The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly -- LA Fires Edition

 

The good:

Many things went wrong for Aaron Samson on Tuesday morning. But a few lucky breaks – and the kindness of two strangers – allowed him and his 83-year-old father-in-law, Ron, to escape the deadly Palisades fire as it swiftly closed in around them.

After getting an alert about the impending wildfire on his phone, Samson sprang into action at Ron’s home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the retired cardiologist had lived for nearly 50 years. Samson grabbed clothes and medication for his father-in-law, who has Parkinson’s disease and was recovering from a recent surgery, and texted his own wife and kids, who were back home in Berkeley.

But the situation was surreal and chaotic, and Samson wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Your mind’s not thinking [correctly],” he said. “I’m thinking that we’re gonna be gone, and I haven’t fed him, he hadn’t eaten yet. So I fried two eggs. You know, there’s a fire going on, and I fried two eggs. I’m like, ‘You need to eat!’”

Samson then called 911 and an Uber, hoping someone could help them, without success. A neighbor happened to be leaving the empty neighborhood and gave them a ride, but they quickly met deadlocked traffic as other frantic people streamed out of their homes. As the fire neared the road – close enough that Samson could feel the heat from inside the car – police officers started telling drivers to abandon their vehicles and flee on foot.

Samson, Ron and their neighbor got out and trekked down the steep hill, embers flying into their faces and thick black smoke choking the air. Ron pushed a walker unsteadily. At one point, Ron told Samson that if the fire caught up to them, he should leave him behind and save himself. But they hurried on, continuing along the apocalyptic-looking road for 10 or 15 minutes.

It was then that Andrew Lin, a stranger, spotted them trudging through the smoke. Behind them, burning palm trees were exploding. Samson and Ron seemed to be some of the very last people to come down the hill. Though Lin had been in the midst of trying to drive back to his own home in the Palisades to save his dog and two cats, it was a no-brainer to stop and take the duo the rest of the way to safety, he said.

“I was going that way, they were going this way,” Lin said. “But it was just like, ‘OK, everything just exploded around us, get in the car. I don’t know who you are, but just get in the car.’”...

Sometimes the worst brings out the best in people.  There are many more stories like this of people helping people survive.  Then, there are those who don't feel the suffering and only want to use tragedies to promote their agendas (more on that below).  By the way,

As for Lin and Samson, in the days after their dramatic escape from the Palisades, they’ve been texting each other brief fire updates.

Lin and Samson’s father-in-law later learned that both of their homes had burned to the ground. But incredibly, Lin’s three pets survived; a fellow neighbor grabbed the dog first, and the two cats were rescued by a different neighbor within an hour of Lin’s house burning down.

On Friday, Lin texted Samson with the somber update that his home was gone – but he also sent a photo of his cats.

“The cats are safe and they’re alive,” Samson said. “Again, a glimmer of hope among the ashes.”

Unfortunately,  harrowing situations like this are still occurring in the Los Angeles region.

The bad:

The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.

The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.

Joseph Everett, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s west bureau, said it has been difficult to see such destruction in an area where he, his father and grandfather all have worked as firefighters.

“It resonates with me heavily,” he said at a community meeting Saturday night. “Please be patient as we are up there … we’re still aggressively fighting fire out there.”

There were fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).

In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.

With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.

“Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday,” Traum said...

If you can, please consider donating to one of these organizations providing emergency help for victims of the wildfires.

The ugly:

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) on Friday sounded off about his “problem” with California’s policies as he threatened to withhold disaster relief aid amid the devastating Los Angeles wildfires.

“If they want the money, then there should be consequences where they have to change their policies,” said Davidson in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.

He later added, “I mean, we support the people that are plagued by disaster but we have to put pressure on the California government to change course here.”

Davidson, moments earlier, declared that officials “need to address” the fires before taking issue with the state’s forest management.

“All these things that they’re doing are making it far easier for fires to grow and spread and be huge,” he claimed of the blazes in Los Angeles that have killed at least 16 people and burned over 12,000 structures with about 57,000 more still at risk.

Right-wing media figures have recently pushed misleading claims that California’s “bad forest management” is to blame for the fires while ignoring how climate change impacts measures to prevent the spread of fires, Media Matters for America reported.

The bad forest management talk marks an apparent regurgitation of right-wing claims from 2018 when then-President Donald Trump blamed California’s Camp Fire — the most destructive and deadliest in the state’s history — on “poor” policy.

“Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” Trump wrote on social media at the time. [snip]

Davidson’s policy “problem” adds to a right-wing blame game for the recent Los Angeles fires which includes everything from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to — in Trump’s case — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wanting to protect an “essentially worthless fish” species, the delta smelt.

Newsom, in an effort to fight back against “misinformation” on Saturday, launched a page on his website to address a “lie” that the fires are caused by “mismanagement of forest lands.”...

But, as we all should know by now after decades of the Republican firehose of politically- motivated lies, those lies are halfway around the world while the truth is just getting its boots on... Malignant pustules like Davidson and this tosser are meanwhile just champing at the bit to use imaginary "policy problems" to bring retribution to a deep blue area of a deep blue state.