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Sayre Fire, 11:12 am PST. Photo credit: Meryl Ann Butler
For the second time this season I am within sight of a major California fire.
The first time was Oct. 13th, documented with photos in my diary entry here:
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarymanage.php?submit=view&did=10069
I am about seven miles from one of the current fires, named the Sayre fire. It started Friday night, and was about 15 acres in size when they arrived. It is currently estimated at 9500 acres. It is a brush fire on rugged mountain terrain, currently 30% contained according to the LAFD website which was updated just moments ago.
Late yesterday afternoon my route took me within a couple of miles of the fire, and it looked like it had died down. However, this morning, there was lots of smoke, which continues to build, as evidenced by the photos below.
Sayre Fire, 9 am PST. Photo credit: Meryl Ann Butler
Sayre Fire, 10 am PST, Nov. 16, 2008. Photo: Meryl Ann Butler
I heard on the news that destroyed so far are 9 single family homes, 10 commercial buildings, and 500 mobile homes in an upscale trailer park, which was 80% destroyed. An elderly couple who were residents of the trailer park had slept through the warnings and were serendipitously rescued and carried out on a fire truck at the last moment. No one yet knows if others may have missed out on the evacuation entirely, but Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton says he's concerned that some people may have died there. Raw video footage at the mobile home park:
The command base is at nearby Hansen Recreation area and the following resources have been assigned 103 Fire Companies, 13 Brush Patrols, 2 Water Tenders, 12 Helicopters, 2 Tactical Aircraft and 13 Chief Officer Command Teams with over 110 firefighters participating.
Earlier, the Los Angeles Dept of Health issued an advisory about the poor quality of the air. I’m still choosing to breathe it, though.
However, the Pasadena Marathon, scheduled for today, has been canceled due to the poor air quality levels.
Here are some on-location photos from early this morning, on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisyarzab/sets/72157609116694848/
The evacuation map is here, the fire is traveling in the direction of the Angeles National Forest. At this time, there is a red flag warning until 4 pm today:
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