Fire Season 2008
by Titus Gee
The fire in Sylmar, CA can be seen from the hill above RedFence headquarters in Canyon Country. This footage was captured at 4 a.m. from a hill above the Jack London House. The city lights in the foreground are from our neighborhood.
Fire officials assure us that winds are pushing the flames South and West, away from the Santa Clarita Valley. Several RedFencers passed within a few miles of the fire on the way to and from Hollywood where they reviewed the new James Bond film “Quantum of Solace.” We all are currently safe and relatively smoke-free.
Fire in the hills above RedFence HQ from RedFence on Vimeo.
This from City News Service as of 3 a.m.:
SYLMAR (CNS) – Wind-blown embers from a brush fire set at least five
homes on fire in Sylmar this morning, as firefighters evacuated Olive View
Medical Center and keep the bulk of the fire north of the Foothill (210)
Freeway.
Winds were gusting up to about 50 mph at 2 a.m. as several homes along
Dronefield Avenue burned. The fire, dubbed the Sayre Fire, jumped the freeway
near Cobalt Street, and the 210 freeway was closed shortly after midnight.
As many as a dozen homes burned since the fire started about 10:30 p.m.
Friday. An estimated 1,500 acres were blackened in the foothills, mostly north
of the freeway.
Officials at Olive View Medical Center, which was without electricity,
were working to evacuate some 200 patients to Holy Cross Medical Center in
Mission Hills. The most critical patients and babies were moved first.
Some storage buildings on the hospital campus burned.
Just one injury was reported — a 40-year-old man who suffered serious
burns, according to broadcast reports.
Evacuations were ordered north of the freeway. Police were helping
firefighters get disabled people out of their homes. As many as 5,000 people
were sent to shelters.
Evacuation centers were set up at Sylmar High School at 13050 Borden
Ave. in Sylmar and at San Fernando High School at 11133 O’Melveny Ave. in San
Fernando.
Horse and other large animals were being taken to Hansen Dam Park. A
mobile kennel was set up at Sylmar High School, and small pets also can be
taken to the Mission animal shelter at Strandwood Avenue and Brand Boulevard.
The blaze started near the 13000 block of West Sayre Street near Shablow
Avenue, fire officials said.
City firefighters, who were making rare nighttime water drops with
helicopters, were backed up by their colleagues from the county and the U.S.
Forest Service.
