by The winds came and went without going crazy like last week. Thankfully! Containment continues to grow. Palisades at 22% and Eaton at 55%. Hurst fire and Kenneth fires are both 100% contained.
The sky is clear and air quality good. At least around here. The clean up (once it starts )will take as much as a year. Lots of toxic trash from burned out cars, plastic fences, stuff stored in garages , furniture, etc. The entire infrastructure has to be re-built. It will likely be another week or more before anyone will be allowed into the area.
The discussions are starting about how to rebuild. Hopefully those discussions will include making fireproof roofs and building materials mandatory . We have a fireproof roof though the rest of the house is typical building materials from the 50s. More Santa Ana winds are possible next Monday.
I think the shock and fear will not leave this city for a longtime. Our new greeting is “Are you okay?” Five of my sister’s clients lost everything. Our housekeeper showed me a brief video of The Palisades with one house standing. It is a house she cleans, but, though still there, she won’t be able to go for quite some time. Our nephew has a friend who lost his home. The young woman at our favorite restaurant has a sister without a home. A friend’s grandson had a stranger save his house in Altadena! And on and on.
We are incredibly grateful for our good health and safety and, though we have always been aware of the fire risk living in the canyon, we have a bone deep fear now to go with our heightened awareness.
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Ruth Neuwald Falcon 
The destruction and devastation is truly hard to imagine. There truly are no words that can come close to adequately explain this tragedy. 💔😢
My sister and her family live near the Kenneth fire, but that was able to be contained before they were in danger.
When my niece’s family lost their home in the Santa Rosa fire, i observed, second hand, the loss of history, of center, a sense of belonging.
One of the things that my niece said afterwards, was how people rallied around to help those in her situation.
This tragedy has uprooted people, pets businesses and cities. Long after the smoldering stops and the skies clear, the grieving for what was will continue.
Let us remember to be kind to one another and if you can help, please do so. No one deserves to have their lives completely torched nor should anything less than compassion be offered to them. ❤️
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