Los Angeles, CA

It’s been a nerve-wrenching few months for many So Cal residents this year. A rash of wildfires seemed to nearly take over the bottom third of the state, dry, hot winds blew toxic ash about, more fires during the holidays, and then blessed rain. Or not so blessed, because a fierce storm was expected to dump 3-4 inches of rain all at once, making a nice mud soup that might have wiped out the homes that the fires missed. It would have driven any homeowner to madness, watching breathlessly as their homes were nearly charred by fire after fire, only to come back home and be swallowed by 20 tons of mud.

Thankfully, the violent storm brushed past without any mishaps, so authorities are hoping they can cancel their mandatory evacuation orders over the weekend, when three more days worth of rain is expected. Some canyon residents have already voluntarily evacuated themselves, but others are determined to stick it out and only leave if forced. Orange County canyons that had been affected by the fire are still under evacuation as a precaution, and parts of San Diego are still on flash flood alert, but many other areas have been put in the clear. San Bernadino’s flash flood warning was lifted this morning, despite 3 inches of rain and various rocks and debris on the snaking mountain roads.

Still, despite the collective sigh of relief around here, traffic accidents are still on the rise. Either driving too fast for visibility or not leaving enough space between vehicles to account for the slippery, wet roads, the careless are putting theirs and your innocent lives at stake. So please, be careful out there and remember safe is always better than sorry.

Read more here.

Though this weekend’s Malibu fire is fully contained now, authorities are saying that Southern California is not in the clear yet. Light showers have been predicted for later in the week, but both climatologists and firefighters say that a little rain won’t help at all. The only thing that would deter future fires right now would be at least four inches of rain in a week, something that isn’t bound to happen any time soon. That, coupled with the warm Santa Anas from the south and the incredibly dry weather means that we’re still living in a tinderbox that could go up any time.

It’s not all bad news though. After being underprepared for the first round of fires, all fire departments have beefed up their staff with extra firemen on call, ready to go anywhere in the state if another fire should pop up. The quick response to this weekend’s Corral fire and its equally quick containment prove that a fire doesn’t have to get out of control, even in dry, hot weather. Still, most of Southern California is still on a fire alert and will be until we get some decent rain. However, if we were to get a drenching rain, some more rural areas in Orange County and San Bernadino County are at risk for mudslides. In a precautionary measure, emergency funds have already been earmarked to replenish forests that have been thinned to the point of causing dangerous mudslides, so at least now we’re trying to act before an accident happens, not after.

You can read more about La Niña and how it affects us here.

This morning at about 3:30 AM, a new fire broke out in Malibu. Sadly, already 35 homes have burned in the six hours since the fire started, and another 200 homes are still under threat until the fire can be contained and put out completely. The media is already dubbing this fire The Corral Incident, since the fire broke out at Corral Canyon Road and PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). Unfortunately for the fire fighters, the Santa Ana winds have kicked up again, so winds in Malibu Canyon are getting up to 60 miles per hour. That, couple with a cold front hovering just out of state, are keeping the weather in the 70s, which also isn’t helping.

Despite all of this, it sounds like the media — well, at least Channel 4, which I’m watching right now — doesn’t sound too worried and are very confident that the fire will be contained soon. There are over 300 firefighters out there on foot, plus helicopters and small planes dropping water and fire retardants to keep the fire as far away from houses, PCH and Pepperdine as possible.

There is also a fire warning in effect for the following counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino, San Diego, and Kern, since the return of the Santa Anas always raises the risk of a wildfire. There will also be parking restrictions in the Hollywood hills and other fire-prone areas in Los Angeles until further notice.

To read more about the newest Malibu fire and the firefighting techniques being used, you can read more at the L.A. Times website.

The ten year-old boy who admitted to playing with matches and starting a fire that cost 21 homes is not going to be charged with any crimes, according to the L.A. County District Attorney’s office. They came to their decision based on the fact that they boy never intended to set a fire (arson), but referred him to Family Services to have the family monitored to see if any intervention in other areas is needed. I’ve been wondering since the news broke if they were going to charge such a young kid with a felony, or even try him as an adult, but I’m sure many people like myself have very mixed feelings about the boy being released without being punished at all for destroying so many people’s lives.

According to California law, anyone under the age of 12 who ignites a fire is considered to simply be playing with fire, not arson, even though more than half of the fires started by human hands in California are juveniles. Does this mean we just have a lot of pyro curious kids around, or that we may need to change our way of dealing with firebugs, especially if they’re familiar with the law?

While the boy may be free of charges, however, his parents may be taken to civil court to pay for what their son has done, even though damages in the fire cost millions, and they wouldn’t even be able to make a sizable dent if they were forced to pay.

You can read the full story through the L.A. Times.

Still making big news nationwide is the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay. I’m up in San Francisco right now, and so far mayor Gavin Newsom, newly re-elected, has put in an appearance, along with governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to assess the damage. While they haven’t really done anything and have absolutely nothing to say, the locals and park rangers around the Crissy Field area say that the beaches may be closed for years due to oil washing up on the beaches. While San Francisco doesn’t have any beaches that I consider worthwhile (meaning you can’t swim at any of them due to freezing water, unusually strong tides, and riptides), it is really nice to climb down to Baker Beach (nude or clothed, there’s a bit of both there) and just sit on the sheltered beach and enjoy the fabulous view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now we can’t even do that, since the sands are covered in oil and poor dead birds keep washing up. Most locals who want to volunteer can’t because they don’t have clean suits to wear, because not wearing them means severe sickness from the oil. Criticisms are running rampant here, with the ship’s crew being blamed because they should have been too experienced and too familiar with the bay to collide with the Bay Bridge, and the Coast Guard for being slow to respond and only reporting 1/10th of the oil spilled, thereby causing too much of a delay picking up the oil until it was too finely dissipated in the water to be able to collect. The entire bay is affected and will be for countless years, everything from protected wildlife to the shipping industry via Oakland to local fisherman.

The other big California disaster is of course the fires. Though long extinguished now, people are still looking for someone to point their fingers at. While President Bush and the rest of the government seemed to learn their lesson big-time after Hurricane Katrina and he made a speedy appearance on the scene in San Diego, FEMA had their butt handed to them again as it was revealed that they had staged a press conference in a desperate attempt to make themselves look more capable of handling large-scale emergencies. You know, what they were supposed to be doing, as opposed to staging press conferences. Despite their shaky past, though, Southern Californians are giving FEMA good grades, saying that they have responded quickly to claims and that over 1,000 fire victims have been given aid already. Maybe this, and not self congratulations, will be what turns FEMA’s image around.