Marek Fire
Location: 3 mi E of San Fernando, Los Angeles Co., CA
Specific Location: Little Tujunga Canyon, Kagel Canyon, Lake View Terrace, Lat 34° 17´ 41″ Lon 118° 21´ 40″
Date of Origin: 10/12/2008
Cause: human
Situation as of 10/17/2008 at 6:00 AM
Personnel: 262
Size: 4,824 acres
Percent contained: 100%
Costs to Date: $6,097,386
Structures Destroyed: 41 residences , 22 outbuildings, 2 commercial buildings
The fire will be turned back to the forest and a type 3 organization at 0600 today.
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Situation as of 10/15/2008 at 6:00 PM
Personnel: 499
Size: 4,824 acres
Percent contained: 92%
Costs to Date: $4,059,455
Structures Destroyed: 41 residences , 22 outbuildings, 2 commercial buildings
All evacuations have been lifted. Osborne Road south of the 210 Fwy to Foothill Blvd and Pacoima Road to Pacoima Dam remains closed. The evacuation center at San Fernando High School remains open.
The following structures were lost during the fire storm on the morning of October 13th: Skyview Terrace Mobile Home Park, 6 residences damaged and 38 destroyed; Dexter Canyon, 2 residences damaged and 2 destroyed; Lower Lopez Canyon, 1 residence damaged, 1 commercial building damaged and 2 commercial buildings destroyed.
With diminishing winds and successful suppression efforts, fire activity was limited to creeping a smoldering of unburned fuels well within containment lines. Significant demob of resources occurred today. Crews completed line construction on the north perimeter. Major progress was made on mop-up and rehab. Resources continued to patrol and provide structure protection resources.
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Situation as of 10/14/2008 at 6:00 PM
Personnel: 1,471
Size: 4,824 acres
Percent contained: 60%
Costs to Date: $3,204,323
Structures Destroyed: 39 residences , 5 outbuildings
Lopez Canyon remains under mandatory evacuation with limited access to some businesses and Kagel Canyon is open to residents only. All other evacuations were lifted today. All freeway and road closures were lifted today with the exception of Osborne Road south of the 210 Fwy and Pacoima Road to Pacoima Dam. The evacuation center at San Fernando High School remains open. The large animal evacuation center located at Pierce College and small animal evacuation center located at the North Mission Shelter remains open.
With diminishing winds and successful suppression efforts, active burning was limited to unburned islands of fuels well within containment lines and the burnout operation on the north perimeter. Demob of excess resources is in progress.
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Situation as of 10/14/2008 at 7:00 AM
Personnel: 1,297 (not updated)
Size: 4,824 acres
Percent contained: 70%
Google Earth fire map from 7:00 AM today shows active fire NW of Pacoima Reservoir and on Kagel Mountain.
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Situation as of 10/13/2008 at 10:00 PM
Personnel: 1,297
Size: 4,726 acres
Percent contained: 5%
Costs to Date: $1,000,000
Structures Lost: 39 residences, 5 outbuildings. Structures Threatened: 3,000 residences, 600 outbuildings
Mandatory evacuations were established for Lake View Terrace north of the 210 Fwy, Sylmar on the north and east interface, the area east of the Pacoima Wash and the area north of the 210 Fwy from Hillside to the 5 Fwy. Olive View Hospital is under evacuation in place. Mandatory evacuations and road closures will remain in effect for Lopez, Kagel and Tujunga Canyon. Evacuation centers are established at San Fernando High School and Sylmar High School. A large animal evacuation center is established at Pierce College and a small animal evacuation center is established at the North Mission Shelter.
38 mobile homes were destroyed in the Valley View Estates this morning. One single family dwelling and garage was destroyed in the Dexter Park area. The 210 Fwy was closed between the 5 Fwy and Hwy 2. A transient citizen in the Sylmar area was found fatally burned in a makeshift dwelling this morning.
Extreme Santa Ana wind driven fire runs with spotting ahead of the fire front. Progress constructing line and mop-up around structures and along containment lines. Resources conducted burnout operations on the northwest perimeter.
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Situation as of 10/13/2008 at 7:00 PM
Personnel: no update
Size: 4,726 acres
Percent contained: 5%
Structures Lost: 35 residences, 5 outbuildings. Structures Threatened: not updated
3,800 residents evacuated from Lopez Canyon to Hubbard St and North of 210 Fwy, Kagel Canyon. Lopez Rd closed to the 210 Fwy. MacClay Health Center and UCLA Olive View Medical Center evacuated most fragile infirm patients and newborns this morning.
Evacuation Center: Sylmar HS, 13050 Borden Ave, Sylmar and San Fernando H.S., 1133 Omelveny St., San Fernando. Livestock Evacuation Center: Hansen Dam equestrian center.
Wind driven fire runs with spotting 1/8 mile ahead of the fire were common. Coordinated air and ground suppression limited fire spread.
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Situation as of 10/12/2008 at 7:00 PM
Personnel: 835
Size: 2,212 acres
Percent contained: 25%
Structures Lost: 1 residences, 5 outbuildings. Structures Threatened: 450 residences, 200 outbuildings
Evacuations of Lopez and Kagel Canyons. An evacuation center has been established at San Fernando High School, 1133 O’Melveny, San Fernando, CA. An animal evacuation center has been established at Lake View Terrace and the 210 Fwy. Mandatory evacuations and road closures remain in effect for Lopez, Kagel and Tujunga Canyon.
Wind driven fire runs with spotting 1/8 mile ahead of the fire were common. Coordinated air and ground suppression limited fire spread. Line construction on the west/southwest perimeter. Patrol and mop-up along Little Tujunga Canyon Road. Continue to provide structure protection resources.
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Situation as of 10/12/2008 at 1:00 PM
Personnel: 1,000+
Size: 750+ acres
Percent contained: 50%
Structures Lost: 2 residences, 1 outbuilding
Evacuations of Lopez and Kagel Canyons. An evacuation center has been established at San Fernando High School, 1133 O’Melveny, San Fernando, CA.
Fire activity is expected to be extreme with Santa Ana wind conditions predicted.
No I don’t. If you think about it, continuously updating a map would require a stationary satellite or IR detection plane dedicated to that purpose. That doesn’t happen. There is no play-by-play real-time coverage of fires, only periodic reports.
The Google Fire maps and GEOMAC Fire maps linked in the righthand sidebar update every 12 hours. InciWeb maps sometimes update once a day, but are often a few days behind. That’s about the best that can be done with maps.
by Keith
I disagree. It would take a couple of guys at a fire department, a paper map and some markers to produce an updated map. Then the map could be posted on the Internet or displayed on television. In fact these maps exist already! What they show on TV is pathetic. Forget the high-tech crap.
The operative words in Andy’s question are “continuously updated.” That means continuous remote sensing.
Could it be done? Yes, but it would require an airborne infrared sensor that streams data 24/7 to a mapping center. Given all the existing costs associated with firefighting, establishing such a system is not in the cards.
What is in place are the two MODIS satellites. They fly over every 12 hours, and the relayed data get placed on the Google Earth and GEOMAC maps within minutes.
Personally, I prefer the Google Earth fire maps. They show the active fire front as red dots and older hot spots as orange or yellow dots. The dots are imposed on pretty good terrain imagery with decent resolution.
Granted the MODIS system is not continuous 24/7 streaming, but it’s better than anything else out there now. And I agree that it would be great if a continuous mapping system was in place, especially for fires affecting neighborhoods. But such a system would necessarily be reliant on continuous IR data collection. The hangup is not guys at the FD, but the lack of streaming real-time data.
PS — Everything shown on TV is pathetic. TV is pathetic. Sad but true.
For instance, Google Earth fire map is now showing that the Marek Fire has jumped Pacoima Trail Road and is just NE of Loop Canyon. I don’t know if TV is reporting that, but we just did.
If on-the-ground observers have more info, please share it here.
Also, the Google Earth fire map shows a second fire N of Topanga Canyon Blvd in the Porter Ranch, Aliso Canyon, Mormon Canyon, Brown Canyon areas. We don’t have a name for that fire yet but it appears to be over 1,000 acres. Brown Canyon Road and Oat Mountain Way near Chatsworth have been evacuated.
The Marek Fire has been reported at 3,700 acres this morning.
The 210 Freeway is closed in both directions between the 118 Freeway and Interstate 5, and the eastbound 118 Freeway is closed at Glenoaks Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol.
An evacuation order for the eastern San Fernando Valley remains in effect as the fire burns in a southwesterly direction toward homes and major freeways northwest of Lake View Terrace. The evacuation area now stretches west from unincorporated Olive View to Lake View Terrace.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials have closed nine schools because of the fire: Broadous Elementary and Pacoima Elementary in Pacoima; Hubbard Elementary and Harding Elementary in Sylmar; Triumph Academy in San Fernando; Fenton Charter School, Community Charter Middle, Community Charter High and Lake View Terrace Charter in Lake View Terrace.
Also closed Mission College in Sylmar.
by Laurie F.
Has anyone heard anything from the governor’s office about helping the Marek fire victims that lost everything. I know of one family that was burned out and the Red Cross had them in a motel off of Sepulveda Blvd. Only problem is the Red Cross quit paying for their room 4 nights ago and they are out off money. Where can they get some help?? Is there any help out there for them. Help …. Help…. Help ….
The DeJesus family of Sky Terrace Mobile Park Unit 107 have five family members and all have been in a motel room since the fire. As of 11-6-08 no more motel room. Wow, how scary. So if anyone has any info that I can forward to them please email me at sylmarcowgirl at aol.com Thanks Laurie F.
Would like to be able to provide a live link on our website to help community members track the fire (s) I was looking for a continuously updated map. Do you know of anyone providing that service?