Woolsey Fire

As of Wednesday night this fire, which began last Thursday afternoon, was finally starting to become less intense as the winds have begun to die down.

Sadly, hundreds of homes have burned down and at least a few people were unable to escape alive. Many of the canyon roads (including Topanga - which we use almost daily) are still closed and PCH has limited access available to residents only.

It's amazing how large this fire has been. This story reports the size is 150 square miles - the size of Denver, Colorado. The smoke has been tough to deal with and now the charred hillsides will be especially vulnerable to mudslides if it ever rains this winter.

On Fire Again

This was the view from my street this morning. There are two large fires burning nearby and I could clearly see the flames late last night from the house.

Fortunately for us, even though the wind is howling here, the smoke and the fires are not blowing toward our direction.

On the map below you can see that the Hill Fire, which started in the Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park area had already burned to the ocean when this image was made. The Woolsey Fire is closer to us and is heading south toward the ocean. (We live just above and to the right of the last s in the word Calabasas on this map.)

As of 2pm the Woolsey Fire has just reached PCH after burning pretty much the whole area south of US101 all the way to the beach. There have been mandatory evacuations for all of Westlake Village, Malibu and Hidden Hills as well as parts of Agoura, Calabasas and Topanga Canyon.

Unfortunately many homes have been lost and the wind is expected to continue to blow during the weekend.