Water pumping station in Yorba Linda burned down.. no water to fight the fires now..

[SoCalDem]

Talk about a worst case scenario..

just reported now on local news out here..

These fires may just have to burn themselves out..:(

[annabanana]

1. This is bad news...

Are the winds bad tonight?

[SoCalDem]

4. Right now they have eased, but they usually pick up after dark..

at 3 AM they were gusting to 80+ mph during the Sylmar fire last night.. and the Santanas are supposed to stay for 2-3 days..

Last week we ran the furnace and for the last 3 days,, the AC

[lse7581011]

2. Isn't the Nixon Museum and Library There?

wonder how close the fires are to that

[SoCalDem]

6. That's a ways off, I think..

I'vwe never been, so I'm not sure..but this is primarily housing in the hillside areas (the dumbest place on earth to build houses out here)

[lse7581011]

7. Glad to Hear That!

not a big Nixon fan but visited there a few years back and was very impressed! Thoughts and prayers to all the homeowners!

[kestrel91316]

9. 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd, west of the 90 Fwy. Normally I would say

nothing whatsoever to worry about. But if the water pumping station is out, ALL BETS ARE OFF.

[lse7581011]

12. Can't Even Imagine

how scary this must be! Fire has always been my worst fear! Godspeed to everyone there!

[kestrel91316]

3. O.M.G. This is always our worst fear, that there's no water.

[calimary]

5. Aw DAMN.

Just what we need. Seems like every time I turned around, today, another fire had broken out. YIKES. And the sky is hazed over with brown smoke - even from all the way down in Yorba Linda. Shit. I hate fire season.

[wtmusic]

8. I thought the National Guard was usually deployed for this kind of thing

are they all in Iraq?

[kestrel91316]

10. Yeah. Well, except for the ones with their limbs blown off or heads smashed in.

[originalpckelly]

11. Um, that's what happened in Chicago's great fire...

just watched something about it on the Weather Channel last night.

[kestrel91316]

13. And now that the sun is down, the fixed-wing tankers are grounded.

And if the wind is too strong, the choppers can't fly.

Glad I'm up here just sucking up smoke rather than down there in fear of losing everything.

[originalpckelly]

20. I remember when we had a fire around here...

The sky was red and it rained ash the whole day. Must smell like burned plastic if it's hitting houses.

[MadrasT]

14. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.

My tummy hurts for everyone in harm's way...

[KitchenWitch]

15. Oh God...

This resident of north Irvine is really concerned by this.

Ohfuckohfuckohfuck.

[kestrel91316]

16. Um, get your bugout bag ready. Have a plan in place. Round up your valuable and

pack up your car. The worst that can happen if nothing happens is that you wasted some time.

50-60 mph gusts tonight. Embers are jumping huge distances and starting more homes on fire. Fire departments sound completely overwhelmed to me.

[KitchenWitch]

18. Already done.

Our bugout bag is downstairs in the room nearest the garage.

My problem will be nabbing the kittehs for our bugout. We did not have them last year.

[SoCalDem]

21. Even a cardboard box with air holes will do in a pinch if you don't have

invididual carriers.. We only have ONE carrier, and have purposely kept a few sturdy boxes ..just in case :(

[KitchenWitch]

22. We have the carriers - we just have resistant kittehs!

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

24. Our problem is volume..and of course the one monster cat

weighs about 25 lb..and of course Evil Willie, the devil cat

The other ones crawl into the carrier & nap, when I don;t put it away right away :)

[uppityperson]

25. Lure them in now, put them in the bathroom or some such.

[SoCalDem]

28. Yep,, better to have pissed off, yowl-y cats, than

to have to try and find a scared kitty in an emergency..

[uppityperson]

31. owwwwwwwwt! nawwwwwwwwww! nowwwwwwwwww!

what a mess.

[kestrel91316]

23. Nab the kitties NOW. Put them in a room where you can move them into

carriers easily if the need arises. Don't let them see cat carriers until you are ready to put them into them, and have them confined beforehand (I got tired of chasing cats around with carrier in hand is how I figured this out - I put them in the bathroom before fetching carrier).

[tekisui]

30. Be safe.

We are thinking of you.:pals:

[necso]

17. Use the pools.

Suitable pumps should be available somewhere, if pumpers can't be used. The Forest Service uses them, I believe. (We have two.)

With dark coming on, fire-fighting isn't going to get easier.

[SoCalDem]

19. The problem is that the firefighters are stretched pretty thin

and time is an issue.. they are fighting fires where they can work fast, and driving past the ones already burning..

[necso]

26. There were and are fire-fighters there (apparently).

And being prepared for a loss of water pressure is SOP. What would happen if a big earthquake broke waterlines?

Everything burns?

[SoCalDem]

27. Time is the problem.. without access to water & lots of it

they waste time having to truck in their own water, and then go to get more.. So they abandon areas that do not have access to water, in favor of fighting fires where water is available.. It's just logistics..

and yes, in an emergency, sometimes houses just do burn down :(

Firemen are great, but they have limitations

[necso]

32. I've seen air-photos,

and there seem to be a number of large pools in this development. And pools typically hold a lot more water than fire-trucks or tenders can carry. Moreover, this apparently could have been done hours ago when it was still light (there sure seemed to be fire-fighters there; some apparently left because of no water pressure) and the fire was a lot more limited.

And using the locally available resources is a lot more efficient and timely than trucking resources in -- which they're apparently doing at this moment.

Furthermore, I know that using pools (and other stores/sources) is (or at least was) SOP for some fire-departments -- why isn't this more generally true.

[necso]

35. Lol. ... Stumblebumitis. /nt

[necso]

36. And maybe the media-types

should get their reporters, camera-persons, etc, better head and face protection -- along with respirators or the like (suitable for use with an appropriate transmit/receive connection); smoke from burning buildings can be very toxic.

...

I forgot the "please".

Sorry.

[shanti]

29. oh man....

i grew up in santa ana and remember the years that the foothills were on fires, orange park acres, santa ana heights...now it's fire season year round! :( stay safe, socal!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[rufus dog]

34. man I thought last year was bad

The firefighters had limited resources based on so many fire and no air support in OC.

this year they have air support but range is huge. Sad to see houses just left to burn while the fireman try to save neighboring homes.

Already getting some high wind gusts, could be a long night.