Santa Anita Fire

After not having a record of the Santa Anita fire during the first day or so of the burn, InciWeb finally got it in their system. http://inciweb.org/incident/1233/

Here is their Fire Progression map

Here is a Google Map on which I marked the fire origin [Updated 4/28 8PM]:


View Larger Map

From the InciWeb about page:

InciWeb is an interagency wildland fire incident information management system. The system was developed with two primary missions: The first was to provide a standardized reporting tool for the Public Affairs community during the course of wildland fire incidents. The second was to provide the public a single source of information related to active wildland fire information.

A number of supporting systems automate the delivery of incident information to remote sources. This ensures that the information on active wildland fire is consistent, and the delivery is timely.

Also, take a look at the nice Flickr photo set from KiethJ

Neighborhood Watch: Update (sort of)

Well a busier than usual week got by me, and I didn't get a summary posted of what happened at last Wednesday's Neighborhood Watch meeting until now.

Very briefly, it seems there has been a "rash" of minor burglaries in the last six to eight weeks. There are at least two other incidents in addition to the ones previously reported here, bringing the total to at least four burglaries, one stolen car (and of course the break-in at Everest).

One of the people who was burglarized has developed his own pattern MO. He says that based on the facts he has unofficially compiled, they are all in the day-time, involve a minor break-in (screen latch, etc.) and result in, at most, losses of about what one person could carry in one trip (example, a flat screen TV and some jewelry). He also added that some unwanted items are often (or always?) discarded in the front lawn.

I was hoping that one of the people who had more facts at the meeting would compile a better summary which I could post, but my third hand report is all we have so far.

Deputy Estrada indicated that not every incident gets an official report, so the official crime stats available at the Altadena station (I'll go get them when I have a chance) do not include the whole picture.

He gave some pointers on how to organize and be more effective when communicating with the sheriff dispatcher.

He handed out a couple dozen thick Neighborhood Watch "manuals" (maybe 50 pages drilled for a 3-ring binder). As far as I know, there is no PDF available for posting. If anyone finds out otherwise, please let me know.

Finally, he said the best thing we can do is stay in touch with each other. The traditional method is to create a phone tree, but that is a bit analog for me, so I created a self-serve Email Loop at neighbors@stonehillnews.com. One of the organizers last week compiled a list of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. As soon as that is updated and made available to me, I'll manually add all those email addresses to the loop. Anyone else who wants to get in the loop may use the new subscription link in the "Quick Links" section available in the upper right corner of the website.

Neighborhood Watch Meeting

We just got a flyer delivered to our front door by one of the neighbors:

"Deputy Estrada with the Altadena Sheriff's will be at the home of Rick and Theo Engen's house on 1602 Woodglen Lane from 7 - 7:30 pm this Wednesday, March 1st for a Neighborhood Watch Meeting. I'm sure there will be discussion afterward, but this is when the deputy is available."

See you there :)

Crime Wave?

Hey, I thought this was a crime free area! What's up with this? First the reports from last month and now this. According to Nick, the owner of our local lunch stop, Everest Burger got broken into and robbed the night before last. They were installing the new glass today at lunch time. I snapped some pics of the smashed door with my phone.

Stolen car and burgled house?

A couple worrisome things our neighbor Isaac heard recently:

1. Right before Christmas a house was broken into on Windfall. It happened during the day. Not sure of what was taken or what happened.

2. Another neighbor on Loma Alta (between Noyes and the Rubio Basin) had their Cadillac Escalade stolen right out of their drive way. The thief must have had a key since the alarm didn't go off and there was no sign of entry (no glass etc). My wife's parents live down on La Paz Road (a mile south of here) and their neighbor also had their Escalade stolen out of their drive way the same way. The cops say that 4 were stolen in the area within a few days. They were found stripped out in San Bernadino somewhere. Cops think it might be an inside job with a dealership or a body shop.

Thanks for the heads up, Isaac. If anyone knows more details (without posting private details please) about these stories, we'd love to know. Stay vigilant, everyone. Sometimes it's hard to remember to treat security like we live in a major metro area, even up here in our little town.