Woolsey and Camp out of control there's a fire up on the Mountain, we can't escape, but we can be blamed.

                There's a fire raging up on the Mountain and it's not good.

Wildfire at Camp Road.

Evacuation has been ordered in Southern California for 250,000 people extending from Thousand Oaks to Malibu. The Woolsey fire has burned an area the equivalent in size to Akron Ohio as of Sunday night November 11, 2018. It is racing towards the ocean with little to stop it, the Santa Ana's are fueling it and driving it on.

The deadly Campfire in Northern California is much larger than the Woolsey fire devastating Malibu. The entire city of Paradise has been destroyed, 27,000 residents have been displaced in a rapid and unprecedented fashion. Search is on for 110 missing persons, 25 people have met their demise while attempting to escape the flames. The Northern California equivalent of the Santa Ana's, the Diablo wind is the demon driving the largest wildfire in the history of the state.

The causes of these two monsters will be discovered, whether it be arson or a natural cause at this point it doesn't much matter. PG&E (Northern and Central Californias electric utility), sent a message to the PUC, (Public Utilities Commission) stating that 15 minutes before the fire started an incident was reported, the damage was sustained to a transmission tower. The company has a policy put in place after last years devastating fires stating the parameters they will follow to shut down power in threatened areas. PG&E did not shut down service, contrary to popular belief, some took it for granted they would.

Both fires have claimed many houses and structures, the fast-moving flames did not give the victims any time to escape. In fact, the same stories are coming from both locals, people running for their lives abandoning everything. Some victims were caught inside their cars trying to get out when the flames overcame them, there was nothing they could do. Others have been found in their bedrooms, one thought is the flames came upon them so rapidly they hid under beds and in places they thought would be safe. The fear had to be overwhelming, possibly causing panic, it's hard to imagine a worse way to die.

Homes of every size shape and design have been destroyed in both catastrophes. They all have at least one thing in common, I suspect they share much more, every one of them was someones home. Malibu is one of the most exclusive places to live in the country, many people in show business reside therein glamorous estates, some of the most expensive there is. The homes in Paradise are middle-class adobes, it was a beautiful mountain town full of good, happy, giving people. The cost of housing is more in line with a state like Wisconsin than its neighbors to the south, the city of San Francisco. At the end of the day, none of it matters, home prices, income, or what level of society they live in. A homeless person is every bit as devastated by a loss of everything as is the person with millions of dollars worth of keepsakes. Relating their experiences on the news broadcast, every one of the people made similar statements, "the house will be replaced, insurance will cover that, but, it's the photos, and heirlooms, the stuff that can't be replaced that causes the most heartache".

The size, shape or value of the home doesn't matter to a wildfire.

A friend in Corpus Christa, Texas told me the same thing after his house burned to the ground. He had purchased the home two months earlier when due to an electrical problem a fire started, burning to the ground everything was lost. He lost an old pet dog he had with him for years, that he said was extremely difficult for him to endure.

Three houses next to my house caught on fire one March night 6 years ago, two burned completely another suffered substantial damage. They also stated the exact same that it was the "stuff" that could not be replaced causing them the most grief. I was lucky, the wind was not blowing in its normal direction and spared our house, however, it taught me a life's lesson. Be prepared to get out of the structure as quickly as possible.

We have about one minute to escape a fire, especially during the holiday season when a pine tree is standing in the living room. I'm sure it's impossible to decide what if anything to grab and escape with when faced with a towering inferno. When a person has nothing a toothbrush is a treasure. There are some things we can do to prepare such as:

1) Lay out clothing next to our beds, long pants, shirt, socks, and shoes, items that are easy to put on. Leave the wallet and car keys in a pocket.

2) If a person has an online business secure all valuable information on the "cloud", it won't be lost and grabbing the laptop will no longer be a temptation.

3) Have an escape plan and practice it, humans will resort to training when faced with an emergency.

(Follow this Link to FEMA's planning guides)

4) Keep supplies in the trunk of our vehicles.

5) Keep 1/2 tank of fuel in the vehicle, at least.

The preparations for such a disaster must be structured in a way that makes perfect sense, the expectation that someone is going to be mindful enough to grab anything of importance is unrealistic. When the firefighter is pounding on the door at 2 am and when the door is opened he is outlined with a raging infernal, faced with that situation who would be able to think or plan? To be a Monday morning quarterback is useless, nobody has any idea what they would do until it happens to them. Even at that, it is my assumption that no matter how many times a person endures such a calamity there is no getting used to it, there is no new normal.

Gee that's easy to do.

In the same line of thinking it does no-one any good at all to blame the victims, it commonly comes from the political side of our society, these events are no exception. For a person to blame the fires on a lack of effort on the state to keep the forest floor clear of debris, that person has to live in an alternate reality. It tells me that "person" has never spent any time in the mountains or the wilderness, this is a wild state. Most of the locations these fires start are in the middle of absolute no-where, inaccessible to any vehicle or firefighting equipment. I have backpacked all over the Sierra Nevada's, yes there is a lot of dead and dry underbrush, yes it would help if it was not there, but how in the world could it be removed? Even if it was in an area that had some sort of access the cost of implementing the removal would be enormous. There is one issue that overshadows all others, one that the accuser has no idea at all about although he should, the Federal Government owns 60% of the wild space in California. It is his duty to allocate the funds and lead the charge to clear it up if that is what he thinks (with zero research) the causes are. It is more than maddening that during the middle of two huge disasters he does not even acknowledge the victims other than placing blame on them. We as Americans and decent human beings do not think like that, the progression is:

* Deal with the emergency, people first everything else second.

* Find the missing, comfort the people.

* Investigate to find the causes

* Make a policy to address the cause and render it moot with planning.

I don't know why people begin to point fingers immediately when an incident occurs, it's my idea that the person has never experienced anything in their lives that impacted them, or anything they were not protected from. It's an elitist position, with an inbred idea of superiority to everyone else, it bolsters one's ego. These are disasters of biblical proportions, and being a self-professed Christian he should know what he is doing and saying is crosswise to the teachings of any follower of any religion.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, the human suffering is above all else the tragedy involved here, so many lives lost. So many lives impacted it is like an octopus the tentacles are many and far-reaching. Everyone I talk to has a friend or relative that has been displaced by not only these fires but all of them. What affects the people anywhere in California affects us all, and it would be good if he realized that and sought a bit of humility versus machoism. Thanks again.

JacquesLebec   emergencykitsplus.com