Today's fire started at around 3:00 A.M. yet was visible from space a few hours later
They brought in the "big guns" just after daybreak. This DC-10 clipped its wing on a treetop fighting the October fires!!!!
I like flying a lot but .......... I think I would pass on a ride with these guys!!The Santa Ana winds which plague Los Angeles and San Diego have reared their ugly head again today. They are formed in the winter high-pressure zones over the high deserts of the Great Basin in Utah and Nevada, in the region between the Rockies and the Sierras. As the winds descend westward, they pass through canyons in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, gaining speed and warmth as they go. As the Santa Ana’s descend and warm (up to 30°F), they lose any moisture they may have contained, hitting the west coast as roaring, hot, dry winds from 40 to 115 miles per hour. Any fire source can be whipped out-of-control in seconds. The parched undergrowth in drought infested Southern California seems to burn every time a Santa Ana occurs.
What is surprising to us is that today’s Santa Ana’s have been forecast for over a week. Officials have been bringing in firefighters and equipment all week and, as Santa Ana’s go, today’s winds are relatively light (top speed – 57 mph). Yet Malibu is ablaze again!! Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, just north-west of Palm Springs, is where all the fire-fighting aircraft are based and, is locally known as “Tanker Town”. Today’s Malibu fire is being fought with up to a dozen aircraft from Tanker Town, including a DC-10 and several Canadian water-bombers. Local news coverage is non-stop! Campers are thought to have been the source of today’s fires. Who, in their right mind, goes camping and lights camp-fires in a tinder dry fire-zone with Santa Ana’s forecast?????
What is surprising to us is that today’s Santa Ana’s have been forecast for over a week. Officials have been bringing in firefighters and equipment all week and, as Santa Ana’s go, today’s winds are relatively light (top speed – 57 mph). Yet Malibu is ablaze again!! Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, just north-west of Palm Springs, is where all the fire-fighting aircraft are based and, is locally known as “Tanker Town”. Today’s Malibu fire is being fought with up to a dozen aircraft from Tanker Town, including a DC-10 and several Canadian water-bombers. Local news coverage is non-stop! Campers are thought to have been the source of today’s fires. Who, in their right mind, goes camping and lights camp-fires in a tinder dry fire-zone with Santa Ana’s forecast?????
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