latimes--2020-09-12--Smoke keeps choking Southern California as Bobcat fire grows

The Bobcat fire burning in the Angeles National Forest has torn through nearly 30,000 acres and continues to send thick , unhealthful smoke into the Los Angeles Basin .
Air quality remained bad across the region on Saturday , with much of the basin under unhealthy air warning and the area near the Bobcat fire under hazardous air warning .
L.A .
Zoo is closing Sunday and Monday because of bad air quality , and the county is shutting down some COVID-19 testing centers .
The Rams said they are monitoring the air quality in advance of Sunday ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the fire was 6 % contained , marking some progress for firefighters who have been on the lines for days .
The fire has been moving north away from foothill communities , but water drops have been at times limited because of visibility issues caused by the smoke .
Altadena is one of seven communities that remain under an , along with Monrovia , Arcadia , Bradbury , Sierra Madre , Duarte and Pasadena .
across Southern California , with the looming smoke creating a plume up and down the West Coast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Philip Fine , deputy executive officer of the South Coast AQMD .
Smoke advisories will remain in effect throughout the day and likely through the weekend , he added .
Fine said the unpredictability of wildfires — including how long they will burn , how hot they will be and how much smoke they will create — makes it difficult to forecast air quality beyond one or two days .
But , he said , air quality over the weekend will likely not be great .
Poor air quality also contributed to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Punchbowl , Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park , Lario Staging Area , Marshall Canyon , Peck Road Water Conservation Park , San Dimas Canyon Natural Area and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area .
The closures , which will continue throughout the weekend , were ordered “ in the best interest of park guests , community and staff , ” the county ’ s Department of Parks and Recreation said .
Stephen Cooper , an Altadena resident and fitness instructor , said the smoke was so thick Friday morning that he canceled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morning I could smell smoke and then looked at the [ air quality index ] and that was 205 — ‘ very unhealthy , ’ ” he said .
“ I ’ m usually hammering on my clients about the importance of consistency when it comes to training and healthy eating , but when it ’ s unhealthy like this , it makes no sense to push it.
” Here are tips for managing during times of poor air quality : • Take extra precautions to protect people with heart or lung disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and children , as they may be more likely to experience poor health if they breathe wildfire smoke .
• Run your air conditioner if you have one .
Make sure it has a clean filter and that it is recirculating the indoor air to prevent bringing additional smoke inside .
• Create a clean air space in your home by using a portable air cleaner instead of or in addition to your air conditioner .
Do this in one or more rooms with the doors and windows closed .
• Avoid using @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an outside air intake .
• Avoid using indoor or outdoor wood-burning appliances , including fireplaces and candles .
• Do not rely on “ dust masks ” for protection .
Paper masks can block large particles such as sawdust but do not protect lungs from the small particles or gases in wildfire smoke .
Disposable respirators such as N-95 or P-100 respirators can offer some protection if they are worn properly and have a tight fit .

The Bobcat fire burning in the Angeles National Forest has torn through nearly 30,000 acres and continues to send thick, unhealthful smoke into the Los Angeles Basin.
Air quality remained bad across the region on Saturday, with much of the basin under unhealthy air warning and the area near the Bobcat fire under hazardous air warning.
L.A. Zoo is closing Sunday and Monday because of bad air quality, and the county is shutting down some COVID-19 testing centers. The Rams said they are monitoring the air quality in advance of Sunday’s big game.
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As of Saturday morning, the fire was 6% contained, marking some progress for firefighters who have been on the lines for days. The fire has been moving north away from foothill communities, but water drops have been at times limited because of visibility issues caused by the smoke.
Altadena is one of seven communities that remain under an evacuation warning , along with Monrovia, Arcadia, Bradbury, Sierra Madre, Duarte and Pasadena.
Air quality has continued to nosedive across Southern California, with the looming smoke creating a plume up and down the West Coast stretching more than 1,000 miles, said Philip Fine, deputy executive officer of the South Coast AQMD.
California Photos: Bobcat fire rages in the Angeles National Forest Fears of a significant spread of the Bobcat fire dissipated as Santa Ana winds failed to materialize, but foothill communities remain on high alert.
Smoke advisories will remain in effect throughout the day and likely through the weekend, he added.
Fine said the unpredictability of wildfires — including how long they will burn, how hot they will be and how much smoke they will create — makes it difficult to forecast air quality beyond one or two days. But, he said, air quality over the weekend will likely not be great.
Poor air quality also contributed to the closure of eight parks in Los Angeles County : Eaton Canyon, Devil’s Punchbowl, Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, Lario Staging Area, Marshall Canyon, Peck Road Water Conservation Park, San Dimas Canyon Natural Area and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area.
The Bobcat Fire smolders in the mountains above Monrovia Thursday, September 10, 2020. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Time)
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The closures, which will continue throughout the weekend, were ordered “in the best interest of park guests, community and staff,” the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation said.
Stephen Cooper, an Altadena resident and fitness instructor, said the smoke was so thick Friday morning that he canceled his outdoor fitness class.
“This morning I could smell smoke and then looked at the [air quality index] and that was 205 — ‘very unhealthy,’” he said. “I’m usually hammering on my clients about the importance of consistency when it comes to training and healthy eating, but when it’s unhealthy like this, it makes no sense to push it.”
Here are tips for managing during times of poor air quality:


latimes--2020-09-12--Column: Is the California we knew and loved up in smoke for good?

It ’ s another apocalyptic summer of record heat and unchecked , monster infernos in California .
The death toll from it all had topped 20 by Friday and some of the biggest blazes in state history were still raging out of control , with strong winds at their backs .
In Southern California , you can taste the acrid , smoky air , but you can ’ t see through it .
The worst smog in 26 years was recorded in downtown Los Angeles a few days ago .
And we ’ re still a ways off from traditional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic gloom , we can tell ourselves that this , too , shall pass .
But it ’ s harder than ever to believe it , and easier to wonder if it ’ s already too late for California to avoid these annual cycles of devastation .
Californians , the nation ’ s leaders on environmental awareness and climate change , can ’ t breathe .
And it ’ s partly our own fault .
When you have so many people living tight up against combustible open spaces , after decades of planning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t matter how many turbines , solar panels and Teslas you have .
The state is in some ways built to burn , and climate change is putting a match to the kindling .
No one understands that better than retired climatologist Bill Patzert , who spent decades at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory studying and warning the public about the impact of climate change .
When I caught up with him on Friday to ask what he makes of our current troubles , he had troubles of his own .
He had a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facing the street , in case the Bobcat fire burning in the San Gabriels turned his way and he had to make a quick getaway .
Patzert ’ s research focused on the solar system , the atmosphere and the oceans .
He became a go-to expert on weather patterns such as El Niño and La Niña , and the relationship between sea level rise — another great threat to millions of people and jobs in California — and global warming .
In January , over a cup of coffee in Sierra Madre @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in on a time when it wouldn ’ t be uncommon for the temperature to hit 115 degrees in Pasadena .
No surprise , I thought to myself .
Given the way records have fallen each year across the state , that could be possible a few years down the road .
But last Sunday , the temperature in Pasadena came to within a degree of Patzert ’ s call , with a record 114 degrees .
Record highs were also set in Northridge ( 120 ) , Winnetka ( 122 ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 118 ) , Solvang ( 122 ) , Arroyo Grande ( 117 ) and Santa Ana ( 110 ) .
It ’ s as if Palm Springs weather creeps another 10 miles west each year .
With all the heat and heavy smoke , it ’ s been nice to have masks at the ready .
But through the dirty orange air of dusk , if you were to venture outdoors , you might prefer one of those goggled , snouted gas masks people wore a half century ago for the smog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like aardvarks roamed city streets .
“ Look , we ’ re living in a warmer world , ” Patzert told me Friday in a tone of utter inevitability .
“ Especially in Southern California.
” Patzert gave me a refresher on the concept of heat islands , noting the massive migration of people to California in the last half of the 20th century from the Midwest and East Coast .
“ We ’ ve created this essentially 20-million-person megalopolis which creates its own heat , especially in summertime , ” Patzert said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developments , air conditioners and miles of asphalt traveled by millions of vehicles .
“ So the average temperature is about eight to nine degrees higher than it was in the early part of the 20th century.
” I asked him , hopefully , whether perhaps we ’ ve plateaued .
“ It ’ s just the opposite , ” he said , predicting annual record-setting temperatures as the new normal .
Growth was , for decades , a strength in California .
People came for work and weather , they contributed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s fifth-largest economy .
It ’ s understandable that more and more people wanted a piece of the dream , and to be generous , it ’ s understandable that towns and cities wanted to accommodate them .
But sprawl meant danger , and when Patzert looks at a map of California , he sees far too many people living in unsafe areas , in houses built with materials not designed to withstand fire .
“ California has always had fire , it ’ s a natural part of the ecosystem , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California especially , so many people have moved ” too close to dangerous wilderness areas , with communities such as Paradise paying with the lives of its residents .
In Southern California , Patzert said , massive communities have been built in corridors known for Santa Ana winds , which are even deadlier in drought cycles , when vegetation is as combustible as gasoline .
“ You ’ ve got one big wind corridor all the way from Palmdale to Oxnard , ” Patzert said .
“ Another aspect is that 16 out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve had below-normal rainfall in Southern California .
So by the end of summer , we ’ re set up for fire .
And as you know , Ventura County in the 1970s had only 125,000 people and now it ’ s almost 900,000 .
San Diego ’ s population has grown since the ‘ 50s by a factor of six , and average rainfall there is 10 inches.
” More people and less water don ’ t do much for dreams of a sustainable future , whether you ’ re talking about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ set out a couple of months ago to research the impact of climate change on California ’ s $ 40-billion wine industry , Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyard told me water tables in the Paso Robles area are being depleted , making it all the more important to develop dry-farming techniques .
Daniele Zaccaria , a water management specialist at UC Davis , said growers of all crops are wrestling with the unpredictable weather — too cold or too hot , too wet or too dry — that is associated with climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extreme swings from one year to another , and it ’ s visible in both temperature and the amount of water available , ” said Zaccaria , who thinks farmers have to retool to get by with less water and accept that annual yields might fluctuate .
In many ways , the state I grew up in is not the state I live in today .
There ’ s less coastal fog , more sun , more variation .
I was in Malibu last weekend , expecting a break in the heat , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I got home , 20 miles inland , to find that 114 degrees will burn the leaves of your avocado tree to a crisp .
Weather is not climate , but the changes in its patterns over time are frightening .
Can California turn it around ?
I don ’ t know , but is there any option other than to try ?
We all need to think about how we live , what we consume and how we get around .
Any more development in high-risk fire zones has to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crime , at a time when climate change deniers have risen to power , would be to forget the most important thing anyone can do .

Climatologist Bill Patzert has warned Californians for years that climate change would hit the state hard. But he takes no pleasure in having been right.
Raging fires. Fleeing residents. Exploding buildings.
It’s another apocalyptic summer of record heat and unchecked, monster infernos in California. The death toll from it all had topped 20 by Friday and some of the biggest blazes in state history were still raging out of control, with strong winds at their backs. In Southern California, you can taste the acrid, smoky air, but you can’t see through it. The worst smog in 26 years was recorded in downtown Los Angeles a few days ago.
And we’re still a ways off from the peak of traditional fire season.
As with our oppressive pandemic gloom, we can tell ourselves that this, too, shall pass. But it’s harder than ever to believe it, and easier to wonder if it’s already too late for California to avoid these annual cycles of devastation.
Californians, the nation’s leaders on environmental awareness and climate change, can’t breathe.
Beach-goers wade in the water at Heisler Park in Laguna Beach as the sun and sky are partially obscured with ash and smoke from Southland wildfires. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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And it’s partly our own fault.
When you have so many people living tight up against combustible open spaces, after decades of planning and regulatory debacles, it doesn’t matter how many turbines, solar panels and Teslas you have. The state is in some ways built to burn, and climate change is putting a match to the kindling.
No one understands that better than retired climatologist Bill Patzert, who spent decades at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory studying and warning the public about the impact of climate change. When I caught up with him on Friday to ask what he makes of our current troubles, he had troubles of his own.
He had a bag packed and his car was parked facing the street, in case the Bobcat fire burning in the San Gabriels turned his way and he had to make a quick getaway.
“I’m good to go,” Patzert said.
Patzert’s research focused on the solar system, the atmosphere and the oceans. He became a go-to expert on weather patterns such as El Niño and La Niña, and the relationship between sea level rise — another great threat to millions of people and jobs in California — and global warming.
In January, over a cup of coffee in Sierra Madre, Patzert told me we were closing in on a time when it wouldn’t be uncommon for the temperature to hit 115 degrees in Pasadena.
No surprise, I thought to myself. Given the way records have fallen each year across the state, that could be possible a few years down the road.
Advertisement
Laura Martinez, 8, of Santa Ana, cools off in a spray pool at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
But last Sunday, the temperature in Pasadena came to within a degree of Patzert’s call, with a record 114 degrees. Record highs were also set in Northridge (120), Winnetka (122), Beverly Hills (118), Ojai (118), Solvang (122), Arroyo Grande (117) and Santa Ana (110). It’s as if Palm Springs weather creeps another 10 miles west each year.
With all the heat and heavy smoke, it’s been nice to have masks at the ready. But through the dirty orange air of dusk, if you were to venture outdoors, you might prefer one of those goggled, snouted gas masks people wore a half century ago for the smog. In old photos, it looks like aardvarks roamed city streets.
“Look, we’re living in a warmer world,” Patzert told me Friday in a tone of utter inevitability. “Especially in Southern California.”
Patzert gave me a refresher on the concept of heat islands, noting the massive migration of people to California in the last half of the 20th century from the Midwest and East Coast.
“We’ve created this essentially 20-million-person megalopolis which creates its own heat, especially in summertime,” Patzert said. The heat is generated by housing developments, air conditioners and miles of asphalt traveled by millions of vehicles. “So the average temperature is about eight to nine degrees higher than it was in the early part of the 20th century.”
I asked him, hopefully, whether perhaps we’ve plateaued.
“It’s just the opposite,” he said, predicting annual record-setting temperatures as the new normal.
Growth was, for decades, a strength in California. People came for work and weather, they contributed, the state grew into the world’s fifth-largest economy. It’s understandable that more and more people wanted a piece of the dream, and to be generous, it’s understandable that towns and cities wanted to accommodate them.
But sprawl meant danger, and when Patzert looks at a map of California, he sees far too many people living in unsafe areas, in houses built with materials not designed to withstand fire.
“California has always had fire, it’s a natural part of the ecosystem,” Patzert said. “But in Northern California especially, so many people have moved” too close to dangerous wilderness areas, with communities such as Paradise paying with the lives of its residents.
In Southern California, Patzert said, massive communities have been built in corridors known for Santa Ana winds, which are even deadlier in drought cycles, when vegetation is as combustible as gasoline.
“You’ve got one big wind corridor all the way from Palmdale to Oxnard,” Patzert said.
“Another aspect is that 16 out of the last 20 years we’ve had below-normal rainfall in Southern California. So by the end of summer, we’re set up for fire. And as you know, Ventura County in the 1970s had only 125,000 people and now it’s almost 900,000. San Diego’s population has grown since the ‘50s by a factor of six, and average rainfall there is 10 inches.”
More people and less water don’t do much for dreams of a sustainable future, whether you’re talking about drinking water or irrigation. When I set out a couple of months ago to research the impact of climate change on California’s $40-billion wine industry, Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyard told me water tables in the Paso Robles area are being depleted, making it all the more important to develop dry-farming techniques.
Daniele Zaccaria, a water management specialist at UC Davis, said growers of all crops are wrestling with the unpredictable weather — too cold or too hot, too wet or too dry — that is associated with climate change.
“We’re seeing extreme swings from one year to another, and it’s visible in both temperature and the amount of water available,” said Zaccaria, who thinks farmers have to retool to get by with less water and accept that annual yields might fluctuate.
In many ways, the state I grew up in is not the state I live in today.
There’s less coastal fog, more sun, more variation.
I was in Malibu last weekend, expecting a break in the heat, and the temperature was in the 90s.
I got home, 20 miles inland, to find that 114 degrees will burn the leaves of your avocado tree to a crisp.
Weather is not climate, but the changes in its patterns over time are frightening. Can California turn it around? I don’t know, but is there any option other than to try?
We all need to think about how we live, what we consume and how we get around.
Any more development in high-risk fire zones has to be treated as a criminal act.
Another crime, at a time when climate change deniers have risen to power, would be to forget the most important thing anyone can do.
Vote.
Steve.lopez@latimes.com


latimes--2020-09-12--Kids rejoiced when school reopened. Then fire left many students homeless

When Happy Camp Elementary School in rural Northern California started class two weeks ago , it was one of the few in California to reopen classrooms for children during the COVID-19 pandemic .
Abigail Yeager had worried at first whether sending her 6- and 8-year-old sons was the safe thing to do and whether wearing masks “ was going to freak them out.
” Those fears were quickly relieved .
Her sons and other students were thrilled to be back in school , and it seemed like a major victory in Happy Camp , a Siskiyou County town of 800 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this week , the Slater fire devastated Happy Camp , destroying 150 homes and killing two people .
Half of the elementary school staff lost their homes , and administrators estimate that half of the 109 students are now homeless .
“ It was going so well , ” said Yeager , a member of the Happy Camp Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees .
“ It was doing so much for our kids , and it ’ s been ripped away again .
I was trying to process all of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loss — the normalcy for the kids .
It ’ s just chaos.
” Yeager considers herself lucky .
She did not lose her home .
But Happy Camp remains evacuated as the completely uncontained blaze rages on , and the losses are staggering in the isolated , impoverished town 13 miles south of the Oregon border .
One of the things that residents fear most of all is that their tragedy will be overlooked as the West Coast is besieged by some of the largest wildfires in modern history .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our community .
We are strong , but we ’ re definitely not Orange County or the Bay Area , ” said Judy Hahn , president of the elementary school board , who slept for several nights this week in her car with her dog and her husband ’ s urn because her home was under evacuation orders .
“ We ’ re small .
But I don ’ t want to be swallowed up and forgotten.
” The Slater fire , which began Monday night in the Klamath National Forest , had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with zero containment .
The wind-driven blaze exploded in size Wednesday night , growing from 30,000 acres to more than 120,000 and crossing the border into Oregon , a state already grappling with its own massive wildfires , with half a million people under evacuation orders .
On Friday , the Slater fire was chewing through three national forests : the Klamath , the Six Rivers and the Rogue River-Siskiyou .
Two bodies were recovered this week in the Happy Camp area , said Lt. Jeremiah LaRue , a spokesman for the Siskiyou @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have not been identified .
Authorities , LaRue said , were trying to find 10 people whose whereabouts were unknown .
The vast , heavily forested region is sparsely populated , with steep terrain and few roads , said Duane Lyon , a spokesman for the multiagency team fighting the blaze .
That has made it difficult to get firefighting personnel and equipment .
“ There ’ s a strong competition for resources throughout the whole United States , ” Lyon said .
Given how many fires are burning simultaneously , “ we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resources we would like.
” As of Friday , only 240 firefighters were battling the Slater fire , which had a footprint more than double the size of Sacramento .
The same crews are also fighting the 4,488-acre Devil fire , which was discovered Wednesday on the nearby Upper Devil ’ s Peak in the Klamath National Forest and is also completely uncontained .
Together , the fires threaten about 850 homes .
Assistance that would have come within 24 hours in a normal year now takes several days to arrive , LaRue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s on fire , ” he said .
“ Personnel , equipment , aircraft — it ’ s just limited .
Everyone ’ s stretched real thin.
” In Happy Camp , the loss has been staggering .
The western Siskiyou County town sits on a narrow stretch of State Route 96 dubbed the Bigfoot Scenic Byway and boasts an 18-foot statue of Sasquatch made of recycled metal .
The old logging town , whose population has dramatically declined in recent years , is 55 % white and 24 % Native American .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ week along Indian Creek Road , destroying an estimated 150 homes in a town that has only 559 housing units , according to census data .
About 30 % of residents live below the poverty line — more than double the state and national averages .
Administrators said that even before the fire , the town suffered from a lack of housing .
The elementary school struggles to attract new employees and substitute teachers , and when they do come , the school board has a hard time finding places for them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 53 , started as the elementary school ’ s superintendent and principal July 1 .
He fell in love with Happy Camp , where he could hunt and fish and try to make a meaningful difference in a tiny school .
He had been living in a camper trailer while he tried to find a home and had been commuting seven hours on the weekends to his and his wife ’ s home in Placer County .
He ’ s not sure whether the trailer burned .
On Tuesday , as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cooper locked up the school once all the kids had been picked up .
He believes “ we saved lives because students were at school and not at home by themselves.
” “ I look at that positively that , you know what , we made the right choice to have kids here , to bring them back to school.
” Hahn , the elementary school board president , said the tiny school district desperately needs its students , now scattered across three states while they ’ re evacuated , to come back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attendance .
Hahn did not lose her home , but she could not get back to it this week after evacuation orders were given .
She refused to leave town and spent several days sleeping in her Mercury Milan , parked near the high school baseball field .
“ I am so fortunate — blessed — to still have my home , ” she said .
“ Houses right next to me burned down to the ground .
Total devastation.
” Hahn ’ s son lost his home and has been sleeping in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ballpark along with his son , who ’ s a firefighter .
Hahn ’ s daughter lost her home , too , which had a woodworking shop filled with tools left by Hahn ’ s late husband .
Hahn lost three cats , she said , her voice cracking .
When she evacuated , she grabbed her hunting license , her favorite power drill , family photographs , a few clothes .
Hahn grew up in Happy Camp and met her future husband in sixth grade .
They wedded at 19 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and spent 42 years married before he died a few years back in a tree felling accident .
She ’ s felt a little lost , she said , to not have him with her , talking her through the tragedy .
In decades of marriage , she said , they had a good time poking fun at each other .
She said her husband ’ s urn was carefully wrapped in towels and in a basket in the back of the car where she slept , his ashes “ safe and secure.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she said , chuckling .
“ I don ’ t want him to burn again.
” Then she added : “ You have to laugh .
I can think of lots of reasons to cry .
”

The Slater fire as seen from Happy Camp, Calif., on Tuesday.
When Happy Camp Elementary School in rural Northern California started class two weeks ago, it was one of the few in California to reopen classrooms for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abigail Yeager had worried at first whether sending her 6- and 8-year-old sons was the safe thing to do and whether wearing masks “was going to freak them out.”
Those fears were quickly relieved. Her sons and other students were thrilled to be back in school, and it seemed like a major victory in Happy Camp, a Siskiyou County town of 800 people along the Klamath River.
But this week, the Slater fire devastated Happy Camp, destroying 150 homes and killing two people. Half of the elementary school staff lost their homes, and administrators estimate that half of the 109 students are now homeless.
“It was going so well,” said Yeager, a member of the Happy Camp Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees. “It was doing so much for our kids, and it’s been ripped away again. I was trying to process all of the loss, and there’s another loss — the normalcy for the kids. It’s just chaos.”
Yeager considers herself lucky. She did not lose her home. But Happy Camp remains evacuated as the completely uncontained blaze rages on, and the losses are staggering in the isolated, impoverished town 13 miles south of the Oregon border.
One of the things that residents fear most of all is that their tragedy will be overlooked as the West Coast is besieged by some of the largest wildfires in modern history.
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“We need help. We need to rebuild our community. We are strong, but we’re definitely not Orange County or the Bay Area,” said Judy Hahn, president of the elementary school board, who slept for several nights this week in her car with her dog and her husband’s urn because her home was under evacuation orders.
“We’re small. But I don’t want to be swallowed up and forgotten.”
The Slater fire, which began Monday night in the Klamath National Forest, had burned 136,314 acres as of Friday evening with zero containment.
The wind-driven blaze exploded in size Wednesday night, growing from 30,000 acres to more than 120,000 and crossing the border into Oregon, a state already grappling with its own massive wildfires, with half a million people under evacuation orders.
On Friday, the Slater fire was chewing through three national forests: the Klamath, the Six Rivers and the Rogue River-Siskiyou.
Two bodies were recovered this week in the Happy Camp area, said Lt. Jeremiah LaRue, a spokesman for the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office. They have not been identified. Authorities, LaRue said, were trying to find 10 people whose whereabouts were unknown.
The vast, heavily forested region is sparsely populated, with steep terrain and few roads, said Duane Lyon, a spokesman for the multiagency team fighting the blaze. That has made it difficult to get firefighting personnel and equipment.
“There’s a strong competition for resources throughout the whole United States,” Lyon said. Given how many fires are burning simultaneously, “we are having a challenging time getting the resources we would like.”
As of Friday, only 240 firefighters were battling the Slater fire, which had a footprint more than double the size of Sacramento.
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The same crews are also fighting the 4,488-acre Devil fire, which was discovered Wednesday on the nearby Upper Devil’s Peak in the Klamath National Forest and is also completely uncontained. Together, the fires threaten about 850 homes.
Assistance that would have come within 24 hours in a normal year now takes several days to arrive, LaRue said.
“The whole state’s on fire,” he said. “Personnel, equipment, aircraft — it’s just limited. Everyone’s stretched real thin.”
In Happy Camp, the loss has been staggering.
The western Siskiyou County town sits on a narrow stretch of State Route 96 dubbed the Bigfoot Scenic Byway and boasts an 18-foot statue of Sasquatch made of recycled metal. The old logging town, whose population has dramatically declined in recent years, is 55% white and 24% Native American.
The fire pushed into Happy Camp this week along Indian Creek Road, destroying an estimated 150 homes in a town that has only 559 housing units, according to census data. About 30% of residents live below the poverty line — more than double the state and national averages.
Administrators said that even before the fire, the town suffered from a lack of housing. The elementary school struggles to attract new employees and substitute teachers, and when they do come, the school board has a hard time finding places for them to live, Yeager said.
Derek Cooper, 53, started as the elementary school’s superintendent and principal July 1. He fell in love with Happy Camp, where he could hunt and fish and try to make a meaningful difference in a tiny school.
He had been living in a camper trailer while he tried to find a home and had been commuting seven hours on the weekends to his and his wife’s home in Placer County. He’s not sure whether the trailer burned.
On Tuesday, as the fire closed in on the town, Cooper locked up the school once all the kids had been picked up. He believes “we saved lives because students were at school and not at home by themselves.”
“I look at that positively that, you know what, we made the right choice to have kids here, to bring them back to school.”
Hahn, the elementary school board president, said the tiny school district desperately needs its students, now scattered across three states while they’re evacuated, to come back because funding is dependent on average daily attendance.
Hahn did not lose her home, but she could not get back to it this week after evacuation orders were given. She refused to leave town and spent several days sleeping in her Mercury Milan, parked near the high school baseball field.
“I am so fortunate — blessed — to still have my home,” she said. “Houses right next to me burned down to the ground. Total devastation.”
Hahn’s son lost his home and has been sleeping in the bed of his pickup truck at the ballpark along with his son, who’s a firefighter. Hahn’s daughter lost her home, too, which had a woodworking shop filled with tools left by Hahn’s late husband.
Hahn lost three cats, she said, her voice cracking. When she evacuated, she grabbed her hunting license, her favorite power drill, family photographs, a few clothes.
Hahn grew up in Happy Camp and met her future husband in sixth grade. They wedded at 19, were “madly in love,” and spent 42 years married before he died a few years back in a tree felling accident.
She’s felt a little lost, she said, to not have him with her, talking her through the tragedy.
In decades of marriage, she said, they had a good time poking fun at each other. She said her husband’s urn was carefully wrapped in towels and in a basket in the back of the car where she slept, his ashes “safe and secure.”
“He obviously burned once,” she said, chuckling. “I don’t want him to burn again.”
Then she added: “You have to laugh. I can think of lots of reasons to cry.”


latimes--2020-09-12--Another California firestorm where warnings did not prevent mass deaths

The turn in the wind was expected .
The U.S. Forest Service and CalFire on Tuesday morning braced for 45-mph gusts across the large Bear fire that had been crawling through the Plumas National Forest — dry and cool air coming from the northeast , so the fire would fan back on itself , onto miles of tinder primed by drought , four days of record heat and three weeks of low fire .
They got that wind and more : gusts of 60 mph by 4 a.m. through Jarbo Gap , the hellish wind tunnel on the Feather River @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years before , and 45 mph in Plumas County , on the remaining hot edge of the dying Bear fire .
Within hours , the Bear fire joined the list of wind-swept California that raced into communities before residents could flee .
Incident records and interviews by The Times found that the protection of those in harm ’ s way was hindered by evacuation orders that came by surprise , went unheeded and were impaired by a power outage .
Now the Bear fire has joined the roster of California ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paradise and wine country killed scores and exposed lethal flaws in public warning systems .
It was clear early Tuesday that the fire was exploding .
By 10 a.m. , the oxygenated fire jumped the Middle Fork of the Feather River and leaped into the crown of old-growth forest .
It took off at a narrow , mad run , burning across 2,000 acres an hour and throwing out spot fires two miles ahead of the main front .
It was on a trajectory to reach the city of Oroville by nightfall .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ lightning in mid-August , it had been left to smolder in the Plumas National Forest while attention was focused on fires near populated areas .
The wakened giant sent so much smoke into the sky that many people in neighboring Butte County called 911 in panic .
But rather than convey the concern firefighters were voicing among themselves , or the news that the fire was on the run , the sheriff ’ s department used its Facebook platform to send a reassuring message just after noon : “ There is no fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later , the sheriff put two communities , Feather Falls and Clipper Mills , on notice with a warning about the fire across the county line .
Evacuation orders didn ’ t go out for five more hours , at 3:30 p.m. , when the fire was halfway to affected communities .
Most of the towns on the list had been given no warnings and had been without power since the night before , after Pacific Gas and Electric deliberately plunged them into blackout to avoid sparking fires .
Long after evacuation orders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ messages and every possible kind of uniformed official , from probation officers to game wardens , going door-to-door with sirens — people remained in the old mountain hamlet of Berry Creek when the flames came into town just before 10 p.m. What ensued were nightmarish stories , mad dashes for survival through burning canyons and bodies recovered the next day from the ash .
Firefighters were unable to reach all those who were trapped during the siege .
By 5 a.m. Wednesday , the wounded were triaged at a state fire post in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bodies so far have been recovered from the Bear fire , and 16 people remain missing , as archaeologists from Cal State Chico sift through the char for remains .
“ We did the best job that we could , given the resources and time that we have , ” said Butte County Sheriff-Coroner Kory Honea , who has the grim job of overseeing the search for bodies .
“ That said , as I have said many , many times before , there is no way to guarantee 100 % saturation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ There ’ s no way to guarantee perfection .
It ’ s particularly difficult when we ’ re dealing with communities in remote and rural areas that are hard to get to and sometimes have spotty coverage.
” Evacuation orders are a local decision , and the Butte County Sheriff ’ s Department had limited information , a spokeswoman said .
The department was not told the fire had crossed the river for almost an hour .
At 12:30 p.m. , more than two hours after the jump , CalFire incident managers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Their concern was that it was heading in our direction , and they didn ’ t currently know where the fire was at , ” said sheriff ’ s spokeswoman Megan McMann .
But the Sheriff ’ s Department could provide no information on how many residents of Berry Creek successfully received evacuation calls that came three hours later , nor could it say when deputies drove through with sirens .
McMann did not respond to questions about whether the midday notice that there was no fire in Butte County ran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ground .
About those who did not evacuate , she said , “ You can ’ t force people out.
” Residents of Berry Creek described a more nuanced situation reflecting the complexity of disaster response — a community inured to neglect and economic hardship , with many households turning to each other and their social connections in a time of crisis .
From their perspective , it didn ’ t help that PG & E had turned off the power Monday night on people intending to stay and fight a fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frustrated , and they couldn ’ t use their wells to save their damn houses , ” said Denise Bethune , 51 , a 12-year resident of Berry Creek and member of the local fire council .
She monitored the fire and left within an hour of receiving the evacuation order on her phone but knows plenty of people who did not receive it , including neighbors who live off the grid .
Others — including marijuana growers , both legal and those squatting on federal land at the behest of cartels — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ figures .
The community has no warning sirens .
Sheriff ’ s deputies drove through sounding the sirens on their cars , but the area is spread out .
“ There was a lot of tension ; a lot of people were stressed , ” Bethune said .
“ But when you don ’ t have power , and you don ’ t have a cellphone , how you gon na find out ?
” Berry Creek is cradled by canyons and wild , scenic rivers .
Its center consists largely of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ store , a gas station and three churches .
The estimated population is 1,200 .
Motivated by the 2018 Paradise disaster a few ridges away , residents had begun to organize the local fire safety council to discuss communication and evacuation plans .
Bethune said the social distancing requirements imposed by COVID-19 shut that down .
“ It ’ s just frustrating when you know what needs to happen , but it ’ s not a rich area per se ... and we don ’ t get the attention , ” Bethune said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when it comes to safety and fire protection ... we have no government help.
” In a neighborhood down the hill from Berry Creek , Kelly Huth-Pryor received a call from her mother Tuesday , warning about the approaching Bear fire .
Huth-Pryor and her husband had lost their mobile home in Paradise .
They made a quick decision about the family house : “ Not losing it again.
” She said they never received an evacuation order from the county and spent Tuesday watering down their land .
It wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provisions , including gas for the generator , that forced them out Thursday .
Even then , they stayed within the burn zone , aware that if they crossed evacuation lines , they could not return .
Another resident , Jason Hill , said he left because of warnings he received from friends in the local fire department three hours before the official evacuation order .
He said many in the community were more likely to rely on word of mouth and social media than official sources .
“ Some don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ You have a lot of people out there giving real information , and then you have social media .
A lot of people want to believe things that align better with what they want.
” Honea is a veteran of disaster response .
The sheriff ’ s evacuation miseries run from the 2017 threatened collapse of the Oroville Dam , in which thousands received little warning , to the 2018 fire that engulfed Paradise and neighboring mountain communities before orderly evacuations could be issued .
That was California ’ s deadliest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were elderly residents caught off-guard , while others were trapped as they tried to outrun the fire on narrow mountain roads .
After each disaster , Honea has promised improvements , from earlier action to less reliance on subscription-based phone alert programs .
The Bear fire saw the use of a federal emergency broadcast alert , including a message narrowly targeted to campers in the woods .
Police vehicles drove through the area sounding special “ high-low ” tones that residents were expected to know meant “ Leave.
” The Bear fire was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weather conditions and terrain of steep , wind-funneling canyons .
Two years before , similar northeast winds sent embers aloft and pushed the Camp fire into the town of Paradise at twice the speed , burning some 4,600 acres an hour .
In San Diego County , the Cedar fire in 2003 ran 17 miles in three hours ; 15 people were killed .
In the wine country of Napa , Sonoma and Lake counties , the Tubbs fire in 2017 traversed 12 miles in four hours , killing 22 .
A Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disaster plans approved by the state warned of canyon fires driven by east winds , those references were dropped after 2005 .
To add to the hurdles faced by residents imperiled by the fast-moving , massive fire , counties posted evacuation maps that stopped at their borders .
A Yuba County map ordering mandatory evacuations , for instance , not only was difficult to read but made it appear that the fire , and the danger , stopped at the county line .
Butte County ’ s evacuation maps did the same .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ being put out for something as important as a mandatory evacuation ?
And why are evacuation advisories not being issued ahead of the mandatory areas ?
Wouldn ’ t it be prudent to give people as much of a heads up as possible ?
” one Facebook user asked Yuba County on Tuesday .
The written reply from the Yuba County Sheriff ’ s Department : “ that ’ s all we have at the moment .
Please use description of roads & regions above for better detail.
” Some firefighters also were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continued failure despite many evacuation disasters in Northern California .
“ I still see a major lack of foresight .
There seems to be some unexplainable hesitancy to call for evacuations in a timely fashion , ” said a former area firefighter who asked not to be named , fearing backlash against herself and her family .
She said the danger to Berry Creek was clear if one looked at the fire maps and wind speed and direction .
Honea , for his part , emphasized the responsibility carried by those living in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with beetle infestations , overgrowth , logging and a warming climate .
“ That ’ s why , for the last year or so , post-Camp fire , myself and my colleagues have gone round trying to impress upon people the importance of being prepared , ” Honea said .
“ The importance of maintaining situational awareness , understanding what ’ s going on , especially if you live in a wild land , fire-prone area , and doing what you need to do to make yourself safe .
”

Paige St. John, Anita Chabria, Joseph Serna

The turn in the wind was expected.
The U.S. Forest Service and CalFire on Tuesday morning braced for 45-mph gusts across the large Bear fire that had been crawling through the Plumas National Forest — dry and cool air coming from the northeast, so the fire would fan back on itself, onto miles of tinder primed by drought, four days of record heat and three weeks of low fire.
The extreme danger was clear.
They got that wind and more: gusts of 60 mph by 4 a.m. through Jarbo Gap, the hellish wind tunnel on the Feather River canyon that had spawned the Paradise fire two years before, and 45 mph in Plumas County, on the remaining hot edge of the dying Bear fire.
Within hours, the Bear fire joined the list of wind-swept California that raced into communities before residents could flee. Incident records and interviews by The Times found that the protection of those in harm’s way was hindered by evacuation orders that came by surprise, went unheeded and were impaired by a power outage.
Now the Bear fire has joined the roster of California’s deadliest wildfires, coming after blazes in Paradise and wine country killed scores and exposed lethal flaws in public warning systems.
What failed? Technology? Or human nature?
It was clear early Tuesday that the fire was exploding. By 10 a.m., the oxygenated fire jumped the Middle Fork of the Feather River and leaped into the crown of old-growth forest. It took off at a narrow, mad run, burning across 2,000 acres an hour and throwing out spot fires two miles ahead of the main front. It was on a trajectory to reach the city of Oroville by nightfall.
One of three dozen fires set by lightning in mid-August, it had been left to smolder in the Plumas National Forest while attention was focused on fires near populated areas. The wakened giant sent so much smoke into the sky that many people in neighboring Butte County called 911 in panic.
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But rather than convey the concern firefighters were voicing among themselves, or the news that the fire was on the run, the sheriff’s department used its Facebook platform to send a reassuring message just after noon:
“There is no fire currently in Butte County.”
An hour later, the sheriff put two communities, Feather Falls and Clipper Mills, on notice with a warning about the fire across the county line.
Evacuation orders didn’t go out for five more hours, at 3:30 p.m., when the fire was halfway to affected communities. Most of the towns on the list had been given no warnings and had been without power since the night before, after Pacific Gas and Electric deliberately plunged them into blackout to avoid sparking fires.
Long after evacuation orders — via text, phone, Facebook messages and every possible kind of uniformed official, from probation officers to game wardens, going door-to-door with sirens — people remained in the old mountain hamlet of Berry Creek when the flames came into town just before 10 p.m.
What ensued were nightmarish stories, mad dashes for survival through burning canyons and bodies recovered the next day from the ash.
Firefighters were unable to reach all those who were trapped during the siege. By 5 a.m. Wednesday, the wounded were triaged at a state fire post in town where many had sheltered. Ten bodies so far have been recovered from the Bear fire, and 16 people remain missing, as archaeologists from Cal State Chico sift through the char for remains.
“We did the best job that we could, given the resources and time that we have,” said Butte County Sheriff-Coroner Kory Honea, who has the grim job of overseeing the search for bodies.
“That said, as I have said many, many times before, there is no way to guarantee 100% saturation of your message,” he added. “There’s no way to guarantee perfection. It’s particularly difficult when we’re dealing with communities in remote and rural areas that are hard to get to and sometimes have spotty coverage.”
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Evacuation orders are a local decision, and the Butte County Sheriff’s Department had limited information, a spokeswoman said. The department was not told the fire had crossed the river for almost an hour. At 12:30 p.m., more than two hours after the jump, CalFire incident managers suggested that the sheriff start evacuation warnings.
“Their concern was that it was heading in our direction, and they didn’t currently know where the fire was at,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Megan McMann.
But the Sheriff’s Department could provide no information on how many residents of Berry Creek successfully received evacuation calls that came three hours later, nor could it say when deputies drove through with sirens. McMann did not respond to questions about whether the midday notice that there was no fire in Butte County ran contrary to what firefighters were seeing on the ground.
About those who did not evacuate, she said, “You can’t force people out.”
Residents of Berry Creek described a more nuanced situation reflecting the complexity of disaster response — a community inured to neglect and economic hardship, with many households turning to each other and their social connections in a time of crisis. From their perspective, it didn’t help that PG&E had turned off the power Monday night on people intending to stay and fight a fire, impairing communication.
“People were frustrated, and they couldn’t use their wells to save their damn houses,” said Denise Bethune, 51, a 12-year resident of Berry Creek and member of the local fire council. She monitored the fire and left within an hour of receiving the evacuation order on her phone but knows plenty of people who did not receive it, including neighbors who live off the grid. Others — including marijuana growers, both legal and those squatting on federal land at the behest of cartels — say they don’t trust authority figures.
The community has no warning sirens. Sheriff’s deputies drove through sounding the sirens on their cars, but the area is spread out.
“There was a lot of tension; a lot of people were stressed,” Bethune said. “But when you don’t have power, and you don’t have a cellphone, how you gonna find out?”
Berry Creek is cradled by canyons and wild, scenic rivers. Its center consists largely of a school, a post office, a store, a gas station and three churches. The estimated population is 1,200.
Motivated by the 2018 Paradise disaster a few ridges away, residents had begun to organize the local fire safety council to discuss communication and evacuation plans. Bethune said the social distancing requirements imposed by COVID-19 shut that down.
“It’s just frustrating when you know what needs to happen, but it’s not a rich area per se ... and we don’t get the attention,” Bethune said. “We all say to ourselves, when it comes to safety and fire protection ... we have no government help.”
In a neighborhood down the hill from Berry Creek, Kelly Huth-Pryor received a call from her mother Tuesday, warning about the approaching Bear fire. Huth-Pryor and her husband had lost their mobile home in Paradise. They made a quick decision about the family house: “Not losing it again.”
She said they never received an evacuation order from the county and spent Tuesday watering down their land. It wasn’t the fire but a lack of provisions, including gas for the generator, that forced them out Thursday. Even then, they stayed within the burn zone, aware that if they crossed evacuation lines, they could not return.
Another resident, Jason Hill, said he left because of warnings he received from friends in the local fire department three hours before the official evacuation order. He said many in the community were more likely to rely on word of mouth and social media than official sources.
“Some don’t take it seriously,” he said. “You have a lot of people out there giving real information, and then you have social media. A lot of people want to believe things that align better with what they want.”
Honea is a veteran of disaster response. The sheriff’s evacuation miseries run from the 2017 threatened collapse of the Oroville Dam, in which thousands received little warning, to the 2018 fire that engulfed Paradise and neighboring mountain communities before orderly evacuations could be issued. That was California’s deadliest wildfire: Most of the 86 dead were elderly residents caught off-guard, while others were trapped as they tried to outrun the fire on narrow mountain roads.
After each disaster, Honea has promised improvements, from earlier action to less reliance on subscription-based phone alert programs.
The Bear fire saw the use of a federal emergency broadcast alert, including a message narrowly targeted to campers in the woods. Police vehicles drove through the area sounding special “high-low” tones that residents were expected to know meant “Leave.”
The Bear fire was not unusual amid the hot, dry weather conditions and terrain of steep, wind-funneling canyons. Two years before, similar northeast winds sent embers aloft and pushed the Camp fire into the town of Paradise at twice the speed, burning some 4,600 acres an hour.
In San Diego County, the Cedar fire in 2003 ran 17 miles in three hours; 15 people were killed. In the wine country of Napa, Sonoma and Lake counties, the Tubbs fire in 2017 traversed 12 miles in four hours, killing 22.
A Times investigation found that while early Butte County disaster plans approved by the state warned of canyon fires driven by east winds, those references were dropped after 2005.
To add to the hurdles faced by residents imperiled by the fast-moving, massive fire, counties posted evacuation maps that stopped at their borders. A Yuba County map ordering mandatory evacuations, for instance, not only was difficult to read but made it appear that the fire, and the danger, stopped at the county line. Butte County’s evacuation maps did the same.
“Why is a nearly unreadable map being put out for something as important as a mandatory evacuation? And why are evacuation advisories not being issued ahead of the mandatory areas? Wouldn’t it be prudent to give people as much of a heads up as possible?” one Facebook user asked Yuba County on Tuesday.
The written reply from the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department: “that’s all we have at the moment. Please use description of roads & regions above for better detail.”
Some firefighters also were critical of the response. One cited continued failure despite many evacuation disasters in Northern California.
“I still see a major lack of foresight. There seems to be some unexplainable hesitancy to call for evacuations in a timely fashion,” said a former area firefighter who asked not to be named, fearing backlash against herself and her family.
She said the danger to Berry Creek was clear if one looked at the fire maps and wind speed and direction.
Honea, for his part, emphasized the responsibility carried by those living in forested canyons where fire ecology is colliding with beetle infestations, overgrowth, logging and a warming climate.
“That’s why, for the last year or so, post-Camp fire, myself and my colleagues have gone round trying to impress upon people the importance of being prepared,” Honea said. “The importance of maintaining situational awareness, understanding what’s going on, especially if you live in a wild land, fire-prone area, and doing what you need to do to make yourself safe.”


latimes--2020-09-11--Column: What's with the ridiculous fire 'complex' names in California?

We ’ ve got the North Complex fire and the August Complex fire .
Then there ’ s the CZU Lightning Complex fire and the LNU Lightning Complex fire , not to mention the SCU Lightning Complex fire .
It ’ s just all so complex .
In normal times — whatever that means anymore — most wildfires in California were named after landmarks .
The emergency dispatcher who fields the first call about flames typically looks up the coordinates for the incident on a map and finds a nearby valley , river or canyon , sometimes a road , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sometimes it ’ s the incident commander who decides .
Either way , they keep it short , using a name that ’ s just one word .
That ’ s why the wildfire that ignited in July along Apple Tree Lane in Riverside County , for example , became the Apple fire .
But these are abnormal times .
Or new normal times ?
Or new abnormal times ?
Or maybe just the end of times .
All I know is that , this year , there are so many wildfires scorching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flames have merged into masses called “ complexes.
” According to the U.S. Forest Service , a “ complex ” is two or more individual fire incidents in the same general area that are assigned to the same commander or unified command .
The August Complex , for example , is actually made up of about 40 individual fires burning in and around Tehama County .
“ When we have these lightning events that happen every few years , we get into this quote-unquote ‘ complex issue , ’ ” said Tom Harbour @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aviation for the U.S. Forest Service .
“ A complex issue is just for the ease of the incident management team to deal with the group of fires .
I will tell you that it ’ s confusing.
” Indeed , what might be handy for firefighters managing a rapidly changing situation on the ground is not so handy for the rest of us .
We won ’ t even talk about how long it took me to figure out what the LNU in “ LNU Lightning Complex ” stood for .
Twitter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known by most Californians who live in a fire zone ( which is all of us now ) , the social media platform has become one of the best ways to get real-time information from reliable sources , whether that ’ s from Cal Fire , the local sheriff ’ s department or journalists .
It ’ s all about the hashtags .
# CreekFire , # BobcatFire , # OakFire , # BearFire .
Well , the fire formerly known as # BearFire .
This year , such once-trusty hashtags have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll let Ventura County Fire Capt .
Steve Kaufmann , the public information officer for the team on the ground in Butte County , explain why .
“ Hopefully you can follow me on this , ” he said at a news conference Thursday evening , after flames had decimated the mountain town of Berry Creek , killing at least 10 people , including a teenager .
“ There were two fires up in the Plumas National Forest .
One was called the Claremont fire [ # ClaremontFire ] .
One was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fires merged , they take on the name of the largest fire .
The largest fire was the Bear fire , so the entire fire got called the Bear fire .
Both of those were in what we call the North Complex.
” “ For a little bit of history , ” Kaufmann continued , “ when there ’ s a lot of fires in the state of California and they assign an incident management team to manage those fires , when there ’ s multiple fires in an area they will call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was called the North Complex .
“ In the early hours , when the fire was pressing into Butte County , they were using terms like ‘ Bear fire ’ or ‘ Bear contingency.
’ We have completely renamed and taken the ‘ Bear fire ’ or ‘ Bear contingency ’ out of the equation to reduce the confusion .
So going forward , it will be known as the North Complex , and when we speak about the fire that is directly affecting Butte County , it will be known as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as of Friday , most people were still calling the North Complex West Zone the Bear fire .
So now , in order to find that real-time , reliable information , it might be under any of those hashtags — # BearFire , # NorthComplex , # NorthComplexFire or # NorthComplexWestZone .
There has been similar confusion over the behemoth that is the August Complex fire .
By one estimate , it now tops 491,000 acres .
But by another estimate , it ’ s more like 725,000 acres — if you include @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smaller Hopkins fire among others burning in the Mendocino , Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests .
It just depends on how complex you want make it .
Meanwhile , the August Complex has now been divided into three zones : North , West and South .
But Humboldt County , at least as of Friday on Twitter , was still hanging onto the # HopkinsFire .
# AugustComplex was suspiciously missing .
So you figure it out .
Rather , you shouldn ’ t have to do that , and neither should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get a chuckle out of the confusion , the truth is clear communication has never been more vital at a time when megafires are ravaging the state without mercy .
Missing , even by a few minutes , an order to evacuate or a warning about incoming flames could easily be the difference between life and death .
“ Years ago , there was no Twitter .
There was no Facebook .
There , in fact , weren ’ t nearly the demands for public information that we have today , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officer at Cornea , an Arizona data company specializing in disaster management .
“ But we want people to know where the risks are .
And so we ’ ve got to figure it out.
” It really doesn ’ t have to be this complex .

Santa Barbara firefighters Eric Cole, left, and Mark Kramer monitor a backfire along Oro Quincy Highway in the aftermath of the Bear fire, part of the North Complex blazes, on Thursday in Oroville, Calif.
We’ve got the North Complex fire and the August Complex fire. Then there’s the CZU Lightning Complex fire and the LNU Lightning Complex fire, not to mention the SCU Lightning Complex fire.
It’s just all so complex.
In normal times — whatever that means anymore — most wildfires in California were named after landmarks. The emergency dispatcher who fields the first call about flames typically looks up the coordinates for the incident on a map and finds a nearby valley, river or canyon, sometimes a road, after which to name the conflagration. Sometimes it’s the incident commander who decides.
Either way, they keep it short, using a name that’s just one word. That’s why the wildfire that ignited in July along Apple Tree Lane in Riverside County, for example, became the Apple fire.
But these are abnormal times. Or new normal times? Or new abnormal times? Or maybe just the end of times.
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Whatever.
All I know is that, this year, there are so many wildfires scorching the parched wilderness in California that the flames have merged into masses called “complexes.” According to the U.S. Forest Service, a “complex” is two or more individual fire incidents in the same general area that are assigned to the same commander or unified command.
The August Complex, for example, is actually made up of about 40 individual fires burning in and around Tehama County.
“When we have these lightning events that happen every few years, we get into this quote-unquote ‘complex issue,’” said Tom Harbour, a former director of fire and aviation for the U.S. Forest Service. “A complex issue is just for the ease of the incident management team to deal with the group of fires. I will tell you that it’s confusing.”
Indeed, what might be handy for firefighters managing a rapidly changing situation on the ground is not so handy for the rest of us. We won’t even talk about how long it took me to figure out what the LNU in “LNU Lightning Complex” stood for.
Twitter is another mess entirely.
As is known by most Californians who live in a fire zone (which is all of us now), the social media platform has become one of the best ways to get real-time information from reliable sources, whether that’s from Cal Fire, the local sheriff’s department or journalists.
It’s all about the hashtags. #CreekFire, #BobcatFire, #OakFire, #BearFire. Well, the fire formerly known as #BearFire. This year, such once-trusty hashtags have been morphing at a rapid pace.
I’ll let Ventura County Fire Capt. Steve Kaufmann, the public information officer for the team on the ground in Butte County, explain why.
“Hopefully you can follow me on this,” he said at a news conference Thursday evening, after flames had decimated the mountain town of Berry Creek, killing at least 10 people, including a teenager.
“There were two fires up in the Plumas National Forest. One was called the Claremont fire [#ClaremontFire]. One was called the Bear fire. When those fires merged, they take on the name of the largest fire. The largest fire was the Bear fire, so the entire fire got called the Bear fire. Both of those were in what we call the North Complex.”
Uh huh.
“For a little bit of history,” Kaufmann continued, “when there’s a lot of fires in the state of California and they assign an incident management team to manage those fires, when there’s multiple fires in an area they will call it a complex. So that fire was called the North Complex.
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“In the early hours, when the fire was pressing into Butte County, they were using terms like ‘Bear fire’ or ‘Bear contingency.’ We have completely renamed and taken the ‘Bear fire’ or ‘Bear contingency’ out of the equation to reduce the confusion. So going forward, it will be known as the North Complex, and when we speak about the fire that is directly affecting Butte County, it will be known as the North Complex West Zone.”
Only, as of Friday, most people were still calling the North Complex West Zone the Bear fire. So now, in order to find that real-time, reliable information, it might be under any of those hashtags — #BearFire, #NorthComplex, #NorthComplexFire or #NorthComplexWestZone.
There has been similar confusion over the behemoth that is the August Complex fire. By one estimate, it now tops 491,000 acres. But by another estimate, it’s more like 725,000 acres — if you include the Elkhorn fire, which swallowed the smaller Hopkins fire among others burning in the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers national forests.
An air tanker drops fire retardant in the hills above Monrovia as the Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest on Wednesday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
It just depends on how complex you want make it.
Meanwhile, the August Complex has now been divided into three zones: North, West and South. But Humboldt County, at least as of Friday on Twitter, was still hanging onto the #HopkinsFire. #AugustComplex was suspiciously missing.
So you figure it out.
Rather, you shouldn’t have to do that, and neither should I. Though many of us might get a chuckle out of the confusion, the truth is clear communication has never been more vital at a time when megafires are ravaging the state without mercy. Missing, even by a few minutes, an order to evacuate or a warning about incoming flames could easily be the difference between life and death.
“Years ago, there was no Twitter. There was no Facebook. There, in fact, weren’t nearly the demands for public information that we have today,” said Harbour, who also is chief fire officer at Cornea, an Arizona data company specializing in disaster management. “But we want people to know where the risks are. And so we’ve got to figure it out.”
It really doesn’t have to be this complex.


latimes--2020-09-13--150 million dead trees could fuel unprecedented firestorms in the Sierra Nevada

Two years ago scientists warned that a massive tree die-off in the Sierra Nevada could set the stage for forest conflagrations akin to World War II fire bombings .
The Creek fire , which forced the dramatic helicopter evacuations of more than 200 campers over Labor Day weekend in California , may be a hint of far worse to come in future years .
It is burning in the Sierra National Forest , an epicenter of the bark beetle attacks that killed nearly 150 million drought-stressed trees during the last decade .
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that dead stands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of fuel per acre .
As of Saturday , the fire had charred more than 196,000 acres , destroyed 365 structures and was threatening 14,000 more in the vicinity of Big Creek , Huntington Lake and Shaver Lake .
Firefighters don ’ t expect to contain it until mid-October .
For those who have studied the potential fire effects of the vast beetle kill , the Creek fire is a harbinger .
“ I don ’ t want to be alarmist .
But I think the conditions are there , ” said Scott @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire science and lead author of a 2018 paper that raised the specter of future mass forest fires as intense as the Dresden , Germany , and Tokyo firebombings .
“ As those [ trees ] continue to fall , the physics of it are unchanged .
If you have dead and downed logs … the fires described in warfare are possible.
” One of hundreds of major blazes to erupt in this record-breaking fire season in California , the Creek fire has underscored the urgency of reducing that monster fuel load .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the broad , landscape level needed , many experts say , is with fire of a different sort .
“ All of us on the paper were suggesting that if you are going to try to reduce that mass fire problem in the future , you really need to start putting prescribed fire into these stands to start whittling away at those bigger fuels , ” said Forest Service research ecologist Malcolm North , one of Stephens ’ eight co-authors .
While thinning — cutting down the dead timber and hauling it away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around mountain communities , North said a majority of the beetle-killed stands are in wilderness or in areas that are too remote and too steep to be logged .
Moreover , the dead trees have lost most of their commercial value and are of little interest to the remaining sawmills in California .
The Sierra National Forest is well aware of its fire problem .
The forest had launched thinning projects around communities , conducted controlled burns on an annual average of 2,000 to 4,000 acres and developed plans to ramp that up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as 50,000 acres a year .
“ They were just getting started , ” said Adam Hernandez , who oversaw prescribed fire and fuels management for the Sierra forest before leaving the U.S. Forest Service last year to teach wildland fire technology at Reedley College , southeast of Fresno .
But those big goals are decades late , say fire ecologists .
They have long pointed to the mid-elevation pine and mixed-conifer belt of the Sierra Nevada as a place desperately in need of the frequent , low-intensity burns that shaped the forest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire suppression policies snuffed them out .
The elimination of indigenous fire practices , logging of the biggest and most fire-resistant trees and fire suppression produced an overgrown forest vulnerable to bark beetle attacks during the severe California drought of 2012-16 .
Some areas have 500 to 800 trees per acre , compared with 60 to 100 pre-settlement .
As North puts it , there were too many straws in the dry ground competing for water .
The beetle toll was the greatest in the densest stands .
There dead fuel will keep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Climate change , which accentuated drought severity and is promoting record-breaking heat waves this summer , “ is like the frosting on the cake , ” said conservationist Craig Thomas .
He has spent years pushing the Forest Service to ramp up prescribed burns .
He worked with the Sierra forest staff to develop the ambitious burn plans that environmental groups have backed .
Even regional air quality regulators who limit prescribed burning days are becoming more flexible , Thomas said , as they realize good fire can help prevent the choking air @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while the Sierra forest staff has the will to conduct 50,000 acres a year of controlled burns , Thomas said , “ they don ’ t have the capacity and the funding to do it.
” Prescribed fire programs aren ’ t getting the staffing and money they need from the regional and national Forest Service offices , he said .
“ How many of these fire seasons do we need before we do the things we need to do ?
” Thomas wondered .
“ Every fire scientist I know has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Forest Service officials did not immediately respond to an interview request .
Within the agency , North said , “ There ’ s a lot of talk .
There ’ s a lot of attention .
The prescribed fire that the Forest Service has put on the landscape has tripled over the last few years and that ’ s great .
But we ’ re talking about needing to increase prescribed fire by 10 to 12 times ” in the Sierra Nevada .
“ The thing that is just continuing to bite us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ is that rather than being the proactive agents of fire on these landscapes , we ’ re kind of forcing fire ” to occur under the most extreme , destructive conditions .
“ We ’ d do a lot better if we were deciding when some of these fires occur.
” Hernandez , who worked on hotshot firefighting crews and in fuels management during his 17 years with the Forest Service , thinks the Creek fire could help propel cultural change .
“ We have a culture , and our society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ return fire to its proper place in the Sierra , he said .
“ I can ’ t tell you how many times we had burns and had to shut down a campground and people were upset because we were ruining their vacation , ” he recalled .
“ We had to explain we are trying to make this a place to come back to in the future.
” Stephens figures California has another decade or so to flatten the trajectory of ever more destructive forest fires .
What is needed , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire , restoration thinning and making rural communities more fire resistant .
“ If we don ’ t come out of this year focused on that and try to move forward , I just don ’ t know if there ’ s much hope , ” he said .
“ I ’ m always hopeful .
But I ’ m getting tired .
”

The Creek fire exploded and surrounded Shaver Lake in California, seen here on Sept. 6.
Two years ago scientists warned that a massive tree die-off in the Sierra Nevada could set the stage for forest conflagrations akin to World War II fire bombings.
The Creek fire, which forced the dramatic helicopter evacuations of more than 200 campers over Labor Day weekend in California, may be a hint of far worse to come in future years.
It is burning in the Sierra National Forest, an epicenter of the bark beetle attacks that killed nearly 150 million drought-stressed trees during the last decade.
The U.S. Forest Service estimates that dead stands in the Creek fire contain 2,000 tons of fuel per acre.
As of Saturday, the fire had charred more than 196,000 acres, destroyed 365 structures and was threatening 14,000 more in the vicinity of Big Creek, Huntington Lake and Shaver Lake. Firefighters don’t expect to contain it until mid-October.
For those who have studied the potential fire effects of the vast beetle kill, the Creek fire is a harbinger.
“I don’t want to be alarmist. But I think the conditions are there,” said Scott Stephens, a UC Berkeley professor of fire science and lead author of a 2018 paper that raised the specter of future mass forest fires as intense as the Dresden, Germany, and Tokyo firebombings.
“As those [trees] continue to fall, the physics of it are unchanged. If you have dead and downed logs … the fires described in warfare are possible.”
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One of hundreds of major blazes to erupt in this record-breaking fire season in California, the Creek fire has underscored the urgency of reducing that monster fuel load.
The only way to do that on the broad, landscape level needed, many experts say, is with fire of a different sort.
“All of us on the paper were suggesting that if you are going to try to reduce that mass fire problem in the future, you really need to start putting prescribed fire into these stands to start whittling away at those bigger fuels,” said Forest Service research ecologist Malcolm North, one of Stephens’ eight co-authors.
While thinning — cutting down the dead timber and hauling it away — can play a role, especially around mountain communities, North said a majority of the beetle-killed stands are in wilderness or in areas that are too remote and too steep to be logged.
Moreover, the dead trees have lost most of their commercial value and are of little interest to the remaining sawmills in California.
California What all those dead trees mean for the Sierra Nevada The ponderosa pine had taken root decades before the Revolutionary War, making a stately stand on this western Sierra Nevada slope for some 300 years, Nate Stephenson figures.
The Sierra National Forest is well aware of its fire problem. The forest had launched thinning projects around communities, conducted controlled burns on an annual average of 2,000 to 4,000 acres and developed plans to ramp that up to 10,000 acres and eventually as much as 50,000 acres a year.
“They were just getting started,” said Adam Hernandez, who oversaw prescribed fire and fuels management for the Sierra forest before leaving the U.S. Forest Service last year to teach wildland fire technology at Reedley College, southeast of Fresno.
But those big goals are decades late, say fire ecologists. They have long pointed to the mid-elevation pine and mixed-conifer belt of the Sierra Nevada as a place desperately in need of the frequent, low-intensity burns that shaped the forest before settlers and a century of government fire suppression policies snuffed them out.
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The elimination of indigenous fire practices, logging of the biggest and most fire-resistant trees and fire suppression produced an overgrown forest vulnerable to bark beetle attacks during the severe California drought of 2012-16.
Some areas have 500 to 800 trees per acre, compared with 60 to 100 pre-settlement. As North puts it, there were too many straws in the dry ground competing for water. The beetle toll was the greatest in the densest stands. There dead fuel will keep piling up for years to come.
Climate change, which accentuated drought severity and is promoting record-breaking heat waves this summer, “is like the frosting on the cake,” said conservationist Craig Thomas.
The needles of a dead sugar pine tree have gone from green to orange as the trees succumb to drought and disease in Sequoia National Park. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
He has spent years pushing the Forest Service to ramp up prescribed burns. He worked with the Sierra forest staff to develop the ambitious burn plans that environmental groups have backed.
Even regional air quality regulators who limit prescribed burning days are becoming more flexible, Thomas said, as they realize good fire can help prevent the choking air pollution generated by massive wildfires.
But while the Sierra forest staff has the will to conduct 50,000 acres a year of controlled burns, Thomas said, “they don’t have the capacity and the funding to do it.”
Prescribed fire programs aren’t getting the staffing and money they need from the regional and national Forest Service offices, he said.
“How many of these fire seasons do we need before we do the things we need to do?” Thomas wondered. “Every fire scientist I know has been saying it for 30 years.”
Regional Forest Service officials did not immediately respond to an interview request.
Within the agency, North said, “There’s a lot of talk. There’s a lot of attention. The prescribed fire that the Forest Service has put on the landscape has tripled over the last few years and that’s great. But we’re talking about needing to increase prescribed fire by 10 to 12 times” in the Sierra Nevada.
“The thing that is just continuing to bite us in the butt,” he added, “is that rather than being the proactive agents of fire on these landscapes, we’re kind of forcing fire” to occur under the most extreme, destructive conditions. “We’d do a lot better if we were deciding when some of these fires occur.”
Hernandez, who worked on hotshot firefighting crews and in fuels management during his 17 years with the Forest Service, thinks the Creek fire could help propel cultural change.
“We have a culture, and our society, that make it difficult” to return fire to its proper place in the Sierra, he said.
“I can’t tell you how many times we had burns and had to shut down a campground and people were upset because we were ruining their vacation,” he recalled. “We had to explain we are trying to make this a place to come back to in the future.”
Stephens figures California has another decade or so to flatten the trajectory of ever more destructive forest fires. What is needed, he said, is a combination of prescribed fire, restoration thinning and making rural communities more fire resistant.
“If we don’t come out of this year focused on that and try to move forward, I just don’t know if there’s much hope,” he said. “I’m always hopeful. But I’m getting tired.”


latimes--2020-09-12--Two L.A. County sheriff's deputies shot, critically wounded in attack captured on video

Two Los Angeles County sheriff ’ s deputies were critically wounded after being shot Saturday evening in Compton in what authorities described as an “ ambush ” that was captured on surveillance video .
The video , released by the department , shows a man walking up to the deputies ’ parked patrol car , pulling out a gun and firing several times into the front seat area from the passenger side .
The assailant is then seen running from the scene .
The Sheriff ’ s Department reported that the shooting occurred about 7 p.m. near the Blue Line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One male deputy and one female deputy were ambushed as they sat in their patrol vehicle .
Both sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are in critical condition .
They are both currently undergoing surgery , ” the department said in a statement .
The department later said both were out of surgery .
Law enforcement sources told The Times at least one of the deputies was shot in the face and the other in the head .
Speaking at a news conference at the hospital late Saturday , Sheriff Alex Villanueva described one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mother of a 6-year-old boy and the other as a 24-year-old man .
He said both deputies were sworn into office just 14 months ago .
“ The two deputies were ambushed by a gunman in a cowardly fashion , ” he said .
“ This is a dangerous job.
” He noted that sheriff ’ s detectives on Thursday shot and killed a man in Compton who they said opened fire on them as they served a search warrant .
“ Every week across the nation someone is losing their life in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ This is just another grim reminder of that.
” Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer ( D-South Los Angeles ) , also spoke at the news conference .
“ This was an unprovoked cowardly act , ” he said .
“ The individual will be caught , and justice will prevail.
” “ Tonight we must as a community condemn the act of the perpetrator , ” he added .
“ More importantly we must come together and pray for the officers because they are heroes.
” “ Tonight we pray for these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chief tweeted .
“ I recognize and acknowledge we live in troubled times .
But we must as a community work thru our differences while loudly and resoundly condemn violence .
Blessed are the Peacemakers.
” No further details were immediately available , and it was unclear whether detectives had identified a suspect .
The FBI is assisting in the investigation .
Some local law enforcement officers took to social media to express their anger and disgust over the shooting .
“ I hope this monster is caught soon , ” LAPD Capt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ m sick to my stomach .
The deputies are in my prayers .
Blessed are the peacemakers , for they shall be called the children of God.
” A reporter for LAist was arrested by Sheriff ’ s deputies at St. Francis Medical Center , where the wounded deputies were being treated and some protesters gathered .
Video showed the reporter , Josie Huang , pinned by several deputies .
LAist said it had “ called for her immediate release and an apology from department.
” She was expected to be released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Both of the deputies were members of the sheriff ’ s transportation detail .
Metro has split policing duties of its 1,433-mile service area — including 93 rail stations and nearly 14,000 bus stops — among three agencies : the Los Angeles Police Department , which patrols buses , trains and stations in the city of L.A. ; the Long Beach police , who work at eight Blue Line stations ; and the Sheriff ’ s Department , which patrols the rest of the system .
This summer , the Metro board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including no longer sending armed officers to respond to nonviolent crimes , hiring unarmed ambassadors to work at stations and expanding fare discounts .

Doug Smith, Matthew Ormseth, Richard Winton

Deputies block off the scene near the bus station where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies were shot.
Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were out of surgery and recovering after being shot Saturday evening in Compton in what authorities described as an “ambush” that was captured on surveillance video.
The video, released by the department, shows a man walking up to the deputies’ parked patrol car, pulling out a gun and firing several times into the front seat area from the passenger side. The assailant is then seen running from the scene. On Sunday, officials asked for the public’s help to locate the person who opened fire.
Update: The gunman walked up on the deputies and opened fire without warning or provocation. pic.twitter.com/cBQjyKkoxJ — LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) September 13, 2020
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The Sheriff’s Department reported that the shooting occurred about 7 p.m. near the Blue Line station at 275 Willowbrook Ave.
“One male deputy and one female deputy were ambushed as they sat in their patrol vehicle. Both sustained multiple gunshot wounds and are in critical condition.
The deputies were listed in critical condition but were expected to survive.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva on Sunday called the condition of the deputies a “double miracle.”
Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that at least one of the deputies was shot in the face and the other in the head.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, second from left, exits a news conference outside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where two L.A. County sheriff’s deputies are being treated. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Speaking at a news conference at the hospital late Saturday, Villanueva described one of the injured deputies as a 31-year-old mother of a 6-year-old boy and the other as a 24-year-old man. He said both deputies were sworn into office just 14 months ago.
“The two deputies were ambushed by a gunman in a cowardly fashion,” he said. “This is a dangerous job.”
He noted that sheriff’s detectives on Thursday shot and killed a man in Compton who they said opened fire on them as they served a search warrant.
“Every week across the nation someone is losing their life in the line of duty,” he said. “This is just another grim reminder of that.”
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles) also spoke at the news conference.
“This was an unprovoked, cowardly act,” he said. “The individual will be caught, and justice will prevail.
“Tonight we must as a community condemn the act of the perpetrator,” he added. “More importantly, we must come together and pray for the officers because they are heroes.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore also offered his support.
“Tonight we pray for these two guardians to survive,” the chief tweeted. “I recognize and acknowledge we live in troubled times. But we must as a community work thru our differences while loudly and resoundly condemn violence. Blessed are the Peacemakers.”
No further details on the shooting were immediately available, and it was unclear whether detectives had identified a suspect. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
Detectives comb the scene where two L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies were shot and gravely injured Saturday night in Compton. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Some local law enforcement officers took to social media to express their anger and disgust over the shooting.
“I hope this monster is caught soon,” LAPD Capt. Gisselle Espinoza tweeted. “I’m sick to my stomach. The deputies are in my prayers. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
The Sheriff’s Department has been under scrutiny for several deputy-involved shootings in recent months. The killing of a man on a bicycle in Westmont has sparked days of tense protests. Some demonstrators came to St. Francis Medical Center, where the wounded deputies were being treated. The department said on Twitter that some of those protesters blocked entrances and exits at the hospital, but that could not be independently verified.
Videos from the scene capture at least one person in the crowd yelling, “I hope they ... die.”
A reporter for LAist was arrested there. Video showed the reporter, Josie Huang, pinned by several deputies. LAist said it had called for her immediate release and an apology from the department.
Huang was released Sunday morning.
She said she would respond to claims on Twitter by the Sheriff’s Department that she didn’t have proper press credentials. “Hi, all. I’m out of county jail and am headed home. Thank you for caring. I have seen tweets and have thoughts and videos to share soon after a little rest,” she wrote on Twitter.
Both of the deputies who were shot Saturday were members of the sheriff’s transportation detail.
Metro has split policing duties of its 1,433-mile service area — including 93 rail stations and nearly 14,000 bus stops — among three agencies: the Los Angeles Police Department, which patrols buses, trains and stations in the city of L.A.; the Long Beach police, who work at eight Blue Line stations; and the Sheriff’s Department, which patrols the rest of the system.
This summer, the Metro board approved a series of policing reform measures, including no longer sending armed officers to respond to nonviolent crimes, hiring unarmed ambassadors to work at stations, and expanding fare discounts.


latimes--2020-09-12--The Bobcat fire casts a pall of unhealthy air over L.A.

From the eastern San Gabriel Valley to the western San Fernando Valley to the South Coast , an eerie blanket of smoke from the Bobcat fire caused health advisories across much of Los Angeles County on Saturday , forcing the L.A .
Zoo to announce a closure and threatening the Rams ’ opening day .
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health warned residents to stay indoors as much as possible and limit physical exertion , indoors or out .
“ If you can see smoke , soot , or ash , or you can smell smoke , pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ precautions to safeguard your health , ” said county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis .
“ These precautions are particularly important for children , older adults , and people with heart or lung diseases.
” Davis also advised day camps in smoke-affected areas to suspend outside activities , such as hiking or picnics .
Air quality around the Rams ’ SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was hovering Saturday below the level that , under NFL rules , would trigger either postponement or relocation of the team ’ s Sunday opener against the Dallas Cowboys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that air quality was being monitored around the stadium but that they expected the game to be played as scheduled .
The Los Angeles Zoo announced Saturday that it will not open Sunday or Monday because of the unhealthy air quality but hopes to reopen Tuesday .
A statement from the zoo said that anyone who has tickets or a reservation for a closed date can request a refund or reschedule .
The zoo is monitoring the animals ’ conditions and did not anticipate any ill effects , it said .
The Bobcat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Angeles National Forest north of Azusa , has charred more than 30,000 acres .
As of Saturday , it was only 6 % contained .
Poor air quality also contributed to the closure of : Eaton Canyon , Devil ’ s Punchbowl , Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park , Lario Staging Area , Marshall Canyon , Peck Road Water Conservation Park , San Dimas Canyon Natural Area and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area .
The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued smoke advisories Saturday and Sunday covering the southern half of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Small particles in wildfire smoke can cause burning eyes , runny nose , scratchy throat , headaches and illness such as bronchitis .
In people with sensitive conditions , they can cause difficulty breathing , wheezing , coughing , fatigue and chest pain .
The health department advised residents to keep windows and doors closed and turn off air conditioners that do not have a recirculation option to prevent drawing air from outside .
If temperatures become too hot at home , residents should go to an air-conditioned place such as a cooling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be kept indoors as well , it said .

The Los Angeles skyline is shrouded in smoke from the Bobcat fire.
From the eastern San Gabriel Valley to the western San Fernando Valley to the South Coast, an eerie blanket of smoke from the Bobcat fire caused health advisories across much of Los Angeles County on Saturday, forcing the L.A. Zoo to announce a closure and threatening the Rams’ opening day.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health warned residents to stay indoors as much as possible and limit physical exertion, indoors or out.
“If you can see smoke, soot, or ash, or you can smell smoke, pay attention to your immediate environment and take precautions to safeguard your health,” said county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis. “These precautions are particularly important for children, older adults, and people with heart or lung diseases.”
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Davis also advised day camps in smoke-affected areas to suspend outside activities, such as hiking or picnics.
Air quality around the Rams’ SoFi Stadium in Inglewood was hovering Saturday below the level that, under NFL rules, would trigger either postponement or relocation of the team’s Sunday opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
The Rams’ management said Friday that air quality was being monitored around the stadium but that they expected the game to be played as scheduled.
The Los Angeles Zoo announced Saturday that it will not open Sunday or Monday because of the unhealthy air quality but hopes to reopen Tuesday.
A statement from the zoo said that anyone who has tickets or a reservation for a closed date can request a refund or reschedule.
The zoo is monitoring the animals’ conditions and did not anticipate any ill effects, it said.
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The Bobcat fire, which is burning in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa, has charred more than 30,000 acres. As of Saturday, it was only 6% contained.
Poor air quality also contributed to the closure of eight parks in Los Angeles County : Eaton Canyon, Devil’s Punchbowl, Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, Lario Staging Area, Marshall Canyon, Peck Road Water Conservation Park, San Dimas Canyon Natural Area and Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued smoke advisories Saturday and Sunday covering the southern half of the county including the San Gabriel Mountains.
Central Los Angeles
Northwest coastal L.A. County
Southwest coastal L.A. County
South coastal L.A.
Southeast L.A. County
West San Fernando Valley
East San Fernando Valley
West San Gabriel Valley
East San Gabriel Valley
Pomona-Walnut Valley
South San Gabriel Valley
South central Los Angeles County
Santa Clarita Valley
San Gabriel Mountains
Small particles in wildfire smoke can cause burning eyes, runny nose, scratchy throat, headaches and illness such as bronchitis. In people with sensitive conditions, they can cause difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, fatigue and chest pain.
The health department advised residents to keep windows and doors closed and turn off air conditioners that do not have a recirculation option to prevent drawing air from outside. If temperatures become too hot at home, residents should go to an air-conditioned place such as a cooling center, it said.
Pets should be kept indoors as well, it said.