Fires in California

Bonsai Nut

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If you ever wondered what one of our fires looks like, here's a fascinating video. This is of the "Holy Fire" named after Holy Jim Canyon area where it started. It is truly in my back yard - these mountains are where I bike every weekend. The video is from east of the hills looking west. We are lucky that it has been fairly calm (no wind). The only slightly positive aspect is that it appears they may have caught the idiot who started it. The guy's a real nut case (personal observation from people who know him).


OCR-L-HOLYFIRE-FOLO-0808-18-MS_26545188.jpg

They have live streaming cameras from Santiago Peak. Here's a pic of one of the planes dropping fire retardant. Those cell towers on the peak provide cell phone and Internet service for over a million people. Fortunately the fire appears stopped well short of the peak.

Peak 2.jpg
 
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Brian Van Fleet

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Wow, that is as impressive as it is frightening. Wild to see the sun moving through the time-lapse shot. Hopefully you’re not breathing all that smoke. Stay safe.
 

MrWunderful

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The smoke from the northern fires is making its way down to the bay and is causing some nasty haze. My heart goes out to all the people that lost houses, especially my cousins in santa rosa that lost both of their houses in last years fire.
 

Bonsai Nut

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The smoke from the northern fires is making its way down to the bay and is causing some nasty haze. My heart goes out to all the people that lost houses, especially my cousins in santa rosa that lost both of their houses in last years fire.

We were in Frisco and Tahoe last week. At least for our visit SF was clear. Then we drove to Tahoe and had mixed results. First two days were spotless. Then the wind shifted and suddenly the whole Tahoe basin was filled with smoke. We drove home the east side from Carson City down by Mono Lake / Mammoth and then through the high desert and Victorville to Orange County. 500 miles... and the first 450 miles was in heavy smoke. At Mono Lake you couldn't see the islands from the west shore. I had the car A/C on "recirculate" the entire way.
 

Anthony

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The most I have ever seen is a small house on fire and
of course the cane field fires, which were set by man for
the start of the harvest.

Used to ash the floors.

Stay safe and breathing air.
Best wishes.
Anthony
 

Bananaman

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I cough all day. When I wake up I can look directly at the sun till about 10 AM. Then the sun is high enough to be out of the red blanket of smoke in the valley. Every morning I have my truck covered in ash.
 

Carol 83

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That's terrifying. Take care, all that are in the path.
 

rockm

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I hope everyone stays safe out there. We get fires here in the east, but none like that dangerous beast. This one--the Rocky Mount fire in the Shenandoah National Park in 2016--burned 10,000 acres only a couple of miles from where I grew up. Same area caught fire again this past April from what I've heard.

rockymtfire.jpg
 

Bananaman

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Yea we just lost another fire fighter this week
 

arreaux

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this is how the sun looks at 7am in the valley.
Sun in smoke.jpg
 

Bonsai Nut

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It doesn't help that July was the hottest month ever recorded in California... and that down south we got one significant rain storm in the last 12 months. :(
 

Silentrunning

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In Florida we used to have massive wild fires too. Most of the unsettled land was populated with palmettos and pine trees. A great combination for wild fires. As a volunteer fireman I fought a couple 1,000 + acre fires. Then the state started controlled burns. It helped separate the large bodies of fuel so when a fire started it could be contained. Even the large parks participate in these burns. California is going to have to find a solution to their fires because it looks like the weather pattern isn’t going to change any time soon.
 

Bananaman

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In Florida we used to have massive wild fires too. Most of the unsettled land was populated with palmettos and pine trees. A great combination for wild fires. As a volunteer fireman I fought a couple 1,000 + acre fires. Then the state started controlled burns. It helped separate the large bodies of fuel so when a fire started it could be contained. Even the large parks participate in these burns. California is going to have to find a solution to their fires because it looks like the weather pattern isn’t going to change any time soon.
We used to do control burns. When I was a kid the control burns were delineated by Borate dropped by B-17 flying fortresses. What a thrill for a kid like me. They did control burns in the sierra's till about 1977 and then the enviromentalists stepped in and stopped all fires. This was around the tree hugging craze that became the way of life in California, of course it didn't stop the elite from building on the sides of foot hills carved into huge stands of trees with a century worth of understory around it. Or the huge sub divisions of homes built right up to national forests growing unregulated. So there you go. Build your home in a tinder box, what do you expect? Thats OK gives me work when I got to go in there and board them up.....
 

wireme

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My moms property got the evacuation order last night. Spent the night and today battening down hatches as best we could, once you leave you can’t get back in until the order is lifted. Came home to the whole town under evac notice, hopefully doesn’t get upgraded to evac order. If it comes down to that I guess I’ll load the trees into the mushroom growing misthouse. They will at least stay wet in there up till the point they catch on fire anyways! I think (hope) we will be ok, not much wind in the forecast.
 

Dav4

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My moms property got the evacuation order last night. Spent the night and today battening down hatches as best we could, once you leave you can’t get back in until the order is lifted. Came home to the whole town under evac notice, hopefully doesn’t get upgraded to evac order. If it comes down to that I guess I’ll load the trees into the mushroom growing misthouse. They will at least stay wet in there up till the point they catch on fire anyways! I think (hope) we will be ok, not much wind in the forecast.
Shit! Stay safe and fingers crossed for your house and trees!!
 

MACH5

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Crazy terrifying!!! It was chilling to watch. What also struck me is the force and speed at which the smoke was coming from beyond the mountains many miles away. It looks as if it was only a few feet away!!

Stay safe Cali friends! :eek:
 

wireme

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Shit! Stay safe and fingers crossed for your house and trees!!

Thanks Dave.

It was a few hours of wind on Thursday night that prompted the evac notices and warnings. A nearby fire that was already large and threatening flared up and started moving fast! Chunks of charcoal raining down on the town, scary!
Cool nights coming though, maybe a wee bit of precip, little wind forecast so I’m worried but not terrified at the moment. We have already lost one of our backcountry ski cabins though. Shit, it was nice too, hidden away on ridge in some killer steep and deep tree skiing terrain. A group of us built it for a buddies stag party years ago. Over a weekend. Had a crew collecting logs from the woods in pickups. Another crew working our sawmill to turn it to lumber. Carpenter crew pre-cutting. Day two we drove and carried all the prices up the mountain and mostly had’er built. Hard to replicate that kind of large group effort again probably. Incredible how much we achieved over that weekend, partied pretty hard through it all too.
 
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