splooge

It's bad, but not terribly so.

Simi Valley is a /fairly/ new community. 99% of all the houses are up to code; stucco walls, tiled roofs, etc.

Not to mention that this is nothing new for Simi Valley residents (such as myself). Almost exactly 10 years ago Simi was in the same situation. I had a girlfriend who lived in Box Canyon who woke up to what she thought was sunrise, only to step outside and see a wall of flame. It was interesting because I was at home sleeping with the TV turned on. I heard a familiar voice saying 'yeah it was really wicked' which was enough to get me to look up at the TV, and sure enough, my girlfriend was on the news.

The scary part is the mandatory evacuations in Box Canyon. Simi Valley isn't especially populated with trees, although it has a fair amount, it's nothing like all the brush you see on the outskirts. Simi Valley will weather well and will stay safe... but Box Canyon, Santa Susana, and a couple other small areas are in for a tough fight. Once the fire hits box canyon, it will do exactly like it did 10 years ago, and jump across to Malibu Canyon, Calabasas and Agoura which are canyon communities and will be hit really hard.

As for Simi Valley, like I said, we're used to it. The only thing we have that can really burn is structures, which are 100 times easier to protect than a damn forest full of dead trees.

Halx doesn't appear to live in area of Simi that is paricularly prone to fires (no fields of trees or dried grass, apparently mid-central Simi) and appears to be far away from the ... 'epicenter' of where the current mandatory evacuations are. The f118 freeway (seen on the map above) runs through the middle of Simi. The part of the 118 where the fire jumped the freeway was not in Simi Valley, it was between Simi Valley and Moorpark.

We'll lose a few houses, the ones built up in the hills, but Simi Valley itself won't be hurt bad. We're used to seeing burnt hills once every few years.