The Fires in Los Angeles – Episode 464

It’s Friday the 10^th as I record write and four major fires are burning across Los Angeles County. My family and I are safe, the closest fire to where we live is the Eaton Fire burning in the hills above Altadena, just north of Pasadena. However, the air is thick with smoke and ash.

My office is in South Pasadena and many of my clients and associates live in the Pasadena area. Tragically, I know personally many people that have lost their homes in the fire.

Tuesday, January 7, started with news media warnings of a “life threating” windstorm predicted to be the strongest wind event since 2011. The predictions came true with wind gusts reaching 80 to 100 mph in some areas.

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Those of us who live in Southern California expect wildfires in the winter, when the dry Santa Ana winds blow. However, the severity of this wind event, coupled with the fact that we’ve have no significant rainfall this winter, created conditions ripe for these devastating wildfires.

• In the Pacific Palisades area on the coast between Santa Monica and Malibu, at least 10,000 properties have been damaged and 20,000 acres burned. Containment is 8%
• The Eaton Fire has destroyed more than 1000 structures. 13,600 acres have been burned and containment is at 3%
• The Kenneth Fire in north LA county and Ventura Country is 35% contained and has burned 1000 acres so far.
• 100, 000 people are under evacuation orders and another 166, 000 are under evacuation warnings.

So there has been what can only be described as catastrophic damage across LA county. My heart goes out to those who are suffering the loss of homes and business.

I’m doing this podcast today because several friends, clients, colleagues and family members have reached out to find how my family and I are.

We are lucky. We were without power for 24 hours starting Tuesday night as the wind howled outside. Our next-door neighbors, some of the nicest and most generous people I know and who managed to keep their power, offered extension cords to plug into their outside outlets so that we could keep our refrigerator running.

If there is a bright spot in all of this, it’s the kindness, generosity and resilience of those who live in the LA area, including businesses, shelters and food banks. Chefs offering thousands of meals to evacuees, Air BNB hosts and dozens of others offering free shelter to those in need, mechanics offering free car repair. I’ve seen people on social media offer their homes to whoever needs a place to sleep.

Help has poured in from all over the world including Sooper Scooper planes from Canada.

It is heartbreaking to watch the devastation and loss including 10 people who have died. But it’s comforting to experience and hear about the generosity of neighbors and businesses, the generosity of volunteers, and the commitment of first responders.

If you want to donate to fire relief and recovery efforts, you can:

Donate to the Red Cross at redcross.org/donate

Donate to the Los Angeles Fire Dept. Foundation

Or you can go to CharityNavigator.org to donate to an organization that feels right to you.

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Thank you for reading, and if I can be of any assistance, you can reach out to me at TedMoreno.com/contact.

Goodbye and please take care of yourself and each other.

Ted