Fire! Dang fires that start at night are scary! (Santa Barbara: costs, rank)

[nightlysparrow]

Now it's the #2 worst fire in California history, and taking aim at the #1 spot.

[sourdough]

yes it is.....California Fire Map Update: Thomas Fire Is Second Largest in State History

[JGC97]

A story on the news last night about insurance companies canceling their customers over this. I sure hope those that this is happening to will name these companies so others can avoid them. Insurance companies have made millions, probably billions over the years but when someone actually needs to file a claim because they've lost everything, these swine add insult to injury. Really sorry this is happening to everyone who suffered damage from this fire.

[brightdoglover]

My nephew lives on Poly Ave. and haven't heard from his household in several days. Does anyone know if this was evacuated? I mean, he's not real good at staying in touch anyway, but... Also, I sent him a check and wondered if there is postal service. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

My nephew lives on Poly Ave. and haven't heard from his household in several days. Does anyone know if this was evacuated? I mean, he's not real good at staying in touch anyway, but... Also, I sent him a check and wondered if there is postal service. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer.

Without out a city name? 8 ball says “try again later”. Here you try....Magic 8 Ball, Magic eight ball, Magic Ball, Magic Ball 8: get answers

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

My nephew lives on Poly Ave. and haven't heard from his household in several days. Does anyone know if this was evacuated? I mean, he's not real good at staying in touch anyway, but... Also, I sent him a check and wondered if there is postal service. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer.

If you're talking about Ventura:

Everything north of Main Street was evacuated, so he was under evacaution orders. Most people stayed put because the fire didn't come down out of the hills. Nothing on Poli burned. Everyone is fine. All evacuation orders were lifted a week ago. All services were restored 2-3 weeks ago, just days after the fire passed through. From Poli street, you can't even tell there was a fire, except the hillsides look a little more bare than usual.

There was really only about a 3 hour window where the fire was threatening town (and burning some hillside houses). East Ventura got it the worst, plus a couple of big old hillside apartments above downtown burned. Since the first night, and definately since five days after the fire started, things have been pretty stable. Just smokey for the next two weeks. The smoke has cleared in most areas now. There's still a lot of PM10 ash in the air (you can see it at night under floodlights) but AQI is back to "good" or "moderate" so it's safe to play and work outside without a mask in most areas now.

The fire is mostly out now, just a few hotspots still burning waaaaay in the back country.

Honestly, the fire only temporarily displaced maybe 5% of Venturans, with about 0.5% losing property to it. 95% of the city was business as usual, except for some freak-outs due to the poor air quality. However, AQI was never worse than 170, and then usually only for a few hours at a time when the winds shifted, which is better than you'll get in big cities in developing nations (Beijing regularly has "air emergencies" where AQI goes 200+ for days on end).

The fire was a big event, and lots of people who weren't affected want to "participate" in it. Some do it constructively by volunteering and helping, some do destructive things like spreading rumors, disaster tourism, and the like.

The news radically dramatized the fire. Some people lost their homes, but almost all were million-dollar mansions that were insured. Some insurance companies are cancelling policies, but not retroactively, meanining they still have to pay out. I've seen a few that are terminating coverage as of January 2018.
The real tragedy are the apartments and rental units that burned down. Many renters lost most of their worldly possessions (except their jobs and bank accounts), and few had renter's insurance. Furthermore, we are already in a very tight rental market. The rentals that burned down were some older places rented to long-term renters at (probably) below-market rates. They were ocean-view apartments, so they weren't terribly cheap, but they weren't new construction. Now the rental market is even tighter, prices are rising, and some of the mid-to-high-level rental units are ashes. When they rebuild those apartments, you can bet they'll be fancy, fire-proof new buildings with lots of amenities. That's nice, but the price will be stratospheric.

Somewhat cynical, but I have a feeling the owners of the apartment buildings aren't too sad about it. The fire effectively "evicted" a whole slew of tenants they would have had a hard time forcing out, demolished older buildings they couldn't charge too much for, and left them with a big insurance payout so they can either rebuild fancier, much more expensive/profitable "executive" units, or cash out and let investors do the same. Sad for the tenants, but the fire will further gentrify this already-expensive beach town.

[brightdoglover]

[quote=wac_432;50474438]If you're talking about Ventura:

Everything north of Main Street was evacuated, so he was under evacaution orders. Most people stayed put because the fire didn't come down out of the hills. Nothing on Poli burned. Everyone is fine. All evacuation orders were lifted a week ago. All services were restored 2-3 weeks ago, just days after the fire passed through. From Poli street, you can't even tell there was a fire, except the hillsides look a little more bare than usual.


Yes, sorry, I meant to add Ventura!
Thank you so much for the detailed response. I much appreciate it.

[jaminhealth]

I was listening for an update on the fires on the radio today and I didn't hear a word, first day nothing reported, that I heard anyway, in weeks. I'm in Santa Monica.

[nightlysparrow]

The Thomas Fire has made it to the #1 worst fire in California History:

Los Angeles Times - News from the nation, world and California - Los Angeles Times

[JanND]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

My nephew lives on Poly Ave. and haven't heard from his household in several days. Does anyone know if this was evacuated? I mean, he's not real good at staying in touch anyway, but... Also, I sent him a check and wondered if there is postal service. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer.

This site which gives continuous updates and the menu also gives evacuation information may be helpful.
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and a second site. Southern California Wildfires | Google Crisis Map

Two of my adult children are in the area....my son who is in western most area of Santa Barbara was actively helping evacuate animals last that I spoke to him a few days ago. My daughter in in Oxnard said that Santa Barbara had been evacuated...I'm not positive how accurate that is...but this legend on the site linked above will help with actual public info.

As for those that mentioned insurance companies dropping folks in the middle of this....What I suggest, as a survivor of a major flood who saw this happen as a disaster worker and home owner....Contact the State Insurance Commissioner and complain. Contact consumer fraud and protection also, at your states attorney's office.

Our insurance commissioner was able to stop this, and did so rumors had it, by actually threatening company's that if they didn't start doing right by their customers, they would never ever again sell a policy in our state again. It worked. People with legit claims began to get the help they deserved.

I am not giving legal advice...I am simply sharing my personal experience and observations. I am also simply trying to share some of what I learned as someone who had a flooded home which I had to rebuild while at the same I was involved in disaster related recovery work for 3 years.

Also, for those in the area....Don't isolate, go to the community meetings, the FEMA meetings, anywhere folks congregate, be proactive in finding out what resources and agencies are available to assist you with recovery of your home, your job loss, your relocation. Stay informed. It helps you immensely to talk to others affected, to share your experience. We used to say....Tell your story 100 times.

And for those of you who did not lose your home....don't discount what is known as "survivors guilt" Make no mistake, even you suffer no personal loss, you are affected by this disaster...if you can see it, you are affected. Take the steps I mentioned above, talk about it...if you have the way or the means ,get out and help. It is a blessing to those effected and it is empowering and helps your recovery.

You can also check on the FEMA website for such information....and it will also have the disaster declaration and relevant information available. https://www.fema.gov/

There are also some wonderful resources in the disaster related sections of the FEMA website. Things to help you discuss this with children and teens as well as to be able to understand your own reactions.

We used to say....You are normal people reacting to an abnormal situation. It can feel overwhelming....I remember developed an actual list of company names and numbers to leave on the doors as we knocked on them just days following our disaster. Just knowing there were people that you could call and ask what do I do now....was helpful.

Be very careful of rebuilding scams and such. Be as proactive as you can in discussing such things as referrals and such with neighbors and friends. We had many folks scammed and price gouged initially.

Also, check with your local Red Cross and any evacuation sites regarding registering which can help relatives and loved ones who are trying to check on your welfare.

We also had a local newspaper (which later won a pulitzer because it was so extremely helpful during our disaster) that ran free adds for about 2 weeks giving space to evacuees and such to be able to leave messages that they were safe, that they were at....bla, bla, it helped so much.

All this was before the internet as we know it today...so I expect that there are new innovative ways being utilized today....if someone has a link please post it.

I hope that any of this helps someone. My prayers are with all those affected.