Waking up to the news that the northeastern part of the valley was on fire, I went up to Mulholland drive, a road on the ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains from where you can see the entire San Fernando Valley on one side and the Los Angeles Basin on the other and I took a few photos.
First though, information on the fire-
It started around 10 p.m. last night and the hurricane-force Santa Ana winds have been blowing fiercely since then, making the fire next to impossible to contain. Over 10,000 people in Sylmar and Porter Ranch have been evacuated and over 600 homes were destroyed in a trailer park. The 405, 210 and 5 freeways are totally cut off north of the 118, severing the link between Los Angeles and the Santa Clarita valley. If the fire near the freeways is not contained by Monday, this will make it impossible for a lot of commuters to get to work.
Major power lines are being threatened and there have already been some power outages. As I was driving down the mountain, most of Studio City's traffic lights were out of commission. I still have power here in North Hollywood though.
It is beginning to look like the fire, which started in or around the trailer park, was an act of arson and the LAPD is investigating. Meanwhile, the Governor and Mayor have declared a state of emergency. On top of this, many Los Angeles firefighters had to be pulled back out of Santa Barbara where they were fighting the Montecito fire to fight this one. They, of course, are already exhausted from the first fire. That one is still only 40% contained.
The good news is that, so far, there have only been a few minor injuries... but the property damage is going to be in the millions. It has rained once here in the last six months. Once. Things are very, very dry out there.
Now, on to the pictures. As I said, I drove up to Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles' most scenic road, to get photos of the fire at about 10 a.m. this morning. I took photos from a few different vistas. Click on them to see bigger versions.
The wonderful thing about Mulholland is, as I said, that you can see the L.A. Basin as well, which means the ocean. Here are a couple of shots of the distant ocean. The far-away mountain is actually Catalina Island.