RescueKujo

Welcome home, Chief and Happy Birthday. Glad to see you made it back home okay. Thank you for your service. Duane

thanks for stomping on my heart just a little more, guys... only good thing is I believe this cements the coach's firing at the end of the season. The Chargers get into the red zone way to often and do not score...

The Southern California Chapter of the Society For The Preservation And Appreciation Of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus In America (SPAAMFA), The Crown Firecoach Enthusiasts, is hosting the 2009 Winter Convention at the Sheraton Suites Fairplex, Pomona February 25th-28th, 2009. Tours, Apparatus displays and a flea market plus other activities are planned. for information go to the Crown Firecoach Enthusiasts' website at the Crown Firecoach Enthusiasts' Website

I won't be doing Incident Alerts for these fires. Major wind event this weekend with Red Flag warning in effect until Sunday 11/16/08 at 1600 PST. Thursday night the sundower winds fueld the Tea fire in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. Last night, the Santa Ana winds picked up and a fire in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles (Area of the I210 freeway and San Fernando Rd) raced through homes and brush. The "Sayre" Fire has now burned approximately 3000 acres and over 650 homes. A mobile home park of 500 homes is gone, wiped off the face of the earth by fire. This morning, more fires broke out. they are as follows: The "Freeway" Fire- started in the area of State Hwy 91/Green River Rd in Corona (Riverside County). Has burned over 2000 acres and over 50 homes (low count-felt to be a lot more but still too much active fire for damage assessment). Headed west along the freeway and has burned in orange County and into the cities of Yorba Linda and Anaheim. Brea Fire-fire in the city of Brea along the orange County/Los Angeles County Border. Not much info coming out on this one, Sayre and Freeway Fires much higher priority now. Palos Verde fire-fire on the Palos Verde pennisula in southern LA County. Was attacked heavily and quickly and contained before any major damage. The "Tea" fire in Montecito is slowing down and being contained. Resources are being released and assigned to other incidents. Knock on wood, nothing in San Bernardino/San Diego Counties yet.... Jimmy, imagine if you had taken that job offer...

1000 p.m. PST update: Tea Fire- 1900 acres 60% contained-210 structures lost Sayre Fire- 8000 acres/ 25% containment assessment teams still out and no definitive numbers on structures lost Freeway Complex- 5800 acres/5% containment/104 structures (includes an apartment complex in Anaheim)- The Dump Fire (listed in first post as Brea Fire) has merged with the Freeway Fire creating the "complex". Heavy fire bumping neighborhoods in Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda and Brea.

Date:11-13-08 Time: Approx 1800 PST Location: Cold Springs Area of Montecito Departments: Montecito FD, Santa Barbara County FD, Santa Barbara City FD, USFS, Cal Fire, California OES Fire, Multiple Local Government Strike Teams Description: Major Wildland Fire driven by sundowner winds coming off the mountains created a flume which carried the fire through 2500 acres as of 0700 this morning (11/14/08) and has burned at least 100 homes and numerous buildings on a local college which was being used as an evacuation center. Most homes burned at this time are believed to be in an exclusive neighborhood where homes are valued as more than 2.5 million dollars. The exclusive neighborhood is where such celebrities as Oprah, Rob Lowe, Steven Speilberg and others have residences. Winds last night were measured at over 50 mph sustained and gusts of over 70 mph at times. Links:KNBC Los Angeles Link Cal Fire Incident Page Writer: RescueKujo

Duane F. Kuhlow, Jr. USAF Basic Training, Lackland AFB June 18th 1981-August 6th 1981 EOD Orientation Lackland AFB August 1981 EOD Chemical Portion-Redstone Army Arsenal Huntsville Alabama September 1981-October 1981 US Navy EOD School-Graduation July 1st 1982 3246 Munitions Maintence Squadron/EOD July 1982-March 1986 6404 EOD Flight Suwon ROKAFB March 1986-March 1987 27th EMS/EOD Cannon AFB NM March 1987-September 1987

From a former wingnut, Happy Birthday, LeatherNecks!!!

As he was based here in San Diego at USMC Camp Pendleton, here are a couple of links for stories and Lt. Yurista North County Times article San Diego 6 News Story

Congrats, Chief. Thank you for adding to the quality of the board. Duane

May Ist Lt Yurista Rest in Peace. May God watch over his family, friends and fellow Marines during this tragic time. To his family, thank you for his service to his country. His sacrifice will always be remembered to those who mattered most to him and others that he did not know at all. Duane F. Kuhlow, Jr. EMS Dispatcher/EMT USAF Explosive Ordnance Disposal 1982-1987

Andy, over on EMTBravoWest this has been asked and no answers have really been given. I don't know if LAFD knows yet or when the next aerial purchase will be.

Arizona Medic Killed By Helicopter Rotor

Last weekend at a Arizona fire station...

Take up Brother, you tour is done. May you Rest in Peace and may God watch over your family during this time of tragedy.

Federico Borjas, 33, a San Diego police officer serving as a reservist who was called to duty in August was shot and killed this week in Afghanistan. He was the lone fatality when a unit training Afghani Police was attacked by a possible insurgant who infiltrated the police force. Officer Borjas had been a SWAT officer for 10 years. NBC San Diego Story Video Story

Firefighters Battle Memories of Fire Tuesday is the Anniversary of the start of the 2007 Firestorm. The Harris Fire started first in the Southeastern portion of San Diego County about 9 a.m., then the Witch Fire started about 3 hours later....

Rest in Peace, Dennis. Thoughts and prayers to his family. Jimmy, I'm sorry for your loss. Duane

Chris-Exellent thread and scenerio. There are some well thought answers and good explanations of those thoughts. Good job everyone!

Good to hear, Jody. Good luck as it moves along.

1st major Santa Ana wind event forecasted to start tomorrow into Wednesday. Winds at their greatest Sunday into Monday with gusts in some areas 60+ mph. Cal-Fire, US Forest service and California OES prepositioning equipment into SoCal with staging areas in San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Additional tanker aircraft have been brought into the Air Attack bases: Ramona AAB in San Diego County, Hemet-Ryan AAB in Riverside, San Bernardino AAB at the old Norton AFB, and Fox AAB in the Palmdale area of Los Angeles County. Local Government departments adding staffing for additional apparatus to be available. Never say never, but history shows that SoCal hasn't had back to back years of large campaign type fires. We can only hope that some arsonist doesn't get a wild hair and start one.

Here's this morning's update: New start this morning in the community of Campo in the rural East County of San Diego County: Shockey Fire County: San Diego County Start Date/Time: October 14, 2008 at 2:46 a.m. Location: near Shockey Truck Trail and Highway 94 Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE San Diego Unit Acres Burned: 100 acres Containment: 50% Phone Number: (619) 590-3160 Sesnon Fire County: Los Angeles County Start Date/Time: October 13, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. Location: Brows Canyon and Oat Mountain Way, Porter Ranch Administrative Unit: Los Angeles County Fire Department Acres Burned: 7,000 acres Containment: 0% contained Phone Number: (800) 439-2909 Marek Fire County: Los Angeles County Start Date/Time: October 12, 2008 at 2:03 a.m. Location: West Side Little Tujunga Canyon Administrative Unit: Los Angeles County Fire / Angeles National Forest Acres Burned: 4,824 acres Containment: 70% contained Phone Number: (626) 821-6700 Juliett Fire County: San Diego County Start Date/Time: October 13, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. Location: Southeast portion of Camp Pendleton Marine Base Administrative Unit: Camp Pendleton Fire and Oceanside City Fire Department Acres Burned: 3,000 acres Containment: 25% contained Phone Number: (760) 725-9045 and the statewide fire map, from the Cal-Fire website: Cal-Fire Statewide Fire map

Dave, the winds hit in the LA area and other counties to the north of me early this morning. ***AFTERNOON UPDATE*** The Marek Fire is now at 7000 acres and still impinging on neighborhoods in the LakeView Terrace area of Los Angeles. There are now 2 reported deaths attributited to this fire, one victim of burns (apparently homeless found in a makeshift shelter this morning) and another from a traffic collision on the freeway. Smoke had banked down on the freeway, the person turned their car around going eastbound in the westbound lanes and collided headon with a tow truck, the car bursting into flames. A 2nd fire in the area started this morning about 10 a.m. on Oat Mountain, about 3 miles away from the Marek Fire. this is burning in the Santa Sussana pass, starting north of State Hwy 118 which runs between LA and Ventura County. Currently reported to be estimated at 3000 acres, if a handle is not put on this fire could burn southeast from the origin over the Santa Monica Mountains into Malibu. Potential for hundreds of thousands of acres. 3rd fire in the Santa Clarita area (area of 6 Flags Magic Mountain. This fire has been contained. I have not heard an acreage for this one. A couple of small fire in Riverside County have been handled without major concern. New fire just being reported by the back gate of Camp Pendleton. This area borders with the City of Ocenaside. Structures are threatened. Just started within the last hour-no real information reported yet. Just an idea of what it's like here-Winds today have been reported as 35 mph sustained with gusts as high as 60 mph. Currently relative humidity in Oceanside near the Camp pendleton Fire is being reported as 6%.

The "Marek" Fire ( see IA Los Angeles, Ca Major Wildland-10-12-08) was at 1500 acres and 20% containment when I went to bed this morning. At approximately 0300 this morning the winds kicked up and gave this fire new life, causing it to roar into a firestorm. Winds speeds are gusting up to 65 mph, fire took out half of a mobile home park (estimates are 38 homes). Fire is spotting in different areas. Estimated acreage is now up to 4000 acres and containment downgraded to maybe 5%. Duane

About 2 weeks ago, I was fortunate to have some friends from back east come out for a collector's event at a dealer's store. They added extra time to their trips for some photo tours throughout the southland. Here's a few photos from the tours. I'm not done with the Los Angeles County and LAFD photos yet. I'll post when the photos are all their respective albums in my Photobucket account. Duane