A Part of the Main

Firestorms in Los Angeles.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. — John Donne

I listened to about 15 minutes of JQ Radio on X this morning having no idea what it was. It didn’t take long for somebody to tell me how many Israelis were taking over America. This is something, according to the blowhard, that was setup to push us into civil war. It was a stunning display of the kind of conspiratorial incompetence that only social media provides.

The Jews don’t make the wind blow 70 mph in Los Angeles. When that happens, trees and power lines don’t have a chance. And when such fires start and the wind keeps at it, firemen don’t have a chance.

I’m on the mailing list for Team Rubicon, and I expect that they’ll be out this way within a day or two. Myself, I was a second responder too. I hadn’t been at my desk for a moment when members of the East Coast family were asking me if I was OK. I literally setup a map to show how far I was from wealthy Pacific Palisades which had been burning since yesterday noon. I’m about 21 miles away which is the distance from Times Square to Uniondale. When I went to look yesterday (Tuesday), I couldn’t even smell the fire. So I shut down my schadenfreude and ignored the entire thing. But when I happened to check another fire map, I saw that there were three other unconfined blazes, one of which was in Eaton Canyon, a couple of miles from my sister’s house. 2,200 acres. Uh Oh.

It turned out that my sister and her household had been given the evacuation notice last night, not officially but by neighbors, and since we all know Eaton Canyon, we know that this is a real forest fire of the sort that can burn for weeks. It took me about 30 minutes to get in touch with them and they were safe and away from the threat, but that came as a shock. Their go bags were empty of family heirlooms.

I coordinated with everyone, East Coast and West to assure that we are all safe. I watched a few more live shots until they became full of reporters finding crying people and former political candidates saying “I told you so”. I was liveblogging the local media’s coverage on Facebook, but finally I couldn’t take it. I ate lunch at 11:30, packed up the truck and headed to Pasadena’s Convention Center which was the primary shelter for the Eaton Fire.

About one third of the refugees.

By the time I left at 5pm, a cluster of officials were broadcasting live. It was a competent showing, but when I got there, organization seemed haphazard. The Red Cross was on scene and there were about 500 people, mostly elderly and many invalids on cots with blankets in the main hall. I didn’t see many families with children, but I didn’t follow that sign. Up front, Lyor was taking names. I met Justin, Magnus two young volunteers and their boss, whose name I forgot. Damn and he remembered mine. Michael and his partner were the EMT reservists who introduced me to the head nurse Gabby who was at the aid station. I had a bottle of Metformin to donate, but I didn’t have any insulin to give. I also had a bag of chocolates and some clothing - I had to think of things I didn’t think others would think of. All the volunteers were pleasant, and I helped.

Most of the afternoon, I extended the capacity around the charging station having brought a portable battery, lots of charging cables and a big power strip. I chatted up people while they refreshed their phones. Sonny said I reminded him of his uncle, we talked about electronic music and microwave towers.

I was astounded by the amount of pet food that wound up at the table across the way. Costco strikes again. I got myself a giant slice of pizza around 3:45 that I couldn’t finish. Fireman Licon was a big help, and of course I eyeballed everyone and could recognize the people who were volunteering and helping out. There were a couple dog squabbles but none of them got out of control.

In the main hall, things were sad but not chaotic. People were generally settled down. Everybody had enough food and drink, and nobody appeared to be injured as the result of the fire. Michael and his partner worked the triage and about four gurneys were dispatched by the time I was exhausted and ready to roll. I left my name at the front so they can call me tomorrow if they need me.

I used to live in one of the neighborhoods that’s burning down. I was just writing about it yesterday and remembered the horses that would have had to be rescued. Sure enough, someone from the human society had the mic later on at the press conference. Around 2pm one of my sister’s neighbors took video of her house and texted it over. You could absolutely tell that there was a huge windstorm, but there was no smoke or fire in the neighborhood. That was a relief.

There’s kind of an obvious spirit of cooperation that goes on behind the scenes when the media circus is not in full effect. The volunteers are exactly the kind of helpful and kind people you expect them to be - in that way Europeans find odd. When we say “How can I help you”, we really mean it. When the officials perform their official-speak for the cameras, they really mean it. There’s a sense of urgency that people who want to help demonstrate when they want to get busy doing what they can for people in need. Nobody was taking selfies.

A game of Uno broke out in the main corridor as I was leaving. There was never a crush of people coming in and they surely have enough to take two or three times the number of people served today. It just took a while to get the ball rolling. Soon enough men and women in Rose Parade polo shirts were taking and giving orders. That’s the Pasadena I know.

In a week or so, folks will be picking through the rubble. Here in Pasadena and Altadena, there might be half a dozen houses every six blocks or so damaged by spot fires sparked by embers blown for miles. But in Palisades the entire highschool burned down. There are blocks and blocks of homes in ruins.

I could go on talking about the long term implications to LA culture and how easily 7 million dollar mansions burn just like anyone else’s, but I’m honestly exhausted and I want to get this out. Things change fast. People are the same. Try not to be surprised. The lowest common denominator is never far away.