Catalina On Fire

The island of Santa Catalina, 22 miles off the coast of California, is battling a wildfire that started yesterday at about 12:30pm local time. As of this morning, over 4,000 acres have burned threatening the tourist town of Avalon. Avalon, as some of you may know, is where my sister-in-law Katie and her new husband Eddie live. They once worked at Camp Fox, a popular camp on the island that was run by the Glendale YMCA until recently, along with my other sister-in-law Elizabeth and her husband Grant (who now live here in Florida). Katie and Eddie's apartment is located in a section that was being threatened by the flames last night and they needed to move to a more eastern location. As of today, state, county, and military officials are bringing in firefighters from as far away as Fresno, including about 70 inmate firefighters, to battle the blaze while the temperatures are cool, the humidity is up, and the winds are down. They are trying to battle the blaze before the winds are due to pick back up later this afternoon. They were expected to have 700 firefighters to fight the blaze this morning, but I haven't heard any more on that.

I have gathered some pictures from various news medias. Here is what I have so far:

View from Whittley Ave

View from the Green Pier

View from East Side of Avalon

View from Whittley Ave in Avalon

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

View from Catalina Landing

Evacuees waiting to board a ferry

Evacuees lining up at Catalina Landing

Overhead view of Avalon Harbor and Casino

Fire crews arriving

Ferry leaving around 9pm with a full boat of evacuees

Overhead view of Catalina Island

Navy crews getting the Hovercraft ready to bring supplies to Catalina

Planes dousing fire retardant on the island

Overhead view of Catalina

Overhead view of Catalina

Overhead view of firefighters battling the blaze

Overhead view of Avalon Bay from the north

Night view from the Green Pier

Evening view from the Green Pier

Firefighter near blaze

Firefighters near blaze

View from the Green Pier

Man on the Green Pier

Man watching the blaze get closer

View from the Green Pier