I'm Outta Here...Maybe

There's an enormous fire raging about three miles from my house in Calabasas, California. Two neighborhoods close to mine, on the north side of the Ventura Freeway,  have been evacuated.  No one has told us to leave yet, but we've already made a short list of what we will take if we have to go... family photos & home movies, important documents, my external hard-drive, my daughter's three favorite stuffed animals. In the mean time, I can sit here in my home office and watch the smoke moving in our direction...

Firefighters are doing everything they can to halt the fire at the freeway, because if the flames jump to our side, it's a clear shot to the dry hills of  Malibu...which is exactly what happened a few years ago.

Comments

[Carstairs38]

Obviously, I'd heard about the fires, but didn't know they were so close. Stay safe.

Mark

[Ute]

I hope the firefighters can stop the fire. Good luck and stay safe. Best wishes.
Ute

[Ute]

I hope the firefighters can stop the fire. Good luck and stay safe. Best wishes.
Ute

[Ian Hamet]

Be safe, man, and good luck.

[Chadwick H. Saxelid]

Be safe.

[Fingers]

Take care and be safe!

[Tami]

Friends of mine were evacuated last night, but all's well with them now. I hope you stay safe!

[Jim Winter]

Be careful. Get out of there when they tell you.

[Bill Crider]

In Texas we get hurricanes. The waiting is no fun at all. Take care.

[Lee Goldberg]

We've been glued to our TV...and standing on our driveway...watching the fire. The smoke is thick but, if the TV reports are to be believed, they've managed to keep the fire from heading in our direction or crossing the freeway for the time being (it's creeping towards Thousand Oaks instead now). But neighborhoods within a mile of us have already been evacuated and remain so at this time. All it would take is a shift in the wind and the direction of the fire could change.

All the schools have closed, so the kids are in the neighborhood playing. There's a little kid sitting on his driveway in his diapers...playing with his firetrucks.

There are a couple families from Bell Canyon (now ringed by fire) who are staying with friends in our neighborhood and may soon face a second evacuation with their hosts.

I'll let you know how it goes. The news has reached France...my mother-in-law called to see how we were doing.

[Harry Connolly]

I hope you don'thave to evacuate, but if you do, I hope you and yours are safe.

Good luck.

[Cornelia Read]

Hope you guys are okay. Please get out if it even seems a tiny bit likely this is headed your way...

[Mark Terry]

Thinking about you, man. Take care.
Mark Terry

[julia]

Good luck and God bless

[Lee Goldberg]

It looks like Calabasas dodged a bullet... thanks to aggressive brush clearance by the city this year, cooperative weather last night and the determined efforts of firefighters to hold the line above the freeway. The flames licked the edges of two nearby Calabasas neighborhoods a block from the freeway (forcing their mandatory evacuations). Thankfully, no homes were lost and the fire was kept from jumping the freeway (where my commnunity is). Our home is covered with ash, the schools are closed, and people are staying indoors to avoid breathing the air. Unless the winds kick up and blow in our direction, I think we may be safe.