#fire update

“And now the news”:

The wildfires engulfing Los Angeles County have scorched more than 36,000 acres, or 56.25 square miles — a total area larger than some of the United States’ most densely populated cities. They have spread to roughly 36,365 acres combined.

The Palisades Fire has burned over 20,000 acres and destroyed more than 10,000 structures, and as of 9 a.m. was 8% contained, which is progress from last night when it was 6% contained at 10 p.m., thanks to favorable wind conditions overnight.

The Eaton Fire in Pasadena-Altadena has now destroyed 13,956 acres with 3% containment. The fire is believed to have damaged or destroyed 4,000 to 5,000 structures. The fire did make a push toward Mount Wilson Observatory on Thursday, but the building did not suffer any damageand the relay antennas atop the mountain for communication across Southern California are unharmed.

The Palisades and Eaton fires have become the No. 1 and No. 2 most destructive fires in Southern California history.

The red flag warning will continue until Friday at 6 p.m. PST, but firefighters will be preparing for the next red flag event expected to begin on Monday.

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said the devastation caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles has been catastrophic and that “parts of the city look like an atomic bomb was dropped.” (He’s right)

So far, at least five blazes have burned an area:

About the same size as Miami…

Two and a half times larger than Manhattan.

Larger than San Francisco and Boston, both of which cover more than 46 square miles…

And around 3.5% the size of Rhode Island, the smallest state.

And it really is worse than it looks. Whole neighborhoods have been devastated, leaving nothing but rubble. At least 10,000 properties have been destroyed, the Los Angeles County assessor said. The death toll has risen to ten and will go higher once it is safe to enter the burned-out areas; one of the ten was found in front of his house with a garden hose in his hand. The Palisades Fire could be the costliest in US history, according to a climate expert. The overall cost is estimated at more than $50 billion and will go higher.

Firefighting teams are expecting more wind and dry conditions to continue to complicate efforts into next week. If winds are too strong, firefighting aircraft won’t be able to take off.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has used his moratorium power to stop non-renewals and cancelations of fire insurance for one year.

A man questioned by police about possible attempted arson Thursday afternoon was arrested on a felony parole violation charge, Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said Friday morning. Officers responded to calls about a man trying to start a fire who was being detained by members of the public in the 21700 block of Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills, near the Kenneth Fire, at 4:32 p.m. Due to lack of probable cause he was not arrested or charged, , but he was arrested on a felony probation violation.

The Los Angeles District Attorney announced that anyone flying an unauthorized drone will be “prosecuted to the maximum.” "If you're thinking that it's fine to send a drone up in the area for your own amusement, or you want to get information that nobody else can get, and you do it in one of these areas that for which drones are not permitted … you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished to the full extent of the law.” This follows an incident yesterday in which one of the Canadian “Super Scooper” water bombers collided with a drone over a drop over the Palisades Fire, damaging the nose gear and putting the plane out of service until at least Monday for repair. This leaves only one of the “Super Scoopers” in service.

The first injury report of the night has come in. According to KTLA, "several people were injured." They are reporting they found found shelter at Duke's Malibu on the PCH and "several others less than two miles away at Big Rock"

I’m OK. It’s press day so I don’t have much time to talk those days, double if it’s like today and I have to send same day due to press issues.

I am not living close to the town, a few hours away, but the fires are bad enough the cold front has brought the smoke here.

It’s bad enough I saw the VFD here go out to several calls of smoke just on the off chance they were fires here. (In fairness I had to go up and check our attic and stuff at the office)

Fire Update: Our House is Okay

Alright, time to give an update about what’s been going on since my last personal update. Just so yall know that things are alright now. So, basically, my dad almost set fire to our house on Tuesday (by accident, obviously) because he got mad about the amount of woodsmoke in our house. You see, we own a woodstove at my house and usually use it to save on heating bills and in case we lose power.…