QUICK GETAWAYS FOR EVACUEES 'KATRINA FACTOR' HAS GOTTEN PEOPLE TO MOVE ALONG FASTER, SAY FIRE OFFICIALS.Byline: Rachel Uranga and Angie Valencia-Martinez Staff Writers CANOGA PARK - Convinced the flames were still miles from her Agoura Hills home, Susan Burris was dozing in front of a flickering television screen around 1:30 a.m. Thursday when her daughter bounded into the room. ``They are calling for a voluntary evacuation,'' her daughter shouted. The cafeteria worker at Agoura Hills High School clicked into gear: collecting key documents and frantically pulling family pictures from the wall. By the time Burris began loading her car, the evacuation was mandatory and embers em·ber n. 1. A small, glowing piece of coal or wood, as in a dying fire. 2. embers The smoldering coal or ash of a dying fire. were shooting like tracer bullets across the ridgeline ridge·line n. See ridge. Noun 1. ridgeline - a long narrow range of hills ridge arete - a sharp narrow ridge found in rugged mountains by her home. She could feel the heat from the fast-approaching fire that threatened her five-bedroom home and dozens more like it. ``Everyone was just watching the sky,'' she said at Canoga Park High School Canoga Park High School is a public school located in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, USA, within the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located right across the street from the Topanga Plaza shopping center. , which had been set up as a Red Cross shelter for evacuees Resident or transient persons who have been ordered or authorized to move by competent authorities, and whose movement and accommodation are planned, organized and controlled by such authorities. . ``Police cars were lurking around and everyone was just wondering where to go.'' Burris and more than 450 others shaken by the firestorm and with nowhere to go arrived at Red Cross shelters at a number of locations in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. late Wednesday and early Thursday. Possibly hundreds more were expected to wake up in additional shelters in the Valley and in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. today and officials said they are preparing for a capacity of 5,000 if the situation becomes dire. Still smelling like smoke, many kept their most treasured possessions - family pictures, deeds, computers - close to their cots. While some slept peacefully, others were too nervous to relax, wondering whether their homes had burned down. At the Canoga Park shelter, Jessica Pringle, 38, and her husband anguished over the fate of their Box Canyon home. ``I saw the home next door engulfed in flames In Flames is a melodic death metal band from Gothenburg, Sweden founded in 1990. Along with Dark Tranquillity and At the Gates, they pioneered what is now known as melodic death metal. . I feel so bad. I know if my house was there, it would be a miracle,'' she said. Anxiety and uncertainty ran high in the shelter. Some evacuees - with only the clothes on their backs - asked reporters for new information while others listened for information on radios. ``I didn't want to leave,'' said evacuee e·vac·u·ee n. A person evacuated from a dangerous area. Noun 1. evacuee - a person who has been evacuated from a dangerous place migrant, migrator - traveler who moves from one region or country to another Maria Cardenas of Agoura Hills. ``It's agonizing because we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how our home is. We have no idea when we'll go home. We're hoping sooner than later.'' Fire officials said evacuees were more cooperative this year than in the past, calling it the ``Katrina factor.'' Before, many homeowners stayed behind, watering roofs or waiting until the last minute to leave their homes. ``We learned from Katrina,'' said Theresa Halzle of Agoura Hills. Preparing for the worst, she had packed photo albums, videotapes, and a computer hard drive, along with personal documents and the dog. ``It happened so fast. All of a sudden everyone's garage door was open, lights on. We were like, 'Oh, my God.''' Rachel Uranga, (818) 713-3741 rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com |
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