California Fires: Sayre, Tea, and Yorba Linda Fires Shake Up Three California Counties

Sylmar, California -- This area is experiencing one of (if not the worst) fire episodes in recent history. Starting Thursday, there was the Montecito Fire, also called the Tea fire due to its origination in a Tea House near Santa Barbara. Million dollar homes with panoramic views of the ocean and cities were threatened, including the multi-million dollar estate of talk show guru Oprah Winfrey. Currently, the fire is been dying down at 95% containment thanks to the bravery of firefighters throughout the Santa Barbara county. The fire has destroyed 210 homes, with 9 damaged.

Then, there is the Sayre Fire which started on Friday night in Sylmar. This one has burned over 10,000 acres with 40% containment. The community of Oakridge Mobile Home Park is still under evacuation. 480 mobile homes are gone, along with hundreds of other structures including apartment buildings. Parts of Olive View UCLA Hospital had to be evacuated due to the dangers posed by this fire.

The fire has emotional effects on a lot of students in neighboring communities of Sylmar. Today, as we were back at school, I heard a lot of horrible stories from students in my class who were slightly affected or knew of people who were affected.

One of my students said that the roof of the apartment building where she and her family resides was on fire, as was the stairs of the third floor of this five story building. She stated that they were evacuated safely, but two elderly neighbors were not quite lucky. According to this student, the two neighbors were disabled and had nurses often coming in to provide for their daily needs and care. On the day of the fire, the nurse wasn't there and the two elderly people were burned to death.

Another student mentioned how on Friday night, his whole street was in disarray as fire trucks crowded his street and neighborhood, evacuating people and trying to save burning buildings. "It was pandemonium, people were scared and were panicking" said one of the students. There were also power outages in areas of Sayre Street, with some people only getting back electricity on Saturday. Some of the students who were absent from school today were said to have been impacted heavily, some with their home completely lost.

The attendance at Sylmar High School was not as bad as I expected given the magnitude of the fire. Students whose home were not affected said that they came to school because they feel it would be safer than at home where they were not sure what could happen. Most parents are back to work so they feel it's best to be at school any how.

Sylmar High also happens to be among the four evacuation centers set over the weekend, and the only one that remained open for evacuees well into last night and continuing for the Sayre Fire evacuees. As I walked around the campus, I saw a lot of community members, most of whom were elderly. This was the same scenario as the Merrick Fire of last month, which also brought a lot of evacuees to Sylmar High School.

Those whose homes were safe were being escorted by police officials to their residence for a brief visit. The campus was paraded by dozens of police officers, and shelters in the gymnasium were supported with help from the local Red Cross.

Further north of Sylmar is the Placerita Canyon Fire which is too close for my comfort. The fire has now burn hundreds of acres of land but thus far, no properties are threatened. This fire caused the closure of many free ways yesterday, including the Antelope Valley Freeway 14 and the Interstate 5 around the Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valley areas. Thus far, all free ways in the area are open, with traffic of course being heavy.

As if these fires are not enough, there are also fires south of the valley in Orange County threatening Yorba Linda communities including Chino Hills, Brea, and Anaheim. Evacuation orders are currently in place. The Orange County fire has taken over 28,000 acres of land and is about 40% contained to date. Hundreds of structures have been destroyed or damaged.

The cause of the Sayre fire is under investigation, as officials say it appears to be a criminal act. Investigation is also underway in all the areas, and safety measures are being taken to make sure any person left in the ashes will be recovered.

It had been an unbelievably worrisome weekend and I hope the brave firefighters would soon put the fires to rest.

Sources:

http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents_Tea.php

http://lafd.blogspot.com/2008/11/lafd-sayre-fire.html

http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm