last week's wildfire. Here's a one-minute video of...
Posted October 22, 2008 12:15 AM
Mark Hull, publisher of Red Hen Press, got the word to get out of his Granada Hills home office as the Sesnon Fire bore down. Which books did he choose...
Posted October 14, 2008 3:09 PM
The fire that began on Oat Mountain above Porter Ranch doubled in size overnight to 9,872 acres and was burning southwest across Ventura County, while the Marek fire that began...
Posted October 14, 2008 9:45 AM
The two wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles have destroyed at least three dozen mobile homes in Lopez Canyon and 19 structures, many of them homes, in the area...
Posted October 13, 2008 10:50 PM
Los Angeles County fire chief P. Michael Freeman is quoted on City News Service saying that firefighters are doing their best to check the Porter Ranch-Browns Canyon fire "from making...
Posted October 13, 2008 2:09 PM
The campus is probably five miles from the nearest flames, but the heavy smoke over the Valley and interrupted freeways prompted CSUN to cancel afternoon and evening classes. Also, Chatsworth...
Posted October 13, 2008 1:54 PM
Channel 7 just reported that, with the wind blowing more fiercely, evacuations have just been called for Box Canyon, Woolsey Canyon, Bell Canyon, Dayton Canyon and Lake Manor. KABC thought...
Posted October 13, 2008 1:22 PM
It's by Mel Melcon of the Los Angeles Times, on LATimes.com. It shows the smoke roiling off the Sesnon fire in Browns Canyon and Porter Ranch....
Posted October 13, 2008 1:08 PM
Channel 4 says there is a report that someone died in a car fire on the freeway near DeSoto Avenue, a bit east of where the Sesnon fire has jumped...
Posted October 13, 2008 12:54 PM
* Updated post Twin Lakes and Indian Hills, two communities hard up against the brush north of Chatsworth, are evacuating. Flames are moving across Browns Canyon, the access up to...
Posted October 13, 2008 12:24 PM
* Update: All Los Angeles TV new stations are live on the fires. A fast-moving new fire has erupted in the Santa Susana Mountains and is laying down smoke on...
Posted October 13, 2008 11:02 AM
Brush is burning in the Little Tujunga Canyon area and threatening ranches and homes from there down into Lake View Terrace. About 1,000 people have been ordered to evacuate in...
Posted October 12, 2008 9:23 AM
Dana Goodyear has been blogging on the fires for The New Yorker and has a Talk of the Town piece in this week. Excerpt: Southern Californians don’t like to wake...
Posted November 1, 2007 11:51 PM
Now the finger pointing With the fires claiming at least 1,165 homes in Southern California, some firefighters are saying the region wasn't prepared. "It is an absolute fact, had we...
Posted October 24, 2007 8:46 AM
© 2003-2009 • About LA Observed • Email the editor
| Bev Hills billionaire Ron Burkle has $56 million in loans against his two houses. The McCourts have borrowed $28 million on their properties.
| Advice for Greenies in a Complicated World
| Steve Jones, the self-proclaimed Sire of Wilshire (a nod to the physical address of his former home at Indie 103.1 FM), is back on the air!
| She gaped at me like I was living history -- Miss Jane Pittman come to put her withered lips to the "Young Only" fountain straw of ageism.
As newspapers and television pull back from investigative reporting, foundations and other organizations are beginning to fill the void. One of the most interesting is Accountable California, a project of Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union.
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