Serena and Jimmy Wiley are Topanga originals who embody the authentic spirit of the Canyon. Join TNT contributor Ivan Kashinsky as he sits down with the Wileys for a heartfelt conversation about growing up and falling in love in Topanga in the wild and free 1970s and ’80s. This is the real Topanga, and it doesn’t matter if the people who experienced it still live here or not, they carry it with them always in their hearts. Photo of the Wileys by Ivan Kashinsky. Cover design by Urs Baur
October brings beach weather without the summer crowds, golden sunrises and sunsets. The night skies are more likely to be full of stars instead of clouds. The days are growing shorter but the warm weather—and warm ocean temperatures—often linger until November. Unfortunately, October also brings the Santa Ana winds. While wildfire is increasingly a year-round hazard, October and November are historically the months with the greatest risk. The combination of dry vegetation, low humidity, high pressure over the Great Basin and low pressure at the coast create perfect conditions for powerful, hot, dry winds to pummel the coast. The results can be devastating, and the forecast for this year is for the potential for an elevated fire risk from October to December.
This October, the Topanga Town Council, and community safety organizations including Arson Watch, CERT, and TCEP—Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness—are joining with the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath to provide Topanga residents and everyone who lives in the Santa Monica Mountains a resource fair to help residents prepare.
ReadyFest, Topanga’s Emergency Preparedness Fair, takes place on October 4, from 10-4 pm at the Topanga Community Center.
The event brings together first responders, public safety organizations, utilities, nonprofits, and emergency gear vendors. There will be information on home hardening, wildfire behavior, insurance, and evacuation planning. Participants can stock up on essential supplies and connect with volunteer groups. There will be food, music, and children’s activities. Parking onsite is limited, but ample street parking is available (just make sure the entire vehicle is off the road and that the tires aren’t touching the fog line). Free shuttles will be running up and down Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Whether or not one attends the event, fire safety remains critically important this season. It is up to all of us to make sure we do as much as we can to prepare, and while measures like brush clearance and home hardening are critically important, so is getting ready to evacuate or shelter in place, depending on the magnitude and proximity of the disaster.
Making sure that vehicles are fueled or charged, photographing family photos and documents and storing the files in the cloud, and filling or updating go bags are relatively easy things to do that will make evacuation easier if it becomes necessary.
Making sure flashlights and emergency radios are working and have batteries, charging power banks, and stocking up on necessities like drinking water, prescription medications, and shelf stable food are essential for weathering the all-too-frequent power outages, and the types of emergency that do not require immediate evacuation but that make getting in and out of the canyon difficult.
Families with elderly or disabled family members need to be prepared to evacuate early. So do those of us with large animals or an abundance of household pets. It’s essential to have transport available for horses, and to get them to safety before fire crews arrive in the neighborhood. Trying to load panicked animals into a trailer is difficult and potentially dangerous, and navigating canyon roads with a loaded trailer during a fire is a safety hazard for everyone. Going early helps keep everyone—humans and animals—safe.
It can be hard to find accommodations during a major evacuation, finding a place to stay that welcomes animals—even small ones—is an even bigger challenge. Having a carrier for each pet and a list of places that can accommodate them—friends, family or pet-friendly hotels—is incredibly helpful.
We wish we didn’t have to keep focusing on fire danger, but the hazard is real and life threatening. No one who lives in or around the urban wild land interface is safe from it. All we can do is be aware of it and prepare, as best as we can.
There is one small optimistic news note regarding this winter’s weather forecast. The La Niña conditions forecast for September did not materialize. La Niña can bring dry, hot weather to the Western United States, and bitter cold to the East. This weather phenomenon increases the risk of fires and drought throughout Southern California. There is currently a 71 percent chance that La Niña will still materialize in October, but it isn’t here yet, leaving a nearly 30 percent chance for a normal autumn. That would be a blessing, but we still need to prepare for the worst.
Stay Safe, be well. See you at ReadyFest!
