Soĺ Cal fires
Hats off to you ! That is one tough job ! The rest of us should reflect when we complain about our hard jobs .
It broke me. Chewed me up and spit me out. The 12 years I dedicated to throwing my body at nameless hills and canyons, vegetation that grows back, and homes that could be rebuilt seems like it was for nothing other than wonderful and terrible memories.
It is moments like this that I get a little low because I know how exhilarating and adrenaline filled this fire is. I miss it so much and wish I could be young and healthy forever.
I don't want to take away from those who are back in SoCal. This is bad. My home back in San Diego was encircled in a 17,000 acre fire so I know how it feels on the "fire victim" side a well as the Firefighter perspective.
My inclination is to tell folks here who deal with wildfire how to handle this situation if they wanted to prep, defend, hold. However, I would feel terrible if someone got hurt. So, my advice is to just leave. For the future though, study the Australian framework of Prep, Defend, Hold. They don't always evacuate down under. The Civil Defence program offers homeowners training on staying home and fighting the fire.
Now, when you have a WIND driven fire it is advisable for even Firefighters to get out of the way. Wind driven fires are the opposite of routine and structured. It's a **** show and many times us firefighters don't have time to develop the perfect plan and have to just abort mission when the wind dictates fire spread and intensity. There are occurrences where there is nothing to do in front of the head fire except evacuate.
This is one where you just need to evacuate. Watch out for the wind reversal when the East wind breaks down and the diurnal flow returns (on-shore breeze). Get out of areas that put the wind, fuels, and yourself in alignment.
@72bluNblu Come back and read this. I don’t see where I’m saying the Palisades Fire could be stopped with fuels treatments.
You based all your bullshit on your out of context perspective. This is why I tried to initially challenge this up as a miscommunication because I know you didn’t digest my words well. Sorry I went hard on you but you replay stepped on it. PM me for anything further.