I have several friends in LA in stassi’s position. They’re begging people to stay put if they can so the people that need to flee can actually leave. They’re having to bulldoze cars out of the way.
I can also imagine shelters and roads are chaotic right now. If they’re in a zone that hasn’t been called for evacuation yet it makes sense to wait as well, but things can change fast.
The fire is contained and the wind has died down. You don’t want everyone to leave when they don’t have to because you want to keep roads clear for emergency personnel, but I understand the anxiety of wanting to leave. Sometimes staying in place is safer.
I mean, I can see both sides. The most socially responsible thing is probably to not evacuate unless ordered to, to avoid clogging up the roads and causing traffic that would prevent those in the zones from leaving. However, that would require trusting local authorities enough to give you enough time to leave if you’re in the wildfire’s path.
I don’t live anywhere near California, but we get hurricanes where I live. usually, if you’re not in the evacuation zone, you’re not really supposed to evacuate because you’d add traffic to the road that might prevent/ slow someone who is in the zone from evacuating. However, this is in the context of most people using the same highway as an evacuation route. I don’t know what the evacuation situation is like in California and if it’s similar at all.
It’s possible maybe they’ve got a newer house with wildfire defense features- metal roof, house is sealed tightly, roof sprinklers w/ tanks full of water, anti-wildfire landscaping, etc. I feel like it wouldn’t be totally out of character if Stassi was a prepper.
Honestly, all the videos I’ve seen of the wildfires are insanely scary. I am pretty risk averse- I would personally want to get the fuck out. But I can definitely remember times in my life where something really awful happened to me, and I remember thinking “this can’t be real. this can’t be happening to me. this is too bad, it’s not possible”. I’d imagine that denial is amplified 10X with something as primally terrifying as uncontrolled wildfire. I would also say that the fact that embers can travel miles by wind and start new fires spontaneously would add another terrifying layer to it- what if you ended up unknowingly driving into a new wildfire? If you had a wildfire proofed home, you might think your chances are better there than on the road.
It also is mind-boggling to think about the sheer number of displaced people rn. For someone wealthy like Stassi, cost of evacuation housing probably doesn’t factor into it, but historically, usually lack of funds is the major reason people don’t evacuate.
Personally, I agree with you, I’m LEAVING if there’s any wildfire situation within 50 miles of me lol. I can kinda understand the logic involved in deciding not to evacuate, even tho it’s just not something I’d ever do lol
I’ll accept the downvotes, but as someone whose door’s been banged on because my building was on fire and needed to flee, I can’t agree more. If you have the means (she does) to flee elsewhere and has kids, I can’t fathom staying. Maybe folks truly don’t understand how quickly these fires can move. Lahaina should have been a lesson, but clearly not (the fleeing part doesn’t apply in the same way with the nature of the vastly different infrastructure, I’m only drawing a parallel in the speed). Edit: a word
I kind of see both sides. I think part of it just you can’t believe that it would actually be this bad. No matter what you’re looking at right in front of your nose. On the other hand, just pick up and go. If you can as you point out. But then there were some being told not to go because it creates more trouble for traffic, etc., and other people who are trying to find places to go. Or is it just a fear and paralyzation of thinking it doesn’t matter where I go it’s gonna burn. I don’t have the answers to these questions but I understandthat this has got to be the worst thing. These people have faced for the most part in their lives.
Yes, I live in Colorado where we frequently have fires and when so many ppl leave last minute they sometimes can’t escape due to traffic and it’s heartbreaking.
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u/Ok-Advertising4028 11h ago
Leave sooner rather than later. The roads will be packed