Prof. Sam Lawler
Most of my family is in LA, and I lived in Pasadena/Altadena for years and loved it.
I am not going to sleep well tonight. I can do literally nothing about the fires, and nothing to help anyone down there, but I can't stop watching the updates come in...
Prof. Sam Lawler
The evac zones all expanded again. Terrifyingly close to where my family all went to, in Glendale. Not sure where they'd go if Glendale gets evacuated too. Now planning with my outside LA sister (going there is a possibility, but it's like a 7 hour drive from LA)
Prof. Sam Lawler
And holy fuck if they're evacuating Glendale, that's like...solidly urban. Is that where this fire is going? Fuck fuck fuck fuck
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@sundogplanets At this time, the only part of Glendale evacuated is in the Verdugo Hills. I don't think it will reach the main city of Glendale.
Prof. Sam Lawler
My parents and one sister are out the door. Hopefully that means they're on the road soon too, but I'm not going to press them for text updates. One more sibling to go, not sure if I'll hear from them until later, though.
Now just to wait and doomscroll more. Yay.
Prof. Sam Lawler
After expanding the evacuation area for the Eaton Fire terrifyingly quickly multiple times this morning, it seems to have stopped expanding. For now.
Leave now if you're in the evacuation zone! Seriously!
Prof. Sam Lawler
My other sibling is on the road! My family is all heading out of the evacuation zone. I am equal parts relieved and terrified. I can't believe this is actually happening.
Prof. Sam Lawler
And here's your periodic reminder: GATHER PHONE NUMBERS in advance of emergencies! Get your siblings' parnters' numbers! Housemates, parents, anybody. Gather those numbers like you're Facebook, because damn I wish I had them all right now.
Prof. Sam Lawler
My sibling that nobody had gotten in touch with just texted me and I'm sobbing with relief. Now just have to gently convince them to leave as soon as possible without sobbing. Deep breaths.
HOly fuck I'm not going to get anything done for work today...
Prof. Sam Lawler
My outside-LA sister is taking the lead on being the contact for everyone in my family now evacuating (which is great, she's actually got disaster prep training). But that means that I just have to sit here and wait for updates and try not to text anyone because it's not helping.
I'm supposed to meet with a student in 20 minutes to talk about their disability accommodations for the astro 101 class I'm teaching and it's going to be really hard to do anything but worry about my family.
Prof. Sam Lawler
ok kids have left for school so I can really fall apart now.
I just 6am-cold-called a high school friend to get a phone number that I think might get me in touch with my sibling's partner - sibling is not answering phone.
Whole family is now under evac orders, packing cars, only one road open out of town. I can't believe this is happening
Prof. Sam Lawler
#eatonfire Calling family is spotty, calls keep dropping, internet in Crescenta Valley is slow. I'm texting screenshots of evac order maps to my family.
Crescenta Valley now has to evacuate through La Tuna Canyon
Prof. Sam Lawler
The absolute worst part of all this is I desperately want to know how my family is doing evacuating but I don't want to call and distract them or take up valuable bandwidth with what's not a vital call. I know they are getting out now, I just don't know what "getting out" looks like at this point.
This is not a few homes up in the mountains, this is whole fucking cities.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Well that got way fucking worse overnight.
Just chatted with my sister (who's outside LA), we looked at the maps together, and she called my parents to gently talk them into packing and leaving their house now before the evacuation orders get to them. FUCK this is so hard to be far from family and totally unable to help.
Prof. Sam Lawler
I'll note that their house is actually a couple miles away from the mountains, surrounded by houses in a dense LA suburban neighbourhood. But it looks from news reports like that's what's burning now.
Stay safe, LA people. Get out way before the fires get to you.
Prof. Sam Lawler
I got tasked with calling my other sister and making sure she's packing up animals now. The evac zone is now right next to their neighbourhood. FUCK.
Call dropped while I was talking to her. Texts seem to be going through ok still. This is so bad.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Dropping the CW from this thread, please just mute me if you don't want to listen to me freak out about LA fires (and probably swear a lot). I'll add the EatonFire hashtag if there's any useful info I can add (no useful info here, just freaking out)
It's a real mind-fuck to have to get my kids ready for the school bus to pick them up while also calling my family thousands of km away and telling them to get out now. Evac zone is now a few blocks away from my parents and sister.
Prof. Sam Lawler
@EricFielding I sure hope not. But I didn't think it would burn so much of Altadena either :(
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@sundogplanets The number of houses and businesses burned to the ground in Altadena is shocking. They are now estimating 1000 structures lost or damaged.
Prof. Sam Lawler
My outside-LA sister and I are comparing notes with our spotty internet information from different places (I'm mostly looking here and various news sites, she's mostly looking at facebook/nextdoor). Together it's almost a useful information set!
My family is still all in Glendale, waiting to see if evac zones spread further. It's all real bad. Stay safe and listen to evacuation orders, LA.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Another mind-bending dissociation: listening in to this faculty meeting talking about academic misconduct and exam formats and grade deadlines, while watching real-time updates on the fires creeping closer to my parents' house, watching to see when I need to start encouraging them to flee further. Real hard to care about exams.
Prof. Sam Lawler
My family's homes are still in the evacuation zone, though not immediately threatened by fire, so they're staying one city over for the night.
I just found a satellite photo in an article that shows a house I rented with several friends in Altadena for a couple of years, and the whole neighbourhood (including that house) is completely burned to the ground. I'm so sad, and so sorry for everyone there.
Prof. Sam Lawler
I just called to talk to my family about the next steps. If the fire jumps to the San Rafaels, I want them to get out of Glendale before traffic, which means getting out of LA entirely because that's where next level of family is (and they'd have to go way east to the 15, because the 14 is on fire). They have 7 family members, 1 dog, 5 cats, a lizard, and a turtle, and a smattering of important documents and irreplaceable family memorabilia. I can't believe this is happening.
Prof. Sam Lawler
From latest GIS maps, it looks like the house I rented in Altadena with 9 Caltech friends after we graduated has probably burned.
Michael Busch
This NBC video stream from a couple of hours ago seems to show that the fire had been stopped right at the edge of the antenna block (skip to the end of the archived video) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spo1lkghEY8 .
Way too close, though.
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@michael_w_busch @sundogplanets I don’t know the details, but the firefighters had several hours of warning for the fire movement towards Mt. Wilson. The winds Thursday were light, so the fire was moving at a moderate and predictable pace. I heard that they set backfires near the peak to stop the advance. The fire approached the peak from the southwest so the communications towers were closest and were saved.
Prof. Sam Lawler
The disconnect between where I am in my mind and in my body is bizarre. I dreamed about my old house and neighbourhood in Altadena that's now burned to the ground, woke up, checked the status of evacuations and fires thousands of km away, then crunched through the snow under auroras to take care of my goats.
The evacuation zones for the Eaton Fire didn't get bigger overnight, but my family's still under evac orders. Sending good vibes to all the firefighters and other helpers today.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Checked on fires, had a research meeting, checked on fires, had lunch with the early career profs, checked on fires, tested video for an amateur astronomy talk next week, checked fires, comforted a crying student... and now Mt. Wilson Observatory is burning? Fuck.
And I'm supposed to teach an astronomy class in 30 min?!!
Prof. Sam Lawler
I can't figure out from news if Mt. Wilson Observatory burned or not. I see lots of articles about the fire coming up to the communication towers and observatory a couple hours ago, and maybe all that was protected? Not at all clear :(
My texts are still going through to my evacuated family, so that's good. Communication infrastructure still seems to be ok.
My sister forwarded some weather forecasts with localized wind in the coming days, and there are still embers. Very much not over.
Prof. Sam Lawler
My family is still under evacuation, staying with a relative one city over. They are feeling pretty bad about everything - really hard waiting under evacuation to see where the fire goes next. (And yes, they're super lucky they have a relative to stay with). Their houses aren't under immediate fire threat, but the Eaton Fire is still listed at 0% contained, and winds could start up anytime and make it SO much worse.
Prof. Sam Lawler
I've been so busy carefully watching the weather thousands of km away where my family is trying to not get burned by fires, that I didn't even realize we're supposed to get a bunch of snow tonight. Yay, I guess?
The evac zones for the Eaton Fire got a little smaller! That's a good sign! (My family's still in the evac zone, though)
Prof. Sam Lawler
Evacuation zone lifted for my family, and they might even have electricity at their homes! My mom is convinced this is because she finally gave up on keeping food in the fridge/freezer (by occasionally going in and running a generator), and brought all the fridge/freezer food to where they're staying.
(But I told them not to relax too much quite yet because there are still winds and embers and the Eaton Fire is only 3% contained)
Prof. Sam Lawler
It was really nice to have a day to not watch the weather and fire conditions in LA quite as closely, but looks like the winds are set to pick up again in the next couple days. Damn.
It's been amazing to see how much people are helping each other during this disaster, but will everyone be able to keep it up with even more wind and fire this week?
(Also, I tried to donate $ to Watch Duty, because their maps and info have been fantastic, but they don't take $ from non-US credit cards...)
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@sundogplanets They can’t allow those Canadian dollars to cross the border. Thanks for trying though.
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