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Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman had a little bit of good news at his latest press conference -- "The fire activity has subsided considerably." Whew.
But it wasn't all good news. Freeman said that a total of 49 homes -- far exceeding last month's blaze -- have been confirmed destroyed. The fire is still at 25% containment, but Freeman says they are hoping to hit 50% by tomorrow evening. There is no explanation as to why this fire was so much more damaging than the last, Freeman says, other than "every fire is different."
There will be a list of all homes destroyed in the fire made available after 6:00 PM PST at www.ci.malibu.ca.us.
Reader Comments
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"Freeman said that a total of 49 homes -- far exceeding last month's blaze -- have been confirmed destroyed." That's totally wrong. many, many more homes were destroyed last month than this month.
I think he was referring to the number of homes lost in Malibu specfically, not CA in total. Otherwise yeah, the first wildfires destroyed a little over 1100 homes, so his math would be a little off...
It happens almost every year the fires and then the rains. That leads to the mudslides. Malibu has alot of celebs, but there are just normal folks like us who suffer the most.
...geez, I can't even to begin ot imagine all the respiratory problems these poor fire fighters and the population will have in the future!
Even if they are celebs it is still devastating to lose your home like that. It's the things money can't buy that are hardest to replace. Hopefully this will subside. Do they have any kind of burn bans there. If not they should put some pretty strict ones in place. Hopefully they will have this contained pretty quickly.
Ok TMZ is slacking..... idiot Perez is reporting that Britney is in final talks to adopt 2 chinese kids!!!!!??? Wake up TMZ!
I feel so bad that all those people lost their homes too. A few days ago, my neighbors house caught fire, but it was mostly smoke damage. I can't imagine how they feel.
Now I have to ask, "What are they going to do in California to help prevent this kinds of tragedy from happening again?"
Yes, there are things that can be done, like controlled burns, clearing the dead underbrush, etc. My guess is they do nothing and just wait until it happens again, just like last time.
i am so glad they laid off the excessive news coverage this time. last time fire was on every channel, for 18 hours straight or more. that coverage is, i believe, what led arsonists to set the next three fires. this time, they gave it a bit of a rest. only on every channel for maybe 4 hours straight, then ktla went back to regular programming. i am sure this was about money to ktla, because when eric spillman came on it was almost like he was sitting at a desk and didn't even know the camera was on, but it was WAY better.
What an unfortunate tragedy for the residents of Malibu to be victims of two big wildfires almost back to back. But maybe they can take some comfort in knowing that the fire last month drove Britney away and this fire might convince her to stay away forever.
Now I have to ask, "What are they going to do in California to help prevent this kinds of tragedy from happening again?"
Yes, there are things that can be done, like controlled burns, clearing the dead underbrush, etc. My guess is they do nothing and just wait until it happens again, just like last time.
Posted at 12:31AM on Nov 25th 2007 by BTExpress
BTExpress...
I live very close to Malibu and we always get so much smoke and ash blowing our way but fortunately have never been in danger from the fire itself. You seem to think that CA does nothing other than wait for the fires...WRONG! The authorities do highly recommend that home owners clear brush and foliage up to a certain footage around their properties to create a defensable space. There are alerts on our local news every year. They even issue fines to property owners who refuse to comply after repeated warnings. Our great fire department actually goes out to homes individually to prompt owners to clear a space so many feet from their house. Anytime one chooses to live in the expansive hills of Malibu with all the beauty there will always be a risk. As beautiful as it would be, I would never want to live on a mountain side or in a forest as the risk of fire and other natural disasters are too great. BTW, it looks as if the fire was started by humans intentionally or unintentionally. We'll have to wait and get more details as to the definite cause.
My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes.
