wildfire: April 2008 Archives
This from reporter Janette Williams:
Ricky Whitman, spokeswoman for the Pasadena Humane Society, said the
organization us still caring for about three dozen cats and dogs
brought in by owners who had to evacuate over the past few days.
"(Sunday) we evacuated the mules by trailer" from the Adams pack
Station at Chantry Flat, Whitman said. "We were able to help that way,
and the race track stepped up and helped."
She said there were 20 mules, one mare and 15 goats all being looked
after by staff at Santa Anita Park racetrack.
Whitman said the pets brought in during the evacuation are being held
separately -- including in the board room and auditorium -- and will be
ready to leave when their owners come for them.
Fred's award from Pasadena provocateur Proctor came in the mail today. I asked him to pose for a photo and the obligatory quote:
All he would say was "Um, yeah. That's good." (as he shoveled in another mouthful of huevos rancheros con jamon).
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First off, a couple of links:
A personal observation from a guy who has a photo of an interesting street sign in Pico Rivera.
Wildfire Today with an update.
Things are rapidly returning to normal near the burn area. The buzz around the newsroom is that for all intents and purposes, the Santa Anita fire is over.
Some highlights:
According to Janette Williams, NPR is reporting that residents are being allowed to return to their homes this morning.
The Foothill Cities Blog, which covered the blaze early and comprehensively, has gone back to including non-fire related posts.
I noticed the KFI made no mention of the blaze at either 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m.
The fire command post has moved east to Santa Fe Dam, even though the fire was reported moving west toward Pasadena. And, according to a press release from Pasadena CIty spokeswoman Ann Erdman there were voluntary evacuations on four streets near Hastings Ranch.
Some totals from the inciweb report:
As of Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 6:00 a.m. PST, the Santa Anita Fire has burned 538 acres north of Sierra Madre, CA. Approximately 234 acres are on National Forest System land within the Angeles National Forest, and 304 acres are within the corporate boundary of the City of Sierra Madre (see fire progression map posted to this site).
The fire is currently 57% contained, with most of the containment in the area surrounding Sierra Madre residences and along the eastern edge of the burned area .
Southern California Interagency Incident Management Team 3 assumed command of the fire at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, 2008.
Fire information is available 24 hours/day by calling the Angeles National Forest Fire Information Center at 626-821-6700. The City of Sierra Madre Public Information can be reached at 626-355-7135.
I saw this tombstone at the Pioneer Cemetery in Sierra Madre Monday and it fascinated me.
Who are these people? What's the story? Here's the inscription:
"Donald Phillips
Nov 9, 1904
Anna Phillips
Aug. 7, 1918 Jan. 24, 1938
My darling
Four months bride
Angel of my dreams
Rest in God's love
And mine
Residents of Sierra Madre like to think of their town as the closest thing to heaven on earth.
But hell came calling over the past several days. The call came in the form of a wildfire that threatened hundreds of homes wedged into the side of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The fire, a 500-acre hillside blaze that lit up the night sky, forced the evacuation of more than 1000 residents and placed the tiny community of 11,000 right in the crosshairs of national media attention.
Fortunately, as of late Monday afternoon, no one was killed or injured, no homes were destroyed, and life seemed about to return to normal.
On any other spring day, there's probably nothing quite like a walk through Sierra Madre.
Even with smoke and ash in the air, the scent of night blooming Jasmine, eucalyptus, wild roses and rosemary lingers everywhere.
At the top of Auburn Avenue less than 100 yards from a smouldering hot spot, I met a man named Richter who said he's lived in Sierra Madre all his life and in that neighborhood since 1970. He said he didn't fear the fire.
" I wouldn't live up here if I didn't like it," he said. "If you live down by the freeways, you can't hear yourself talk," he said. "But up here, it's as quiet a church mouse -- just like heaven."
City officials have their own take on life in Sierra Madre.
"This is one of the last small towns in America," Kurt Zimmerman, Sierra Madre's mayor told a media hoard gathered in Sierra Vista Park, just down the road a piece from the Richter place.
"There's no traffic lights," he said, stifling a tear in his eye and a catch in his throat. "This is a place where neighbor knows neighbor."
Although fire and police officials said they have not determined a cause for the blaze, Zimmerman pointed to a likely human origin.
"Someone, at approximately 3 p.m. Saturday started a fire in the hillside over our city," Zimmerman told the cameras, microphones and pencils. "This is a crisis situation."
Zimmerman went on to praise firefighters who, early Monday morning, prevented the blaze from reaching into one of Sierra Madre's neighborhoods.
"Early this morning," he began. "A couple of feet from our homes in the canyon, a perimeter was established when bodies and engines; steel, water and human flesh and blood stopped the fire dead in its tracks. We are making progress."
Almost as soon as Zimmerman completed his dramatic statement, a city spokeswoman said the mayor misspoke.
"We do not know the cause of the fire," Elisa Weaver said.
She left it at that.
A terse meeting between police Chief Marilyn Diaz, Weaver and Zimmerman followed the mayor's remarks.
I could hear Zimmerman say, "I didn't say 'intentional.' I was told it was not a bolt of lightening."
Nonetheless, Diaz came to the podium and reiterated the official position: The cause of the blaze remains unknown.
I wandered away from the park and the press and found myself standing alone in the middle of a graveyard. I spent time looking at old tombstones, thinking of how peaceful the place must be when fire choppers aren't hovering above.
What is the name of the fire? I thought there was some official settlement on Sierra Madre. But some are still calling it the Santa Anita fire, while still others refer to it as the Chantry Flats fire.
Here's an interoffice memo from ME Steve Hunt, clarifying the naming:
I guess several media outlets have called it by different names, but Hector reports the Forest Service has officially dubbed the fire above Sierra Madre the Santa Anita Fire.
FYI,
Steve
As for more photos. Here's a couple more. Its fascinating to see how many citizens carry digital devices to record the event for posterity. I saw digital recorders, camcorders, laptops and cameras. Amazing.
Sherry Wheelock and her twins, Michael and Christopher, 13, walk south on Baldwin Avenue protecting themselves from the smoke hanging in the air.
Reporters from KCAL KCBS (left) and Fox News (left) read their stories on the air from Sierra Vista Park Monday morning. The reports were filed just before Mayor Kurt Zimmerman and Sierra Madre police Chief Marilyn Diaz spoke to the assembled media
Looks like we'll be unable to post until about 5 p.m. If there's no posts here by 7 p.m. check sgvcrime.blogspot.com for updates.
Spent the morning in Sierra Madre, listening to officials, talking to residents, visiting the fire line and taking in some sights and sounds.
While I was gone, an email arrived with a great map link. Here the link to an inciweb fire progression site.(thanks to the other Mala).
Here's a couple of photos from a batch I took this morning.
This is on Baldwin Avenue, just south of Carter. The flames shot up through oak trees on a nearby ridge, while copters hovered overhead and residents and media looked on.
This shot is from the end of Baldwin Avenue at Carter. The flames are shooting high because there's a tree providing a lot of fuel.
This is from Frank, who is at the scene of the fires:
The evacuated area has been extended west to Michillinda Avenue, north of Grandview Avenue. Previously, the burn area's western border stopped at Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park.
Also, residents east of Camillo Street, north of Grandview Avenue, may be allowed to return to their homes as early as 2 p.m. today.
The view from Mount Wilson (thanks 20/20 hindsight)
Pasadena Daily Photo's daily photo.
Another personal take from a guy named Simon.
Star-New photo gallery. On-line here.
The Foothill Cities -- putting together just about everything else there is to know about the fire here.
Caption: Jeff Hurd, far right, foreman of the Los Angeles County Camp 14 fire
crew accesses the Chantry Flats Fire before cutting line with his crew
above the Sierra Madre Dam to hold back the fire from homes in Sierra
Madre Sunday morning, April 27, 2008. Residents in the area were
evacuated as 400 acres continue to burn. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah
Reingewirtz/SXCITY)
SIERRA MADRE - A wildfire that by Sunday had scorched more than 400 acres and forced the evacuation of 1,000 people could take four to seven days to contain, officials said.
The Santa Anita Fire - which has also been referred to as the Santa Anita Canyon Fire and Chantry Flat Fire - was still raging in the foothills above Sierra Madre and Arcadia on Sunday night, and was only about 30 percent contained.
Officials anticipate the fire could grow before it begins to shrink.
"Naturally, we want to hold the acreage," said Marc Peebler, battalion chief of Southern California Incident Management Team 3, an emergency response group made up of area fire agencies.
"But because of the steep grade, it will probably grow in acreage before we get it contained."
All private and public Sierra Madre schools will be closed today, city officials said, and people with respiratory conditions are advised to stay indoors due to the smoke.
The blaze was first reported as a five-acre fire about 3 p.m. Saturday off of Santa Anita Canyon Road near the Chantry Flat area, Peebler said.
Hours later, the fire had burned 100 acres, then quadrupled in size overnight, prompting the evacuations of about 550 houses in the northern area of Sierra Madre, he said.
Resources from the throughout the region were called to assist in the firefight Sunday, including about 400 firefighters and another 100 support personnel, officials said.
A family at the edge of the flames. Flannigan Family Blog.SIERRA MADRE, Calif. (AP) _ Firefighters gained ground Sunday against an early season wildfire that slowly chewed its way through dense brush near Los Angeles, forcing more than 1,000 people from homes in the foothills.
About 500 firefighters attacked the 400-acre blaze, aided by two helicopters and water-dropping air tankers, said city of Sierra Madre spokeswoman Elisa Weaver. Residents evacuated at least 550 homes Saturday night and Sunday, but none had burned.
"This is pretty serious," Weaver said. "Some of these areas have not burned in over 40 years."
By Sunday evening crews had the fire 30 percent contained, Sierra Madre spokesman James Carlson said. Light winds and rising humidity were aiding firefighters, who hoped to have the blaze fully contained within 4-7 days, Carlson said.
Helicopters made water drops on a steep ridge above Sierra Madre near Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park, about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles and just east of Pasadena. A fixed-wing water tanker also dropped flame retardant.
Aircraft were also helping fire officials assess the movement of the blaze, which was being pushed northwest into Angeles National Forest, Batallion Chief Tim Davis of the Forest Service said.
"It's very steep, inaccessible terrain, and it's very heavy brush," Davis said at a news conference. "Very difficult and arduous labor for these crews. You can't get bulldozers into the majority of where these fingers of fire run."
The blaze stranded 50 guests from a wedding party at the Chantry Flats ranger's station on Saturday until they were airlifted out Sunday afternoon, Weaver said. It took five helicopter trips from the ranger's station to the parking area where the wedding party's cars were. The party then was escorted out by road.
The couple, Ken and Julie Grady, noticed the smoke not long after they had exchanged vows.
I just finished talking to Julie Sokolowski, the bride whose wedding party was transported out of Sturdevant Camp in the Chantry Flats area earlier today via helicopter.
Sokolowski told me her stepfather, Chris Kasten, has been managing the camp - four miles from the Chantry Flats Ranger Station - for 17 years and is still up there with his wife. They opted to stick the fire through.
Sokolowski and her husband, Ken Grady, tied the knot on Saturday at 3 p.m., about the same time the Santa Anita Fire started. No one in the wedding party knew about the blaze until Saturday evening.
By noon today, the entire wedding party - 45 people and four pets - were evacuated from the area.
"We didn't think there was any threat to us," she said. "We went on like normal and then this morning, we were all having breakfast and they told us search and rescue was on their way."
Sokolowski said early Sunday the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue team first gave them the option to hike out with escorts.
But smoky conditions caused by the fire made authorities rethink that plan.
Here are some pictures of the couple. Julie was nice enough to send them over.
Sokolowski said early Sunday the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue team first gave them the option to hike out with escorts.
But smoky conditions caused by the fire made authorities rethink that plan.
Here are some pictures of the couple. Julie was nice enough to send them over.
Inciweb round up of government response
Several area hotels are offering discounted room rates for discplaced fire victims and the city has set up a hotline for residents to call for more information.
AGENCY: City of Sierra Madre
PHONE: (626) 355-1735 and press "0" for the operator
RESOURCE: Up to date information about Chantry Flats Fire and other resources
*********
AGENCY: The American Red Cross
PHONE: (626) 799-0841, ext. 270
RESOURCE: Information about the Hart Park House and Congregational Chruch evacuation centers for displaced residents
ADDRESS: Hart Park House: 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre
Congregational Church: 170 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre
*********
AGENCY: The Pasadena Humane Society
PHONE: (626) 792-3810
RESOURCE: Offering shelter services for pets displaced by the fire
ADRESS: 361 S. Raymond Ave. in Pasadena
*********
AGENCY: Courtyard Marriot
PHONE: (626) 357-5211
RESOURCE: Discounted room rates for residents displaced by the fire
ADDRESS: 700 W. Huntington Drive in Monrovia
*********
AGENCY: Santa Anita Inn
PHONE: (626) 446-5211
RESOURCE: Discounted room rates for residents displaced by the fire
ADDRESS: 130 W. Huntington Drive in Arcadia
*********
AGENCY: Motel 6
PHONE: (626) 446-2660
RESOURCE: Discounted room rates for residents displaced by the fire
ADDRESS: 225 Colorado St. Arcadia
The city is posting information on its Web site here
For more information you can call (626) 355-7135. Press 0 for operator. There is updated information about evacuations and evacuation centers around town
An airplane drops flame retardant on a slope Sunday, April 27, 2008, in Sierra Madre, Calif. A wildfire that broke out in a popular hiking area blackened the steep slopes of foothills outside Los Angeles and led to evacuation orders for residents of about 550 homes, authorities said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
SIERRA MADRE, Calif. (AP) _ A wildfire that broke out in a popular hiking area blackened the steep slopes of foothills outside Los Angeles and led to evacuation orders for residents of about 550 homes, authorities said Sunday.
Hundreds of people around Sierra Madre were told to flee Saturday night and Sunday as the wildfire continued to burn through dense brush, said Elisa Weaver of the Arcadia Fire Department.
Sierra Madre is about 15 miles northeast of Los Angeles and just east of Pasadena.
No homes were damaged, though a small outbuilding was destroyed, Weaver said.
More than 400 firefighters were attacking the 350-acre fire, aided by two helicopters with two water-dropping air tankers on the way. The fire was little contained and was expected to burn for another two or three days.
"This is pretty serious," Weaver said. "Some of these areas have not burned in over 40 years."
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation. It was first reported Saturday afternoon in a wooded area a few miles northeast of Pasadena. It was windy at the time and unseasonably hot, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees.
The flames also brought the evacuation of a Boy Scout camp Saturday and left about 100 hikers stranded in a parking lot near Chantry Flats. Most of the Scouts had already left the camp by the time the evacuation was ordered, Weaver said, and no injuries were reported.
Firefighters originally had hoped to have the blaze contained Sunday, but gusting winds late Saturday night kept the fire burning out of control and creeping toward nearby homes. The evacuation orders came shortly before 11 p.m. Two shelters have been set up for evacuees.
Flames outlined steep ridges about a mile above Sierra Madre, a San Gabriel Mountains foothill community of about 11,000 popular with artists.
We're hearing that a wedding party of about 50 people who were stranded about 3.5 miles from the Chantry Flat Ranger Station have been rescued.
They have been transported out of the area via helicopter. No one was injured.
We're still not quite sure how they got there or if they were there before the broke out, but we'll update when we have more details.
PETS TO BE SHELTERED: FROM PSN:
PASADENA - The Pasadena Humane Society is offering shelter for pets whose owners have been evacuated from their homes due to the ongoing fire in the foothills.
The organization has cleared out its board room and other spaces to make room for the animals, which number about 30 at this point, Pasadena Humane Society spokeswoman Ricky Whitman said.
The pets were picked up beginning at 2:30 a.m. Sunday from American Red Cross shelters in Sierra Madre.
For more information, contact officials at the Red Cross shelters at Hart Park House, 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., and the Congregational Church 170 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Red Cross officials will coordinate with the Humane Society to ensure pet owners find shelter for their animals.
Another local blog link: The sky is big in Pasadena. Photos here.
EVACUATIONS:
The Sierra Madre city Web site is reporting about 200 homes have been evacuated. Here is a list of two sites where displaced residents can go:
Mandatory Evacuation
Go to:
Hart Senior Park House
222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.
Congregational Church
170 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.
If you haven't checked it out already, the Web site is a good resource for info. The last update was at 6:30 this morning.
There's lots of great writing about the Santa Anita Canyon fire out there. The blogs are doing great work!
Everyone has contributed and has done a great job of covering all the aspects of the fire. A comment was left on Frazgo’s LA Met site about getting more info from the local blogs than from the AP Wire…
Other sites include 91024, Aaron Proctor, Frazgo on Metblogs 2020hindsight, and Monrovia City Watch. Additonally, the Star-News will have updates periodically during the day here.
Too scary; looks like it could come all the way across the mountains again like the Altadena fire.
Excuse the confusing changes in fonts, I'm using an Apple today and it automatically formats the entries.
FRANK GIRARDOT
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