Reader Alert! Forced Evacuate Reports on LA INDYMEDIA
author: Alex Ansary, Outside the Box
 e-mail: alex_ansary@hotmail.com
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Guys, keep your eyes peeled on this fire story! Four fires were started at the same time. FEMA is moving in to help just a week after announcing that they have set up a force ready to take on a wide variety of natural and man made disasters. Chertoff is plastered all over our TV sets ready to be the savior. We just got done with Topoff 4, a fear based exercise that tests federal response through Emergency declarations and succession of government. Monitor the Guard's treatment of people during this event. It is our job as indymedia reporters, and readers. In a crisis, the indymedia world needs to set aside differences and work as a team. Here in Portland, I'm am about to launch a "DAY AFTER" preparation group in Portland. Let me know if you have some ideas. The following is one of the latest MAINSTREAM reports on the fire and it's damage.
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Note: I totally understand that there is an overpopulation problem and that wild fires are totally natural and can be cleansing for the planet. BUT, This is a coordinated and planned ARSON. Let's remember that. Investigators can't even get in to take a look at the crime scene. On with the article:
This is from LA INDYMEDIA where there are rumors of forced evacuations.
 http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/10/208787.php
I also ready that 1500 guardsman are preparing to face looters.
Here is a mainstream account:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/24/wfire124.xml
Bush declares 'disaster zone' in California fires
President George W Bush declared southern California a federal disaster zone as the worst wildfires in the state's history destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
# In pictures: Wildfires ravage southern California
hot embers all over the Malibu Hills. Bush declares 'disaster zone' in California fires
High winds drove hot embers all over the Malibu Hills, spreading the fires. Southern California has been declared a disaster zone
More than 400 square miles had burned from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border as the blazes raged for a third day, forcing more than 500,000 people from their homes.
New evacuation orders were issued as ferocious winds and hot temperatures prevented fires crews from controlling the flames. Two people have died so far and more than 42 people have been injured, including 16 firemen.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, ordered the state National Guard to help evacuate residents.
Fire crews from Nevada and Arizona were drafted in, as were 2,300 volunteer low-risk offenders from state prisons. Mr Bush's announcement cleared the way for federal disaster aid, while the Pentagon said firefighting aircraft were being mobilised to assist California.
State officials said the conditions were among the most devastating that California had faced. Strong Santa Ana winds — hot, seasonal gusts that blow in from the desert — have combined with low humidity and high temperatures after a severe drought.
In Malibu, celebrities including Mel Gibson and Olivia Newton-John were among the residents forced from their homes. David Geffen, the media mogul, opened his hotel, the Malibu Beach Inn, to two dozen evacuees as well as 80 firemen.
Some of the most dramatic scenes yesterday were in San Diego County, where seven fires triggered the area's largest evacuation.
Many fled to shelters in San Diego, including 10,000 who crowded into a sports stadium.
Fire chiefs gave warning that the new fires could burn all the way from San Diego to the Pacific Ocean.
Yesterday's forecast for higher temperatures — up to 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) — and more Santa Ana gusts fuelled fears that the fires would rage for many more days before fire crews were able to contain them. Zev Yaroslavsky, the Los Angeles County supervisor, said the fires were testing emergency workers "almost beyond the point of reason".
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"The winds are erratic and unpredictable," he said. "There is no telling where the fires will move and when."
Los Angeles County woke to a dirty mauve cloud blotting out the sun. Satellite images showed smoke steaming out over the Pacific.
Mr Schwarzenegger had been due to take part in a discussion on the environment with Tony Blair at The Women's Conference, organised by his wife, Maria Shriver, but instead appeared by satellite from San Diego to give an update on the fires.
Thomas Friedman, a commentator from the New York Times who was at the event, said the fires probably represented Mr Schwarzenegger's "biggest crisis as governor".
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