Monday, October 22, 2007


If you have been following the news since yesterday, I don’t have to tell you that things out here are pretty bad. The air is heavy with smoke and some areas of my ride in were almost like driving in twilight due to the fires. I’m fortunate in that the northbound I5 wasn’t affected, except for visibility today. One of the alternate routes I can take (the 241 toll road) actually runs right though one of the larger fires. It has been closed from where I would take it on Oso Parkway up to where I would get off on Chapman Ave. and beyond.

Most of the fires are northeast and south of Ladera Ranch, although the winds are carrying lots of smoke and ash our way. We have seen a lot of birds flying over the arroyo heading in both directions trying to find safer areas. It’s rather sad, but fascinating to see a dozen hawks, herons, etc. flying directly overhead. We are used to seeing the huge flocks of crows each day, but the larger birds are generally flying solo or only in pairs.

We are a little unsure if things are going to get bad for us in LR. We have had fires in the area before, as you may recall, and the amount of equipment and manpower available is stretched pretty thin. Donna actually took some of our valuable papers with her to work, “Just in case.”

Oh, and if Joe is reading this, I agree. “Maybe we should let Malibu burn.”

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I've been thinking about you ever since I heard about these fires. Glad they haven't reached LR proper yet, and continued hopes for your safety and well-being.

Anonymous said...

I was gonna e-mail you, then I figured I'd better check here. Stay safe out there, hopefully they'll be no evacuation troubles for you. It must be awful with all that smoke. I'm thinking you're right, it's obvious that Malibu is built in a fire alley and this will happen again and again, incredible. Seriously, It might be time to just build somewhere else, most of them could afford it. Is anyone else saying that? Be safe

Joe

Steve Chaput said...

Over and over they interview folks who live in Malibu, Lake Arrowhead, etc. Some of them have lost homes twice in fires, but they insist on re-building.

This is the second time this year that there have been fires in Malibu, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

If the current owners don't rebuild realtors will buy the land and put up houses for twice the price in the same spots. And somebody else will move in!