By Joe Berk
No, it’s not another movie review. It’s what’s been occurring here in the Southland since Wednesday night.
We’ve had our share of forest fires in the 50 years I’ve been living in this part of the world, but nothing like this. Apocalyptic is not too strong a word. I think everyone who lives in southern California knows someone who lost their home.
This all started on Wednesday evening with the Santa Ana winds. We get them every year. They are usually strong, but this year they were something out of a disaster movie. In southern California, our normal daily winds predictably blow from west to east starting around 2:00 p.m. and going to approximately sundown. There’s an atmospheric/geologic reason for it I won’t pretend to understand or explain. The Santa Ana winds do just the opposite; they below from east to west, and they blow hard. Throw a fire into the mix, and you get what we have been experiencing for the last few days.
I can see the smokey skies from my house. The Eaton fire (the closest one to us) is about 30 miles to the west, but other than that, we were lucky. We’ve had lots of forest fires before in the 50 years I’ve lived here and we could see the flames on many of those fires, but they were always up in the mountains. This time, the fires jumped into residential neighborhoods.
I appreciate all the texts, emails, and phone calls from people checking in on us. We’re fine. The air quality is poor, but that’s trivial compared to what the other people in southern California have suffered. I feel for them, and I hope their situations get resolved quickly.
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Climate Change caused the Fire hydrants to be empty,stay safe.
I empathize and sympathize with all of SoCal. I lived in South Orange County for 27 years and was dangerously close to several Laguna Beach fires that were whipped through the canyons by the Santa Anas. My prayers go out to all those affected.
Thanks, George.
Thank God the Smelt Fish are safe !
He probably wishes he never heard of that fish. It will be a while before we find out if that decision really had anything to do with the firefighters’ inability to secure water, but the optics are terrible.
Locally, I have been upset but the changes our local government is allowing. Roadside pollinator environments, aka “No Mow Zones”. Allowing homeowners to call their yards “Pollinator Environments” instead of making them maintain their lawns. Homeless encampments with so much trash you would think it was a dump. All fire hazards, there are reasons we didn’t allow these activities. We have had countless “warming fires” destroy parts of our Midwestern town because those “homeless” are given more rights than the property owners or tax paying citizens. This shit has to end. Trump being re-elected is a start. It’s going to be messy, ugly and get worse before it gets better. But it is time, enough is enough. Don’t blame the Smelt, blame the crooked incompetent politicians and ourselves for allowing them to have any power. It was and is a failed experiment that never should have been allowed to prosper. Let’s return to the basics and common sense.
We appreciate the update Joe! Our other Cali Bud, Jeff Willow, is so far doing good in Glendale. I’ve been watching the FlightRadar24 app. It appears a concentrated pre-soaking effort has been underway in certain areas. Take Care. Mike & Christy
Thanks, Mike. All the best.
Tick farms.
BS
I think it would be a tactful idea to save political point scoring until after the fires are controlled. You’ll have plenty of time to Monday morning quarterback.
People that are going through this disaster will not appreciate this BS.
You can really tell who rides what by their comments.
😉
Joe, I hope that you and yours are safe from this horrific fire
We are okay. Our internet is down again. Using my phone.
This is a horrific situation, compounded by the fact that it may have been totally avoidable, but that’s for discussion later.
My heart and prayers go out to everyone affected, regardless of race, sexual preference, gender identity, wealth or lack of, food allergies and most automobile or motorcycle brand preferences.
This is not the time to bitch and complain about the obvious death spiral of Harley-Davidson, the rise of the Chinese industrial domination or the fact that at one time, the Honda 919 was indeed the best damn motorcycle ever made. Moot points right now.
Now is the time to unite with our commonalities and get this situation handled.
I might not agree with many of you on which caliber gun is ideal. What about those metric riders that shoot a .45 instead of a 10mm.
I am one, I am guilty. I ride rice but shoot SAE, go figure.
Ever see a Harley rider bragging about his 9mm? Yes, point and laugh if you dare, it happens.
Anyway –
Thanks for the update Mr. Berk. Be safe and let us know if we can help and how.
Thanks for commenting, Steve.
lol. H919rider rides again!
Good to see you Steve.
Two years of record setting rains had most of us wondering who was going to get it this time. Pacific Palisades certainly wasn’t helped when the water MGMT took 97% of their water capacity off line for 11 months due to a ripped cover (prevent excessive evaporation). I’m an Architect, my son is a Civil engineer specializing in hydrology. There are no words to describe this level of incompetence.
Thanks for adding your insights to the discussion, Norm.
Praying and thinking of you and your family and entire effected areas Joe.
Walla Walla send a crew and truck down to help out. Good guys.
Guess they got dumped on by the fire retardant plane recently. Proper initiation for sweet onion boys. Now their part of the “hood”
Take care and be safe.
Thanks, Rob. Good to hear from you.
Joe, if the smoke gets really bad , you can MASK UP!
Just curious. Imagine if the fire did get your house with all that ammo.
My god , stay safe!
Yeah, I know. Thanks, Hack.
In my particular fashion of doing so , I am praying for everyone in that area. Or any area experiencing this Maui massacree .
Rake your leaves , Joe. Crickets be damned .
Forgot to ask you Joe about your daughters, CSC, Steve Sneiders’ family? Praying and thinking of them as well.
I used to be jealous of you guys down in sunny Cali. With decent beach and riding weather all year.
But now its getting hard to count on anything being reliable whether its political, environmental, weather related. Everything world wide seems to be getting unstable.
Keep looking up. In a few weeks this to shall pass. Recovery may take years.
I feel for every one down there and they are in my thoughts and prayers.
Rob:
Thanks for your concern.
CSC had some wind damage and I believe a power outage, but they are otherwise okay.
Steve and his family are okay.
My daughters are both okay.
Joe
Keep a hose laying out in the yard ready to go. Not coiled up. Tell the neighbors to do the same. Stay safe.
I used to teach reliability engineering. I have two hoses.
We have one more day of high winds, they say.
Thanks for the good thoughts, Marcus.
Joe,
Living up in the Rockies, we’re always on edge every time the wind whips up and its dry. Knock on wood, we’ve avoided a disaster in my area.
Just like the Marshall fire that devastated a suburban Denver area a few years ago, it’s hard to imagine the same thing happening in your area below the hills there. But we’ve learned that nowhere is really safe here out west.
I’m glad to hear that you’re not directly affected.
Dan K.
Black Hawk, CO
Thanks, Dan. Always good to hear from you.