News World 212: San Gabriel Mountains Fire

Showing posts with label San Gabriel Mountains Fire. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Cruz"n the Borderland: Haterade on Tap

Fish fire, Reservoir fire burn combined 4,500 acres in San Gabriel Mountains near Azusa, Duarte

Ive had the joy of watching, listening to, and becoming friends with local musicians over the years. As I stated previously, we seriously have some amazing talent here in El Paso. That being said, there is SOMETHING that has been bothering me ever since. And it happens on a local level, unbelievably. It makes me cringe (and then laugh) when I hear someone talk about how they HATE a certain type of music.

Especially when the person talking is ACTUALLY IN a band or are some sort of music expert!

Too much in-fighting within the artists world does nothing for them, and the fans are the ones who suffer. As an example, it always seems (generalize much?) its some sort of metal or rock band that puts down pretty much ANY OTHER MUSIC that isnt their style.

I cant stand Rap music! It sucks! This argument isnt valid, because as a genre its been around for well over 25 years, and has melded with every OTHER music format. Country-Rap, Dance-Rap, Rock-Rapand the fact that the hottest movie of the summer was about *gasp* gangster rap, should show how mainstream and accepted the format is.

Now, Im not here to raise the banner of rap music, what Im saying here is dont knock another style of music, simply because it isnt your cup of tea. Oh, sure.dislike a specific artist or band for the lack of accomplishment of the fact that particular song just didnt do it for youbut not the ENTIRE format. The minute I hear someone start doing that, their credibility as a fan of music goes down a few notches in my eyes.

I DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT ART, BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE

Ive always defined an artist as someone who creates something I cant. Its a broad definition, and it covers so many areas. The talent that oozes from people in whatever field they create is something I respect, admire, and dare I say am a bit jealous of.

snortI coulda painted THAT! Yeah, but you DIDNT. I coulda wrote I AM THE WALRUS, toobut I didnt. An artist did. So who am I to take down an entire area of something I cant do, or maybe dont understand.

Oh, dont get me wrong, there are certain styles of music (and other arts) I dont like, but I learned a while back to never dismiss it as it sucks! Theres way too much negativity in the world as it is, art in any form is is an escape for mosta release if you will. Why disparage and take it ALL away with a blanket statement?

Appreciate the art form, maybe research it. Maybe TRY it yourself. Feed and nature the positivity and creative nature of the human spirit. Of course opinions matter, but to generalize and tear down that which you dont understand or failed to is a sad, hurtful act.

Art is a release, music is passioncreativity is intelligence having fun! (Didnt Einstein say that??)

And really, isnt THAT what makes living fun.? Be creative while we can.

Source: http://elpasoheraldpost.com/cruzin-the-city-haterade-on-tap/

500 firefighters face steep, dry terrain to battle blaze in California wilderness

Fish fire, Reservoir fire burn combined 4,500 acres in San Gabriel Mountains near Azusa, Duarte

David Mcnew / Getty Images North America

U.S. Forest Service firefighters stand near flames at the Williams fire in the Angeles National Forest on Sept. 4, north of Glendora, Calif.

By NBC News staff and wire

A 3,600-acre fire in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles chewed through thick brush in steep terrain that hadn"t burned in two decades.

The weather was hot and dry but there were no significant winds to whip or push the fire toward Los Angeles suburbs to the south.

Because of the terrain and warm temperatures, it could take a week to contain the blaze, Incident Commander James Smith of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told the Associated Press. It had burned about 5 1/2 square miles by late Tuesday.Containment was at 15 percent early Tuesday, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

About 500 firefighters and 21 firefighting aircraft were assigned to the fire. Crews wereprotecting structures in the Camp Williams area, whereabout 12,000 recreational campers were evacuated during the weekend. Many left camping items and vehicles at the site, and authorities plan to establish a phone number for campers to call so they can collect their property, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

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Very dry conditions, with humidity below 10 percent, were forecast for the area all week and temperatures were expected to remain in the 80s and 90s, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford.

The serious fire season in Southern California usually begins with the arrival of the Santa Ana winds, which peak in November and December. The Santa Anas are often linked to the most destructive wildfires, blowing out of the northeast and through mountain canyons and passes, driving flames into foothill suburbs.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist William Patzert said the winds were the only factor absent from the current fire situation, because all the other major factors including drought and dense population already exist.

Previous report: Wildfire in hills near Los Angeles could "take several days" to contain

Southern California"s population in 1950 was 4 million people, Patzert said, but today it is pushing 20 million and many people are living in areas that historically were considered fire corridors, he said.

"The history of Southern California has been written in fires and other calamities. I think the population density and where we build and how we build has made it more frequent, more costly and more precarious," he said.

The only thing you need to go with winds, overpopulation and a dry fuel load is ignition, Patzert said. Ninety percent of fires are human-caused, either intentional or accidental, he said.

"With 20 million people in Southern California, there are always plenty of candidates. We seem to have our unfair share of wacko pyromaniacs," he said.

Blazes in multiple states threaten houses and cause evacuations.

Brush clearance is one of the few things homeowners can do to help protect their homes, Patzert said. "It stands head and shoulders over everything else. You need a defensible area in a fire zone. It should be mandatory."

Southern California"s fire outlook for the fall and winter remains unclear.

The NWS Climate Prediction Center issued a three-month outlook that shows no strong science suggesting hot or cold temperatures or high or low precipitation, Wofford said. "The prediction is very non-specific."

On the San Gabriel Mountains fire front, a burned car was found in the area, but it was unknown if the car caused the fire or was destroyed by it.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

The blaze in popular San Gabriel Canyon brought an early halt to Labor Day weekend hiking and camping plans for as many as 12,000 people. But 25 residents of the nearby community of Camp Williams refused to leave.

Kevin Brown, a gold prospector and Hollywood lighting technician who lives in Camp Williams, said he was scared when a sheriff"s deputy knocked on his door Sunday.

Brown looked at a weather report and decided to ignore the evacuation orders. The fire burned closest to the mobile homes and campsites late Monday, he said.

"I sat up for hours in my picnic chair and my video camera just taping different sections of the fire raging," he said. "It was crazy, I had this whole fireworks show to myself in the middle of the night."

Other residents appeared to be nonplussed by the fire.

Susan King-Morgan, 51, and her husband, Chuck Morgan, 68, sat casually on lawn chairs and watched as one helicopter after another dumped water on flames burning along a mountainside about half a mile from Camp Williams, their home for 10 years, the Los Angeles Times reported. The couple declined to evacuate, as they have done for three previous fires, they said.

In Northern California, several fires broke out Tuesday, including one in Colusa County north of Sacramento that had surged to 1,000 acres and forced the closure of Highway 16. A 200-acre spot fire broke out about three miles away.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

San Gabriel Mountains Fires: Fast Moving Blazes May Merge

San Gabriel Mountains Fire 06/20/16
Firefighters battled a pair of fast-moving fires on Tuesday that already consumed about 4,500 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains, prompting the evacuation of about 685 homes as triple-digit temperatures hit the region, reported The Associated Press.

Authorities on scene said they were concerned winds would cause the two blazes to merge into one large fire.

The two blazes started midday within an hour of one another and just a few miles apart above the cities of Azusa and Duarte, where it was 109 degrees early Monday evening.

The first blaze erupted shortly after 11:15 a.m. along Highway 39 by the Morris Dam after a vehicle went over the side of the road and caught fire. Flames quickly spread up the canyon, U.S. Forest Service Fire Chief Robert Garcia said.

That fire, burning in the Angeles National Forest in steep terrain above Azusa, had charred 1,500 acres and was 0 percent contained at 9 p.m.

Dubbed the Reservoir Fire, the blaze prompted the evacuation of San Gabriel Canyon, a popular recreation destination. Azusa police issued mandatory evacuation orders for Mountain Cove and Rainbow Ranch. Voluntary evacuations were issued for Crystal Canyon and Mirador.

Soon after the Reservoir Fire broke out, another blaze the Fish Fire started less than 4 miles away. It began above homes in neighboring Duarte in the area of Brookridge Road and Opal Canyon roads.

As intense flames and thick black smoke spread, a person with a hose was apparently attempting to defend a home on the flaming hillside. Police vehicles soon showed up and aircraft dropped water and fire retardant in the area.

Horse stables at the Encanto Equestrian Center were in flames, which spread uphill, away from structures, video from Sky5 showed.

It immediately started burning away from homes toward the forest. That was extremely fortunate for us because we did not have those houses in immediate peril, Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief John Tripp said.

The Fish Fire fire grew to 3,000 acres at 0 percent containment by about 9 p.m., according to a tweet from the Fire Department.

A sheriff"s deputy suffered minor injuries due to smoke inhalation at the Fish Fire, a county fire official said. Tripp later said the injury was for a bee sting.

About 685 homes were evacuated in both fires, according to the City of Duarte. Additional evacuations could be ordered overnight, Tripp said at an early evening news conference.

Structure protection efforts will be in effect through the evening, Tripp said. At least one water-dropping helicopter with night vision will work after dark, he said, and the air attack will continue overnight.

An evacuation center was set up at the Duarte Community Center on Huntington Drive. Small animals may be taken there.

Both electrical transmission and distribution lines were threatened, a spokesman for Southern California Edison said. About 105 customers were without power due the fire in Duarte, Edison spokesman Robert Villegas said.

The brush fires broke out in the fifth year of a statewide drought and on the hottest day of a heat wave in Southern California; the triple-digit temperatures coupled with lower humidity levels had prompted the National Weather Service earlier in the day to warn of extreme fire danger in the region through Tuesday.

It was 112 degrees in the the Morris Dam area just after noon, with humidity at 8 percent, according to the National Weather Service. A southwest wind of 5 to 10 mph, with gusts as high 15 mph in the evening, was forecast.

The two fires were burning in the same general area as last year"s Cabin Fire, which erupted Aug. 14 roughly 3 miles north of Highway 39 and Rincon-Red Box Road, according to the wildfire"s InciWeb page. The Cabin Fire scorched 1,723 acres. Related Stories:

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/san-gabriel-mountains-fire/2016/06/21/id/734829/