Nov. 15, 2018, 4:20 p.m.
Bipartisanship reigned Thursday as Gov. Jerry Brown and Trump administration officials toured the devastation in the Woolsey fire zone and officials prepared for President Trump’s visit to Paradise, Calif., on Saturday.
A few days ago, the president was criticized for a recent tweet that incorrectly stated the fires were the result of poor forest management. The tweet also threatened to cut off funding to California. Trump since has spoken to Brown, saying he was “completely behind California.”
Brown met with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and state fire officials in Camarillo.
Nov. 15, 2018, 2:26 p.m.
When Phoebe Scott saw Thunder, Luke and Gidget in a Los Angeles Times photograph last week, she was alarmed by the image’s apocalyptic and bleak appearance.
It didn’t look like that, she said, when she left the two alpacas and horse at Zuma Beach to find shelter for other animals, including five goats waiting for her in her Mini Cooper.
Scott, a board member for the nonprofit Big Heart Ranch, immediately began thinking about how she could use the photo to locate the alpacas and horse, just three of the 66 therapy animals evacuated Friday from the Malibu property.
She thought the photo couldn’t have been snapped much longer after she had left because she had taken a photograph on her phone of a distressed owl on the sandy beach. It appeared to be the same owl that Los Angeles Times photographer Wally Skalij snapped just an hour before finding the alpacas tied to the lifeguard stand.
Skalij said he was drawn to the area when he saw horses on the beach, and then the unusual sight of the owl.
Nov. 15, 2018, 2:12 p.m.
Butte County authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting in a Camp fire evacuation zone, officials said Thursday afternoon.
The shooting happened shortly after 11 a.m. within the Camp fire evacuation area, the Butte County Sheriff’s Department said. It did not say whether anyone had been injured.
“Rumors were circulating that the incident occurred at an evacuation center,” the Sheriff’s Department said. “Those rumors are false.”
No other details about the shooting were immediately available.
Nov. 15, 2018, 2:00 p.m.
Debby Barbero of Chico is among the volunteers who have been coordinating donations and helping fire evacuees settle in in a tent city that has sprung up in a Walmart parking lot.
Barbero said there already was a homeless problem in Chico before so many displaced residents arrived, and it will only get worse.
“Rain is coming, and these people need a shelter over their heads,” she said.
Nov. 15, 2018, 1:11 p.m.
The Paradise High Bobcats began trickling into the Chico High School gym a little before 9 a.m. Thursday for their first basketball practice since the Camp fire razed their hometown.
Out of 15 girls and two coaches, only one had a house that was still standing.
Sheila Craft, the Bobcats varsity coach, was explaining the situation to Gina Snider, her Chico High counterpart. But first there was a very long hug, and some tears.
Nov. 15, 2018, 12:43 p.m.
President Trump plans to visit California on Saturday “to meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires,” a White House spokeswoman said Thursday.
His visit will come a week after he was roundly criticized for erroneous comments he made about the causes of the California fires and for threatening to cut off funding.
Nov. 15, 2018, 12:30 p.m.
Randy Couch stood on the side of Kanan Road on Thursday morning, his cellphone on speaker mode as he waited. He had been on hold with Southern California Edison for 20 minutes, trying to get information about when power would return to his home.
Couch, who has been a resident of the Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park in Agoura Hills since 1981, lives along a creek that cuts through the park in a private cul-de-sac. The homes on his side of the creek — the one closer to Mulholland Highway — were spared by the Woolsey fire, he said. His brother’s home survived too.
But most of the houses on the other side burned, the electrical contractor said, adding that 101 of his 215 neighbors had lost everything.
Couch’s home has been powered by a generator since the electricity went out. He’s been able to cook and do laundry. But the area has no cellphone reception, so he has to leave to make any calls.
Nov. 15, 2018, 12:15 p.m.
Gov. Jerry Brown and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met with Woolsey fire incident commanders Thursday morning in Camarillo and pledged to work together to help those recovering from the state’s devastating fire siege.
Zinke and Brown had toured the scene of the Camp fire in Paradise on Wednesday.
“This is my fourth time to California, all of which have been fires,” Zinke said. “And every time I come back, I say this is the worst fire I’ve seen.
Nov. 15, 2018, 11:13 a.m.
Santa Clara University and Cal State East Bay canceled classes Thursday because of smoke from the Camp fire, officials said.
Air quality around the universities has been classified as “unhealthy,” according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. As a result, the universities have stopped most operations, officials said.
At Cal State East Bay’s three campuses in Hayward, Oakland and Concord, all classes, work and events were canceled. Only dining halls, residence halls and the campuses’ student health centers remained open, university officials said.
“These conditions change and are unpredictable and we are continually monitoring pollution levels,” university officials said in a statement. “In any case, we should take precautions for the health and welfare of students, staff and faculty. These include checking air quality reports and curtailing or canceling outdoor activities and events as appropriate. Building HVAC systems have been set to recirculate and not draw in outside air.”
Nov. 15, 2018, 10:50 a.m.
The University of California and California State University systems are extending the deadline for students applying to the 2019 undergraduate class and offering application fee waivers to those affected by fires ravaging the state.
“We know this is a tremendously difficult time for prospective students and their families who have been impacted by the devastating wildfires,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement. “This is one small way the university can offer support.”
To request an extension for a UC application, students should:
- Create a UC application account for admission to the fall 2019 class.
- Email ucinfo@applyucsupport.net using the same address associated with their UC application and the following subject line: “Extension Request – Weather/Fire Event.”
- Include in that extension request the email address used for the online application, the first and last name of the applicant as it appears on the application, and the reason for the request.