Eaton Fire: A rebuilding journey

A one-acre fire is burning in a remote part of the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County today. Officials first got word of a column of smoke that led them to a section about a mile west of Los Pinos Peak. “It is way up there and in a very inaccessible area,” a fire official told the OC Register. They predict the fire will not spread and will be knocked down fairly quickly....

More than 200 citizens died earlier this year while defending their homes from wildfires in Australia. That news made officials do a 180 from considering a stay and defend training program for Southern California. So they announced yesterday a "Ready, Set, Go" wildfire action plan for residents living in high risk fire areas--that is to create a defensible space around the home and go when evacuation orders are given. With a light year in...

The brush fire that began Sunday afternoon and burned around 450 acres in Joshua Tree National Park was fully contained yesterday morning, although some firefighters remained on the scene to check for hotspots. “Exotic grasses and weeds change the desert’s natural ecology and its normal fire frequency. Because of this, Joshua Tree National Park has a full suppression approach to wildfires," said Park Superintendent, Curt Sauer. "Given that no firefighter or park visitor was...

Doakes, the cat | Photo via his Facebook Page On Sunday evening, Jessica Amen and Kyle Kushner lost just about everything when their two-story unit apartment in Brentwood went aflame. Over 100 Los Angeles firefighters fought the aggressive blaze for nearly an hour before extinguishing it, keeping it contained to only their unit. One resident and one firefighter sustained injuries, but nothing life threatening. However, one cat, named Riggs, died. His pal and only...

A fire that began yesterday afternoon inside Joshua Tree National Park continues to burn today, but is expected to be knocked down by tonight. The blaze began around 4 p.m. near the Lost Horse Mine in the hills between the park’s Geology Tour Road and the Keys View Road. By 11 p.m., 150 acres had burned and had only been contained by 5%. As a precaution, 12 hikers near the Lost Horse Trail were...

A car with an engine fire sparked a small brush fire off La Tuna Canyon in the Northeast Valley a quarter to 1 p.m. today. Flames spread towards the 210 Freeway, prompting multiple lanes to close and a SigAlert to be issued. But 35 firefighters quickly stomped out the blaze. They will now stay at the scene for cold trailing, where they check for smoldering, bury any tree trunks and generally make sure nothing...

Photo by Advanced Land Imager on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) | Courtesy of NASA As they always do with major fires in Southern California, NASA released a photo showing the burn scared mountains from the Jesusita Fire from May 10. The photo "shows the northern part of the burned area, which stretches from the outskirts of Santa Barbara (hidden beneath clouds) into Los Padres National Forest," says NASA. "Many valleys throughout the burned area...

As we enter into a worsening fire season and summer recreational time, the Angeles National Forest today announced that the fire danger level will be raised from moderate to high this Sunday.

One of the losses in the Griffith Park fire, which began two years to the date, was the bird sanctuary trail off Vermont Blvd., north of the Greek Theatre. Today, after thousands of volunteers--most notably the Pacific Asian Volunteer Association who adopted the project--the trail once again opened to the public. Of course, Griffith Park's loudest cheerleader, Councilman Tom LaBonge, was there to tell everyone about it and take a hike with them. The...

Photo via Council District 4 Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the Griffith Park fire, which burned through 817 of the park's 4,210 acres in two days. So Councilman Tom LaBonge and other city officials dedicated the 750,000-gallon water Travel Town Tank that will be used to help fight fires in the park and irrigate areas in the Western portion of the park. "It's a tragedy when fires roar, as we see today in...