While this is obviously not a terror related event, in the interest of serving our readers and online community we will continue to monitor this situation and provide links to the latest news and information.
UPDATE: Chaotic, gusting winds fanned wildfires all over Southern California on Saturday. Live links are listed below.
UPDATE: A wildfire fanned by hurricane-force wind ripped through northwestern Los Angeles foothills on Saturday, forcing some 10,000 people to flee their homes and threatening the power supply of California’s largest city.
A separate fire burned a second day in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, where 111 homes have been destroyed.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fire in the foothills near Sylmar had already destroyed dozens of structures — more than any other in the past decade — and that the flames could take down power lines feeding the city.
“The fire is threatening the power of the city of Los Angeles,” Villaraigosa told a news conference. “We may have to move to rolling blackouts.”
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A massive brush fire in Sylmar has burned at least five homes and 2600 acres, forcing evacuations as strong winds are quickly spreading the flames. The flames jumped the 210 Freeway causing L.A. Fire Department to close the roadway.
Winds were gusting up to about 50 mph at 2 a.m. as several homes along Dronefield Avenue burned. The fire jumped the 210 freeway near Cobalt Street, and the freeway was closed shortly after midnight.
As many as a dozen homes burned since the fire started about 10:30 p.m. Friday. An estimated 1,500 acres were blackened in the foothills, mostly north of the freeway.
Officials at Olive View Medical Center, which was without electricity, were working to evacuate some 200 patients to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. The most critical patients and babies were moved first.
Some storage buildings on the hospital campus burned.
Just one injury was reported — a 40-year-old man who suffered serious burns, according to broadcast reports.
Evacuations were ordered north of the freeway. Police were helping firefighters get disabled people out of their homes. As many as 5,000 people were sent to shelters.
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How are you so sure that this is not terror related? I have read that wildfire could be a tactic of terrorists. Do we know how this fire/s were started?
You state “While this is obviously not a terror related event”. How do you know? Every year when the winds blow, someone goes and torches So. Cal. for billions of dollars, killing hundreds and disrupting the lives of thousands. Most of the times, these fires are intentionally set. I say this IS an act of terrorism, and should be given that status because it needs more manpower to catch these criminals. Homeland Security and the FBI should both be involved before more lives are lost.
I am a weather-watcher/NWS-SkyWarn spotter for over
25 years (10 years in southern California). I have been watching the outbreaks of wild-fires in southern California. Most of them occur during the fall “Santa
Ana” winds’ season.
I feel that these fires are deliberatly set, by someone(s) that knows this weather factor. And, also
a terrorist-factor may be involved. There are Al-Qaeda
cells known to be in California,
Don’t get me wrong…….I hope that I am wrong, but
don’t eliminate my reasoning; the fires come at the
right time when a Santa Ana wind condition is forecast, or begins.
Not Terror Related?
Here is an arrest in Malibu California;
Suspected arsonist arrested in Malibu
Article Launched: 11/16/2008 03:24:03 AM PST
MALIBU, Calif.—Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a 39-year-old man suspected of starting a fire near Malibu Creek State Park.
Sheriff’s deputy Byron Ward said Suren Sahakyan was taken into custody around 5 p.m. Saturday by deputies responding to a call that someone had started a fire on the shoulder of a road. A witness who reported seeing the incident quickly put out the fire.
Ward said Sahakyan was arrested not far from where the fire was ignited. He was booked for investigation of arson and held on $75,000 bail.
My family and I live in the San Bernardino mountains,and we have been through two evacuations. The Old Fire in 2003, and the latest one, the Slide Fire.I agree with the gentlemen who stated that Homeland Security
should start getting involved.
Who knows if there is a terrorist connection. Not impossible!
During WW2, not far from where I live, a Japaness sub launched a
small plane from the San Fancisco area to drop fire bombs in the
national forest lands. Just north of the California boarder one
was dropped. Due to the wet fog coastal land where it was dropped,
it went out. Any way to create hate, fear, or distruction is fair
game.