The scorching heat wave of the Labor Day weekend sent many thermometers in Malibu past the 100-degree mark, tested our power grid and created dangerous brush fire conditions for our tinder dry hillsides. Two separate fires in Malibu on Saturday afternoon, one at Rambla Pacifico and Las Flores Canyon Road and another one mile up Corral Canyon, were quickly and successfully knocked down. Even though PCH was packed with bumper to bumper beach traffic, Corral Canyon Volunteer firefighters of Station 271 and the Los Angeles County Fire Department were able to quickly respond with adequate crews and water dropping helicopters before both fires could explode out of control. One saving grace was the fact that this particular day was one of the few afternoons that was windless. Had there been a normal sea breeze or the sun downers winds of the previous days, these fires would have been much more dangerous. One firefighter was hospitalized for excessive heat.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 firefighters were getting the upper hand on a massive brush fire burning Sunday in the Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga, and Burbank areas. That is considered to be the largest blaze in the history of the city of Los Angeles.
The La Tuna fire was 30 percent contained Sunday evening and had burned an estimated 7,003 acres, according to Los Angeles Fire Department officials.
Be Prepared, too many people still have not cleared the fuel, brush and dead leaves from structures or pine needles from their gutters or roofs. It just takes one spark or one tossed cigarette butt to start a disaster.
If you want a sobering dose of reality, do what I did while inspecting one of the burn areas next to the canyon roads and you may be prompted to be more prepared for the inevitable. Within 30 feet of either side of the road where one of the burns occurred, I inspected the debris on the side of the road and found dozens of tossed cigarette butts lying in the dry brush. Mind you this is a canyon where posted signs state that it is illegal to smoke or have any open flames year round! On a nearby popular hiking trail, I counted 76 tossed cigarette butts within a quarter mile, most of which were in the dry grasses.
And if that is not cause enough for alarm, the cause of the last two Malibu brush fires has not been determined but suspicion of arson has not been ruled out.In this season of the fire, whether intentional or careless, know that a brushfire disaster will shut down language. Disaster cannot be fathomed. Disaster stops all speech because the suffering it causes is so total and complete.
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