The Only Child Diaries Podcast

The Brochure on a Neighborhood Fire

Tracy Wallace Season 3 Episode 22

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This episode reflects on the fragility of life in the face of unexpected disasters, specifically a recent house fire in the neighborhood, unveiling insights about community resilience and personal loss.  How grateful are we all for first responders who risk their lives to protect others?
• Personal account of witnessing a fire truck response 
• Discussion about the immediate community impact after a fire 
• Encounter with a man who lost his home but maintained a positive outlook 
• Reflections on climate change and fire risks in California 
• Importance of recognizing the dangers of smoke 
• Expression of gratitude towards first responders and their dedication

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Speaker 1:

Today I'm going to talk about, well, fire again. If you've been listening to some of my recent episodes, you know that that's been a prevalent, prominent topic with the fires here in Los Angeles. Friday night this past week I came home from doing some stuff out and I brought dinner home for us and I caught out of the corner of my eye. I caught the flashing red lights of a fire truck whizzing past our house, and so I went to investigate towards the front of the house and I saw that and I heard that there were more sirens and more fire trucks going past us, looking quite rushed, and I looked at there's a PulsePoint app that I have. Now there are several apps that will tell you what is going on with emergency vehicles, whatnot, in your neighborhood, but PulsePoint is free. There's the Citizen app I believe that there's a fee for that so PulsePoint tells you what the fire department is doing, where they're going and what kind of a basic call it is. If it's fire medical assist, what have you with the address usually? So I pulled that up usually. So I pulled that up and I saw that it was categorized as a house fire and it was in the next block from us and I should say that I was already fairly tired. It was about coming up to nine o'clock in the evening. I'd had a very long day and in terms of fires, we're already pretty much on edge. Everyone that I know is pretty much on edge. So, watching and hearing all the sirens, all the trucks go by and there were several and hearing all the sirens, all the trucks go by, and there were several. Somebody the next day counted off that there were five fire engines, two ambulances and three police cars. I think there were closer to six engines, but I'm not going to split hairs. Anyway, it was categorized as a house fire.

Speaker 1:

I found out the next day that it was actually a fire that was outside of the house. Either way. To add to the complexity, when I came home. The porch light blew out, and so I kept walking outside to see what was going on. It was freezing cold, which is it's been so odd to have all these fires here when it's hot, but that's where we are. And so I was going out in the pitch black of night to see what was going on up the street, but then the upper part of our block was bathed in red lights, flashing red lights, and it already looked like the block was on fire because it was so red. But it wasn't.

Speaker 1:

And then I really had to laugh, because people were rushing around the corner in their cars. A lot of people in our neighborhood like to speed, lot of people in our neighborhood like to speed and so they were rushing around the corner to to, you know, speed up the hill, and they were met with a blockade, of course, and they thought they would circle back and try to go around the block the other way. They weren't going to be able to get through, because that's where the fire was. They weren't going to let anybody through. So what happened was is that the fire department? Because they were so swift and they hit it so hard, so fast. I did also hear a helicopter, just in case, because we are in a brush area, we're in a canyon and the brush has been really, really dry. So they hit it fast, they hit it hard and the fire was out very quickly. And we're all very grateful because before everything happened with the fires here, I would have said that, you know, there's no way that anything would happen like houses would burn down, and watching everything with Pacific Palisades and Altadena now I know that that's very possible. And thank goodness it wasn't windy Friday night. Luck was on our side and starting on Saturday, the next day, we did start to have some light rain. Today is Sunday and did have some pretty good rain. I'm not sure the status of the fires yet, but I know that they're also worried about mudslides. So if it's not one thing, it's another other.

Speaker 1:

I was out today and I met a man who was buying buckets and I found out that he lived in Altadena and I asked him if he was okay, because that's just who I am, who I am, and he said no, we lost our house, and he said it in a way that I really had to give it to him. He wasn't. I'm sure he had some tough times, some tough days, but he was, you know. No, we lost our house, but we're okay. You know, we all got out the baby and our dogs and cats, we all got out, we're all okay. But he was buying buckets because they were going to start going through the rubble of what was left of their house to look for their wedding rings. And I'm not sure what happened, because a few hours later it was pouring where we were. It was a couple of towns over, but you know, rain is good but rain makes a lot of mud. So but he said you know, it's okay, everything's covered by insurance and you know, we'll, we'll, we'll manage, we'll get by and the important thing is that we're all, we're all okay. And you know, I thought about it later. I thought about it after he left and I, I just wanted to sit and cry. But it's not even my house, I don't even know him.

Speaker 1:

But wow, it's really hard to fathom the incredible amount of loss, the incredible amount of loss here in California, especially Los Angeles. We live in a desert and with everything that's happened with our climate, it's been drier. That's not our fault. There's been a lot of talk about the fact that you know we haven't let the water flow, that there's some sort of mysterious spigot somewhere that we don't want to turn on, that we're all, I guess, hinting, that we're all idiots and that we're led by idiots. But you know what? That's just not the case. We have done what we have to do here.

Speaker 1:

That so many houses burned was simply the fact that the fire was combined with incredible amount of wind, and they're just it's spread so fast in so many different directions, and people will and you know, people that don't know any better will say whatever they want to say, but, but those of us that live here know the truth. Um, so that's what I'm going to say about that. Uh, but, yes, we did get a pretty good amount of rain today. I mean, pretty good for us is an inch. I'm not sure that it's even an inch, but some places, yes, we did get an inch of rain and and, um, I think we're all very grateful for that, because we don't have to be on edge anymore that a fire is going to start here or there.

Speaker 1:

We've all seen so many fires start up from nothing, it seems. I'm not sure if it's the power poles or arson, or what, but there were so many fires that started in such a short period of time. You have to question why that is. And no, it's not a political reason, it's just dry brush. It's just what we were dealt, but the immense loss that we have here is truly a disaster. So with that I will say that fire, if you've ever been around a fire or you've been around smoke from a fire, it can be very deadly, very fast.

Speaker 1:

And when we were in the apartment the fire alarm went off a lot in the building and it was nothing Like somebody tripped it, some kid tripped it, whatever, um, and there were a lot of times when everybody rushed out of the building, uh, and you know, uh, there's a fire. And we were very close to the fire department. And so this one time I remember there really was a fire. It was very small but there was a fire and for whatever reason, I thought I would. I went down in the lobby, I went downstairs, we all went downstairs and I thought I would just go out into the garage, which was on the street level, and get something out of my car, and I opened the door and the smoke from that fire was. I didn't realize it was all in that garage and there was ventilation on all sides but for whatever reason, it had captured itself in that area and I walked a foot or two outside the door and I realized there's nothing I could do. So smoke can be just as deadly as fire. So you have to be respectful of that fact and I have to really give it to firemen, fire personnel, because they really put everything they have into their jobs and they do such a great, great job. Thank you to all the firemen and the first responders because they keep us safe. So that's all I've got for today.

Speaker 1:

Next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the only child diaries podcast on apple podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating only child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.

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