Southland wildfires: essential possessions

What people grab in an evacuation and what they should take are often two different things.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection recommends that people have an evacuation plan and a list of indispensable belongings to take in the event of a fire: medications, identification, vital documents and valuables.

As recounted in the story "Stuffing a lifetime into a suitcase" following last year's fires:

In the chaos of disaster, logic doesn’t always reign. Los Angeles psychologist Helen Lena Astin said there’s no predicting what people see as essential in times of crisis. She remembers a friend doubling back to his house during the 1978 Mandeville Canyon fire to retrieve his tuxedo. He later explained that it was difficult to find a tuxedo that fit him well.

Even residents whose homes are not destroyed may have only limited access to their belongings for an extended period of time.

Some residents of the Oakridge Mobile Home Park, which was nearly flattened by fire, were allowed to return to their homes temporarily this morning to gather belongings and to view the damage.

Officials took four vans carrying about eight to 10 residents each back into the devastated mobile home park. Each resident carried a red plastic bag to fill with possessions -- mostly clothes, documents, IDs and medications.

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Residents of Sylmar's Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where many homes were destroyed by a wildfire on Saturday, board a bus for a return visit Monday. Credit: Ric Francis / Associated Press

Comments

[Keith]

I wonder how many of the home owners were upside down in their mortgages, and have now been bailed out by fire?

Yes, yes, I feel sorry for people. But that's not the point.

[LA]

This used to be a real estate market blog. It sure isn't any more.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[esp4p3]

I agree with LA, this blog has lost it's focus.

[Other Keith]

Gotta give the new blogger time to find the right track, however there's already enough fire coverage and human interest pieces out there. This doesn't really have anything to do with buying or selling R/E in the Southland.

[syscom3]

I think that once an occupant proves they lived there, they can remain as long as it takes to recover their property.

The police act like storm troopers enforcing these outrageous rules only allowing a few minutes of time. I bet not one single govt official can justify the policy.

[D]

Keith wrote:
I wonder how many of the home owners were upside down in their mortgages, and have now been bailed out by fire?

Homeowners insurance pays for rebuilding not paying off your mortgage.

[other keith]

I've almost got to wonder that if with Pete's departure the LAT is taking the opportunity to try to "tone down" the blog a bit, wouldn't surprise me. Less stories about the evil mischief of the builders, realtors, lenders, homebuyers and the market and more stories about puppies, kittens & clouds.

[arun]

lauren,

this blog is only as good as the blogger.

right now this place is pathetic, what with regurgitated claptrap from other sections of the paper. i mean, who really cares what you recommend we take or leave behind in an emergency? why don't you write about how diificult it is for first time buyers to secure good terms for financing? or how the city redevelopment agency should be planning for the lean years ahead? or why the feds' recently announced crackdown on mortgage fraud is floundering?

go back afew months and take a look at some of pete's old blog posts to get an idea of why it used to see so much traffic and why the comment gallery was such a lively place...

> opinionated commentary
> decent writing
> quotes from the gallery
> receptiveness to suggestions from the gallery
> strong focus on the LA RE market

PS: the blog calculatedrisk, perhaps one of the better reads on things economic & real-estate related, used to ink to this blog when pete did his stuff here. no more. that link, a distinctive badge of honor, has been pulled.

shape up latimes.com, or your internet presence will go the same way as your languishing and oh-too-bulky-for-its-weight-in-news print edition.

[Steve]

The reality is these fires are now an annual event in SoCal, here is a revolutionary thought MOVE.

[mddesighomes]

Over the last few days I have read many opinions about the fires in Southern California from it being the fault of the president elect to proposition 8, or even the nationality of some in California. Some feel its terrorist in our country and some individuals feel the rich don’t deserve compassion since they have “multiple homes” and are “rich”. Others have expressed Californians are to blame for living in California with all its dangers, not even thinking about the states that endure other Mother Nature related catastrophes.

It must first be clear that to have compassion and feel sorry is not the same, and the lack of compassion for all who have lost, whether rich, or poor is disturbing to me. You can feel compassion for the memories that were lost in the burnt homes that cannot be recovered, such as a baby that was born in a specific home, or maybe the child hood memories in the home that burnt down. Think of the markings on the door jam to mark each year of age a given child has grown in that burnt down home or the nicks in the kitchen drawers because their kids played drums on the drawers while putting the knives away. Every house acquires its own memories no matter how many homes you have or don’t have, when it burns down you cannot recover those memories. You cannot look at and reminisce on that notch in the wall, or the name scratched inside the lid of the piano. And while everyone is so focused on the house that burned down, what about the homeless man or woman displaced from the only open spot they could seek shelter under a tree. No one is asking for pity, no one is asking for you to feel sorry for them, but can we not feel compassion for those we don’t know? Can we not pray for the safety of all those involved in this disaster?

Now, comments a blog that covers realestate being used for the fire related stories... Give it time, these burnt down homes will be fodder for the blog when the start to get re-built or the land is sold because values have dropped and insurance won't pay what the values of these homes once were.

[Frank N. Furter]

Yes. This blog now blows.

[SoCalJim]

My God. Do you people have no lives? Simply b/c you don't like the topic does not mean you have to say the blogger has no idea what he is doing and needs time to find his footing? Do you need doom and gloom news on sales and prices EVERY SINGLE DAY? Geeez. And the story is related to RE and the economy. All of these houses will need to be rebuilt. That gets some construction jobs going. Or maybe these people will look to buy another house - that will take inventory down in certain areas in the short term. Do I have to spell things our for some people even more? And they will have to go shopping to replace their personal belongings - that gets consumer spending going.

Sometimes stories are not just "prices down 20%"... If they were, they would be quite boring.

And as there are many stories about the filres, there are even more stories and blogs about declining RE... so what is the point? Get over it. If you don't like the blog, go somewhere else. I am sure many of you couldn't do any better, and after all, this is a blog....

[Elvez]

I miss Pete. This is turning into a USA Today blog.

Pete was looking at the problems of local Real estate before anyone was even acknowledged there was one.

MSN has a writer, Bill Flickenstien who has done the same from the financial side for years. The realities of their writing is coming to pass, and now we have this blog completely dropping the ball.

Pete, we miss you.

[InaweofE]

Yeah! we want more finger pointing and negative stereotyping of minorities. What good is a blog if there is no one to slam/slander or blame?

[Sick of Blog BS]

Its easy for these posters to slag the L.A. Times merely because it appears that the L.A. Times has "lost its way." Don't blame the editors -- they're just taking orders from the idiots above them. The buck stops with their bosses. The reason I say that is because "Blogs" detract from a newspaper; they add nothing of value and actually "take away" from the paper's perceived stability and credibility, and sidelines the real news. Blogs confuse fact from fiction. Bogs are nothing more than "chat space" with a new name. The L.A. Times should NOT insist on allowing its editors, writers, and/or columnists to subject themselves to the torturous lowly atmosphere of the mud wrestling attitude found in the majority of "blogispheres." The L.A. Times should remove its blogs and attempt to gain some respectibility by using these employees to do what they were hired to do: their jobs. The paper was once great because it was not side tracked by these pedestrian sideshows. We don't need blogs, they are stupid and a waste of time. Ms. Beale has done a great job in the paper and has done a fantastic job with the articles the L.A. Times runs. To chastise her for the nonsense that the L.A. Times requires her to sustain on a stupid idiotic no-brain blog, is ridiculous. Blogs are waste of space. There I've said it. And to prove my point, the morons will now come out from their caves and say, "Hey! it got YOU to write." No it didn't, I just got tired of reading "forced fluff."

[Diana D.]

Ever since a family member lost her home in a wild fire blaze I have kept all of my very important papers (e.g. SSI cards, mortgage papers, etc) & irreplaceable pictures (e.g. a picture of my parents first date) in two fire-resistant boxes in a hall closet by the front door. If I can get them out, great, if not they will survive. This also prompted me to get renters insurance when I rented (15 years ago). I now own a home and have a realistic amount on replacement of the home contents. It may seem high to most home owners, but when you tally up just your basic shoes and underwear you will see how expensive things can get.

[SoCalJim]

I'm sure this is a hot buy.., maybe it is still smokin;... I guess this realtard already forgot about the fire by Carbon Canyon in Brea. What in idiot. .

420 SUNROSE COURT, Brea, CA 92823; 950,000

Description
Hot buy! Not a short sale! Sellers are ready to move. Come check out this great deal in olinda ranch.

[LV]

If you fellas would like to write the LA Times real estate blog, then APPLY FOR THE JOB and stop harrassing well intentioned young writers. Put up, or shut up folks.

[Palin]

We need to build a bridge to nowhere ... i said thanks but no thanks to that bridge

[Mama]

I went through the Oakland Hills fire. Freedom is another name for nothing left to lose. I did not lose personal things, pictures, papers etc. My cat lived. I replaced all the rest, and moved downhill! blessings all around. Instead of bitching, help somebody there. Please excuse me if I am off the subject. ???

[SoCalJim]

And if you come to this blog seeking "good writing" - remmber, this is a BLOG, not an academic paper or other critical piece. Further, this is the LA Times, not the NY Times or a publication that actually has credibility and good writers.

This is simply a place for people to spout off their opinions (some, quite stupid) so they can feel important in their otherwise meaningless lives, and be jealous of bloggers and others who are actually gainfully employed and get paid to try to insight conversations by nitwits on the same topic - declining RE. And such nitwits do so ANONYMOUSLY. So if you have complaints, read something else, or back up your statements with your name, address, e-mail and phone, so that others can be critical or disagree with you directly. And since you probably won't want to do that, SINCE THIS IS A BLOG, be quiet and realize that not every story will be what you want. I am still a housing bear, but I don't "HAVE" to have negative RE stories every single day to justify my decisions. Get a life and relax. Maybe some of you slackers/internet surfers have had too much caffeine wasting your life away at Starbucks, and have nothing else better to do. If that is the case, I feel sorry for you.

[underwriter]

Don't like the subject of a blog. Wait an hour or two and another topic will come shotting down the pike. I have seen LALand increase it scope recently. So what. I just ignor what doesn't interest me.

Positively, the first question posed by Keith at the start of the blog was interesting. But these were mobile homes. Considerably less expensive than single family dwellings. (And I don't believe they owned the land.) So I bet many homes were paid for or did not experience the spectacular depreciation in value many of us have experienced. Hopefully they had insurance to cover some of their losses.

[Lysette]

I appreciate a story like this one. I want to read about what we take in an emergency and what we should take. Actually, this blog item wasn't info enough. Should have been a little longer. Why is everyone so cranky about this blog? It's the first thing I clicked on upon opening latimes.com. Keep up the good job, blogger!