Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Scary fire in Griffith Park

I was at work yesterday looking at the huge flames rage behind the iconic Griffith Park Observatory. By the time I left the office the fire seemed to be contained, it was no longer breaking news and the smoke was better.

After dinner, I got to work but was having a hard time making through a blah script. Turned on the TV...what the heck happened. The fire was moving away from the Observatory but now had spread to over 600 acres and was very close to homes in the Hollywood Hills.

I called my boss who lives west of the fires in the Hills to see if they still had power. The firefighters battled the fire all night using the big water dumping helicopters (very dangerous because of not being to see power lines) and this morning the fire is 40% contained and no homes were destroyed. Some people are still not able to return home. Last 300 people where told to leave and only 12 refused.

The terrain in that area up the homes is very, very rugged and dry. The house below are expensive. The local councilman said Dante's View (a cool garden/lookout) was gone. The deer and coyotes were trying to flee the flames. There are also stables up there.

They are not sure how the fire started but one theory is: a homeless man fell asleep while smoking. He is still in the hospital. Incredible to think one tiny little cigarette could cause so much damage.

I was planning to going hiking this weekend (it's going to cool down starting tomorrow) at Ruynon Canyon. I may gave to go out toward the beach instead. The air quality, not great to begin with, is going to be very bad.

4 comments:

Kathy said...

I heard about that on the news last night...very scary. It was near the zoo also, I believe they said. :(

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

kali - I know. I heard all the animals were okay.

Shelley - At Home in Rome said...

It is so incredible how one little spark can cause so much damage. I remember these kinds of things being such a risk when I was living in Arizona.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

shelley - true, especially during dry spells like the one we are having now.