By Emily Guerin and Ashley Alvarado
LAist/KPCC is covering the fires burning in Southern California and are working hard to answer community members' questions.
Let us know what you need to know. Have answers to some of the questions you're seeing? You can email Ashley Alvarado directly at aalvarado@scpr.org.
Fire curiosities | Transportation | Evacuation | Preparedness
FIRE CURIOSITIES
Q: WHO NAMES THESE FIRES ANYWAY?
That honor goes to the dispatch center that sends the first firefighters to the scene of a fire, or sometimes to those firefighters themselves, according to CalFire. Fires are usually named for the area where they started: a local landmark, a street, a creek, a mountain, etc. The Thomas Fire, for example, was named for Thomas Aquinas College. The Skirball Fire started near the Skirball Center, and the Rye Firestarted near Rye Canyon Loop in Santa Clarita.
Q: WHAT HAPPENS TO WILD ANIMALS IN A WILDFIRE?
It really depends on the animal. National Park Service researchers studying the aftermath of the 2013 Springs Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains have found three things:
Q: CAN FIREFIGHTERS USE SEA WATER TO PUT OUT THE FIRES?
According to Cal Fire, yes, but it's not ideal. Spokeswoman Debbie Strong says firefighters prefer freshwater, like lakes and reservoirs, but if that is not available, they can dip their buckets into the ocean. However, they have to clean their buckets out afterwards to prevent salt corrosion.
One reason firefighters prefer freshwater, Fire Captain Larry Kurtz told the Orange County Register in 2016, is that it is safer to hover close to the surface of the water than at sea.
Q: HOW FAR CAN AN EMBER TRAVEL?
Three to four miles! That's according to Robyn Broyles with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. She says the distance depends on what kind of vegetation is burning and how strong the wind is blowing. Fires that burn in the crown, or top, of trees and bushes are the most likely to produce embers that can get carried by the wind.
In fact, it is wind-blown embers, not a huge wall of fire sweeping through a neighborhood, that generally cause houses to burn down, according to a trio of San Diego firefighters standing outside the smoldering remains of a house in a Ventura neighborhood. Many residents had chosen not to evacuate and instead were dousing their roofs with water, stamping out small fires that ignited in potted plants and on their decks and frantically cutting brush and dead vegetation so flying embers had less fuel to burn. For tips on how to fireproof your home from embers, read this.
Q: WHY DON'T FIREFIGHTERS USE THAT THICK FOAM LIKE THEY DO AT AIRPORTS?
We put this question to Cal Fire, and they said the foam used at airports to put out jet fuel fires just doesn't work when dropped from airplanes onto wildfires. Instead, they use three different kinds of firefighting chemicals, according to Shirley Zylstra with the U.S. Forest Service.
EVACUATION
Q: HOW ARE PEOPLE NOTIFIED IF THEY ARE IN A NEW EVACUATION ZONE?
Unfortunately, there is no centralized alert system in Southern California to notify residents about fire evacuation orders. Instead, each county in the region - Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside - has its own text alert system. Here's how you can opt in.
Q: HOW DO I CHECK TO SEE IF MY LOVED ONES ARE OKAY?
One way that police recommend is for those looking for missing family or friends to visit the American Red Cross's website, Safe and Well, where people can register themselves as safe.
Q: WHAT DO I DO WHEN I RETURN HOME AFTER A FIRE?
Check for fires on the drive back home. When you get there, walk around the inside and outside of your house checking for embers or dangers from downed power lines or gas. If you find fires during your checks, Cal Fire says to call 911 immediately.
KPCC just put together a great list of do's and don'ts. You can check it out here.
Q: HOW DO I KNOW WHEN IT'S SAFE TO GO HOME?
You might find out in a number of different ways. If you live in Ventura County and you've signed up for VC Alerts, you could get a message telling you the evacuation in your area has been lifted. There will also be information posted on vcemergency.com. Reporters will also be monitoring that site, so pay attention to the news, too.
And for everyone else, we broke it down county by county.
Q: IF WE LIVE OUTSIDE OF EVACUATION AREAS, DO WE NEED TO WEAR MASKS OUTSIDE?
The answer has less to do with whether you're in an evacuation area, and more to do with local air quality. This map, from the PurpleAir network of sensors, has real time information on particulate pollution in the air. If you're near an sensor that's colored orange, the elderly, children, or people with respiratory illnesses could begin to feel the effects of poor air quality and may want to consider wearing a mask. Once the sensor is red or purple, everyone will be impacted.
You can also sign up for text or email alerts about smoke and poor air quality here, and look at the South Coast Air Quality Management District's map here, although it's not as local as PurpleAir's.
In general: if you see or smell smoke, wear an N95 respirator mask. If you have a respiratory illness, you may want to take extra precautions.
Q: WHY DON'T WE HAVE A SIREN FOR EARTHQUAKES LIKE MEXICO CITY DOES? IS THERE A SIREN FOR FIRES?
Outdoor warning systems were used in Los Angeles in war-times - air-raid alarms in the 1940s and sirens for the event nuclear attack in the 1960s. But because there are so many different hazards in the region, (fires, earthquakes, mudslides and more) Jeff Reeb, director of emergency management in the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, says it wouldn't be clear what any one siren might signify.
The use of siren systems has fallen out of use in favor of county-specific Wireless Emergency Alerts that can provide specific instruction about what action to take. Reeb encourages people to keep the emergency alert feature active on their phones, despite the unnerving sound.
"There's no magic bullet," said Reeb. "It take a variety of ways to get out information."
Outdoor warning sirens are generally uncommon in the state,but there are some used to warn of tsunamis. In the Bay Area, Oakland does have a siren system with three distinct sounds - a steady tone that means shelter in place, a slow wail for a tsunami alert and a fast wail for a fire alert.
In Ventura County, the only siren system is in place is to warn of flooding near the Lake Casitas Dam.
As for earthquake alerts, there are a number of systems in development, including a cell phone-based system called Shake Alert that's in the beta-testing phase.
TRANSPORTATION
Q: HOW CAN I FIND OUT WHAT ROADS ARE CLOSED?
It depends where you live and what roads you're trying to find out about. CalTrans has closures of major roads and freeways listed here. The agency also has a mobile appyou can download.
PREPAREDNESS
Q: WHAT AIR MASK SHOULD I BUY?
We tested five different masks, from the simple bandana (avoid that) to the hardcore respirator. You definitely want one that has the N95 label, which means it filters out 95 percent of airborne particles, including smoke.
Q: IN L.A., WHAT CAN WE DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE FIRES?
Let's break this into two categories: inside and outside the house.
Inside, it's really important to have a working smoke alarm. Also, have an evacuation kit ready to go in a portable container, like a backpack or a tub. It should include:
There are also number of things you can do outside your house and on your property to limit the risk of wildfire burning down your home. All cities and counties have different rules (here are the City of L.A.'s), but most require you to cut brush and grass within 100 or 200 feet of your home, remove all low branches on trees to keep fires from climbing into the canopy and remove tree branches hanging over the roof of your house. If you're a renter, ask your landlord to make sure this gets done.
Make sure you're signed up to receive messages from local emergency officials about evacuations. They may also come down your street or send you a notification using the Amber Alert system. Finally, when an evacuation order is given or if you see smoke or flames in the distance, grab your evacuation kit and go.
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