Tag Archives: California wildfires

OUT OF CONTROL | Los Angeles on FIRE

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As I’m writing this post, there are six major wildfires ravaging the Southern California Los Angeles area, about 100 miles north of me, burning more than 30,000 acres. As many as 10,000 structures have been burned and the death toll is reported to be ten, but will most likely rise.

**The last time there was a major fire in my area where neighbors just a few blocks away were evacuated was in January 2021. https://enchantedseashells.com/2021/01/20/fire-in-carlsbad/

Santa Ana winds were calculated at 100 miles per hour BEFORE they were supercharged by the heat of the fires themselves. We haven’t had rain in months; everything is bone dry.

Many celebrity homes in Malibu are completely destroyed, not that I think those people are any more special than anyone else who lost everything in the fires or other disasters. It’s just crazy to see those beach homes right on the Pacific Ocean burned to a crisp.

Thousands of homeowners were dropped by their insurers before the Palisades fire, leaving them with no protection. It’s been happening for the last few years to homeowners who live in regions prone to climate disasters.

The coastal Palisades Fire is now the most destructive ever to hit Los Angeles County, while the Eaton Fire has devastated communities below Angeles National Forest to the east. There’s also the Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Kenneth Fire, and the Westhills Fire near Calabasas.

I don’t want to even think about the cause or repeat any unsubstantiated gossip. Mostly I care about the poor animals– pets and wild creatures — who are now injured and displaced. It’s so sad.

In the midst of this tragedy, I’m sharing a heartwarming story of a heroic woman who rescued forty one pets from the wildfires.

Dr. Annie Harvilicz, a veterinarian, bravely risked her life to help rescue dogs, cats, and a rabbit from the path of the Pacific Palisades fire as their owners were forced to flee.

The animal lover has opened her home and an empty pet hospital because their owners simply don’t have the space or resources to bring the pets with them.

She also rescued 4 dogs near LAX airport and has taken them into her home.

If you’d like to help, her email is: drannieawc@gmail.com and you can donate here: www.animalwellnessfoundation.org

Here’s video from the BBC:

…and so it begins

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Here in SoCal, there are unusual excessive heat warnings for the coast; it could reach 105 degrees today. It was 87 degrees at 8:00 a.m. and now it’s 101 at 11:00 a.m. HOT!

The National Weather Service announced red flag warnings for high fire probability with humidity less than ten percent. The forecast also calls for areas of smoke. High heat records are being broken this weekend. Our desert temperatures could exceed 126 degrees. Crazy!

There’s ash on my car and deck from the fire in Alpine, fifty miles away in the east county. I tried to go for a walk at 7:15 and not only was it already too hot, but my breathing was compromised from the smoke so I had to turn back. As of right now, the (named) Valley fire is estimated to have burned 4,000 acres and is 0% contained. Ten structures have been destroyed.

And then I found this, the first one of the season. The first leaf fallen from the mulberry tree. Autumn in SoCal.

I see a few more yellow leaves up there; soon I’ll be raking them up and the branches will be barren.

Sometimes I hear the voice of my poetry professor and search for a poem to illustrate the bittersweet feelings of the changing season. This is a good one by Rossetti.

Autumn Song
Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the heart feels a languid grief
Laid on it for a covering,
And how sleep seems a goodly thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the swift beat of the brain
Falters because it is in vain,
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf
Knowest thou not? and how the chief
Of joys seems—not to suffer pain?

Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the soul feels like a dried sheaf
Bound up at length for harvesting,
And how death seems a comely thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?
By DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI