Wildfires

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

Two blazes that began burning through Northern California late last month have grown at breathtaking speed to form a massive inferno that has now set a new mark for destruction.

The twin wildfires, collectively known as the Mendocino Complex Fire, have together more than doubled in size in the past four days and burned through 283,800 acres of parched land — an area almost the size of Los Angeles.

By Monday night, the Mendocino Complex Fire had earned an infamous distinction, becoming the largest wildfire ever recorded in the state, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

It has now surpassed the Thomas Fire that burned nearly 282,000 acres of land in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties late last year and the Cedar Fire that killed 15 people in San Diego County 15 years ago.

“We broke the record,” Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “That’s one of those records you don’t want to see.”
...
Typically, temperatures dip and humidity rises overnight, giving crews a window to slow the fires’ spread. But Nguyen said these have not happened in the affected areas.
...
The two fires have not merged, but emergency officials are counting them as one.

The Ranch Fire, the bigger of the two blazes, has continued to grow in multiple directions, threatening communities in its path, according to Cal Fire. It has burned through 235,000 acres.

The smaller River Fire is more contained and grew by a few thousand acres over the weekend.

[Scuzz]

So I live in Fresno, about 6 hours drive south of those two big fires, however we are inundated with smoke from the fire burning outside the west edge of Yosemite, the Ferguson Fire. Yesterday the air quality was the worst on record and today has started not much better.

I think the Ferguson Fire has burned 80k plus acres and has had at least one death.

[Isgrimnur]

InciWeb

The Ferguson Fire grew by 2,829 acres throughout the day yesterday and is at 94,331 acres. Containment is at 43 percent. Increase in containment reflects the progress firefighters are making towards meeting the objective of fully suppressing the fire. Highway 140 is open from El Portal to Yosemite National Park boundary. Highway 120 is slated to open at 12 PM today, travelers are advised to watch for debris on the road.

[LawBeefaroni]

I guess it's time to start dusting off all that Great Lakes Defense Force stuff.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

A 51-year-old man who is accused of repeatedly threatening “this place ‘is going to burn'” has been arrested and charged with starting the so-called “Holy Fire,” causing nearly 10,000 acres to burn and 20,000 people to be placed under evacuation orders at Cleveland National Forest in Southern California.
...
The Holy Fire, which started in the Holy Jim Canyon area, has been burning in Southern California since Monday, with more than 600 firefighters assigned to fight it. Two firefighters have been treated for heat-related injuries.
...
Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Milligan said in an interview with The Washington Post that he has been flagging problems with suspect Forrest Gordon Clark for over three years. He said he alerted the U.S. Forest Service that “you have to do something or he’s going to kill someone or burn this place down.”

Milligan said he received several texts from Clark last week threatening to start a fire.

“In a text he said this place ‘is going to burn just like we planned’,” Milligan said in the interview, adding that he reported it to the sheriff’s office and again to the U.S. Forest Service. “Why the hell didn’t they respond? I reported this over and over again.”

Milligan said he’s known Clark for 10 years and has been concerned about his mental health and behavior in the small community. Clark had been involved in various volatile disputes with neighbors for years and he appeared to believe in conspiracy theories, Milligan said.

The U.S. Forest Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Clark was arrested late Tuesday. Charges against him include: suspicion of aggravated arson with the intent to cause injury to another or damage property; arson of an inhabited property; arson of forest; making criminal threats and resisting arrest. He also faces an additional count of arson that caused multiple structures to burn.

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer told The Washington Post he hadn’t been aware of the threatening texts allegedly sent by Clark.
...
Shane Sherwood with the Orange County Fire Authority told reporters that he could not comment on that reported text, saying the investigation was ongoing. But he said the evidence gathered led investigators to believe the fire was “intentional.”

He said they were still working through the evidence to determine how it was started.

Sherwood said no witnesses have come forward saying they saw Clark start the fire, but the area of origin is around his residence.
Clark, who is being held on $1 million bond, refused to leave his cell to appear in court. Before he was arrested, Clark told a cameraman he was asleep and had no clue how it started, and that “gangbangers” are out to kill him. It was not clear yet who Clark’s legal counsel is.

Milligan told the Orange County Register that Clark had “run through the community screaming” and claimed he could read minds. On Tuesday, he stripped off his camouflage underwear in public, the paper reported.

The paper also said a man with the same name and birth date was held involuntarily in 1996 at a treatment center for mental illness.

[naednek]

So I live in Fresno, about 6 hours drive south of those two big fires, however we are inundated with smoke from the fire burning outside the west edge of Yosemite, the Ferguson Fire. Yesterday the air quality was the worst on record and today has started not much better.

I think the Ferguson Fire has burned 80k plus acres and has had at least one death.

I'm in Sacramento, and it's been so smokey the last two weeks. My son went home from school early with a massive headache. He's been stuck inside while the rest of the class has PE and wears a mask to school.

My wife's aunt and uncle lives in Lakeport and was evacuated last week. Looking at the fire maps, it looks like the fires have missed their house, but still too close for comfort.

And what sucks, the peak of the fire season hasn't even started yet.

[Scuzz]

I was watching the Dodgers and A's play on TV yesterday, from Oakland, and they were talking about the smoke in the Bay Area. I guess the weather pattern must be keeping the evening breezes from coming in thru the delta as well, which would help you.

Isn't there also a fire burning again up above Napa, by Clear Lake or Berryessa?

[naednek]

I was watching the Dodgers and A's play on TV yesterday, from Oakland, and they were talking about the smoke in the Bay Area. I guess the weather pattern must be keeping the evening breezes from coming in thru the delta as well, which would help you.

Isn't there also a fire burning again up above Napa, by Clear Lake or Berryessa?

Clear Lake is where the Mendocino fires are. It started in Mendocino and moved to Clear Lake. Lake Port is a small town right on the lake.

We get some delta breeze, it keeps alot of the smoke up, but we still have it. Breeze goes away during the day and the smoke starts to settle by afternoon

[Lorini]

The air down here in Los Angeles county is awful. It's not precisely smoke but there's a lot of filth in the air right now, even here in Santa Clarita which normally has the least pollution in all of the county.

[Scuzz]

The I-5 corridor seems to always have a fire near Santa Clarita, at least it did a couple years ago when we used to drive down to visit my daughter when she lived in Sherman Oaks.

[Lorini]

There aren't any at the moment, haven't been for an entire week And even if there are, they don't generate so much smoke as to blanket the city. The worst smoke until now was the wildfire that started in Ventura, that kept the area grey for a couple of weeks.

[hitbyambulance]

air quality in Seattle is probably the worst i've ever experienced in my 15 years here. i stepped outside and audibly gasped. the workplace Mariners outing is tonight and i was going to bring my son, but we'll see if it's even tolerable by then.

[Isgrimnur]

Seattle Times

The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued an Air Quality Alert for Western Washington, after wildfire smoke returned to the Puget Sound area.

Monitoring stations in the Seattle region were reporting air-quality ratings from moderate to unhealthy Monday morning. Air quality will worsen in the late morning and early afternoon Monday, likely reaching unhealthy levels throughout the region, National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Haner said. The air-quality advisory runs through 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The pollution may start lifting Monday night, Haner said, but residents should expect to see smoke-filled skies until fresh ocean air enters the region Thursday, bringing more widespread improvement.

[Scuzz]

The Fresno area had a couple days in the 400's last week. But the air is much better now.

[Rumpy]

We've had our own bunch of forest fires to deal with in our area this summer paired with campfire bans. It's been an unusually dry summer.

[gilraen]

Denver area is firmly in "unhealthy" territory today with the AQI last reported at 159. The haze from the smoke is so bad today, you can't see the mountains.

[dbt1949]

Report from Hogeye.
No fires, no smog. Air is clean.

[Paingod]

Report from Hogeye.
No fires, no smog. Air is clean.

Give the jet stream some time to get it to you.

[Scuzz]

Report from Hogeye.
No fires, no smog. Air is clean.

Give the jet stream some time to get it to you.

I saw a news article over the weekend that the eastern US was now getting smoke from the fires in the west.

[Isgrimnur]

The Age

Two Australian firefighters, on patrol with US Forest Service personnel in Washington state, were set upon by hunters, chased and shot at in an incident which has reached officials within the Foreign Affairs Department.

The incident, which took place on August 23, shook Australia's support operation in the northwest of the United States and led to demands for local fire services to upgrade security and guarantee the safety of the crew.

Nearly 80 Australian firefighters have been working with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in northern California, Oregon and Washington since July, and were dispatched to the popular White Pass ski destination in August after fire spread across an eight square kilometre area.

The incident, which involved two Australians and two local officers, led to the arrest of the two hunters.

Fairfax Media understands they have been charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
...
Fairfax Media has been told the hunters pursued the four across a ridge, despite being warned they were in a restricted area and should leave.

One of the local officers is understood to have used his phone to record a last message to his family, so concerned was he about the two hunters in pursuit.

However, all four managed to find cover and were later safely airlifted out of the area.

[Z-Corn]

Maybe those "hunters" were guerrilla weed farmers defending a plot?

[Isgrimnur]

Or not

An Australian newspaper is reporting that hunters shot at two firefighters from down under while they were battling the Miriam Fire near White Pass, Washington, but law enforcement has debunked the claim.
...
“When the state patrol and our deputies arrived, they received more information from the firefighters, it was determined there were two males hunting in the area for bears,” he said. “Both hunters were contacted and they stated they had been shooting at the bear, but they missed multiple times.”

Schilperoort said officers determined no one was being shot at intentionally. The hunters’ intentions, however, have raised eyebrows.

“When this call came out, I found it very weird that a hunter would be that opportunistic to be hunting in an area where the fire was at,” said Schillperoort.

The U.S. Forest Service issued citations to the hunters for violating a closure order.

[Isgrimnur]

Camp Fire

[T]housands of residents of a remote Northern California town fled for their lives as the Camp Fire roared across California’s Butte County, about 90 miles north of the state’s capital, Sacramento.

By Thursday night, Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean said the blaze had burned about 30 square miles, destroying an untold number of structures.

“Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed,” McLean told reporters, according to the Associated Press. “It’s that kind of devastation.”

The troubling statistics: By Friday morning, nearly 110 square miles had burned by a fire that was 5 percent contained, with 15,000 structures threatened and scores of people still under mandatory evacuation orders, officials said.

[dbt1949]

I bet fire insurance is expensive out there.

[LawBeefaroni]

At least five people have been found dead in the town of Paradise in Northern California after the explosive Camp fire burned through parts of Butte County, authorities said Friday.

Investigators discovered the victims near Edgewood Lane, trapped in vehicles that were overtaken by the fire, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. Officials have been unable to identify them because of the extent of their burns.

[Lorini]

I bet fire insurance is expensive out there.

Hard to get in many areas. I had to go with the builder's fire insurance in Santa Clarita, no one else would insure my house. This happened to friends as well.

[Lorini]

Well the fire could be coming for me and my house. I have five pets, they all can be safely and relatively easily in crates and travel cages. Here is a pic of the situation as it is now. The area in the red square is evacuating. My house is at the arrow. The winds are light right now but are predicted to pick up again tomorrow. We shall see, I think I can place my pets without them having to go to a shelter.

[Enough]

Yikes! Please be safe and I hope you are missed by the fire. Let us know if you need anything.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[LawBeefaroni]

Yikes! Please be safe and I hope you are missed by the fire. Let us know if you need anything.

+1.

Good luck and stay safe!

[naednek]

At least five people have been found dead in the town of Paradise in Northern California after the explosive Camp fire burned through parts of Butte County, authorities said Friday.

Investigators discovered the victims near Edgewood Lane, trapped in vehicles that were overtaken by the fire, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. Officials have been unable to identify them because of the extent of their burns.

9 now

[Lorini]

The danger has passed from that fire, even if the winds do pick up. Whew!

[naednek]

My view in Sacramento (not my picture). It's been this way since Friday

Ethan was kept home today due to no mask. Found one today, went to school and 2.5 hours later he came home with a headache.

Local neighboring school district cancelled school but not our district.

I work for Air Resources Board and they haven't cancelled work



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[TheMix]

Wow. That's ... unbelievable.

[Scuzz]

That is worse than here for sure, of course you are 200 miles closer to the fire.

I know there are times I can smell it down here (Fresno area) so I can only imagine that you, and your clothes, must smell like a campfire at the end of the day.

[naednek]

Another perspective

[Max Peck]

California wildfires: Number of missing leaps to 631

The number of people missing in northern California's devastating wildfire has leapt to more than 600, and seven more bodies have been found, according to local authorities.

The missing persons' list has doubled since earlier on Thursday.

The Camp Fire, the state's deadliest and most destructive blaze, has killed at least 63 people. Nearly 12,000 buildings have been destroyed.

Three more people have also died in the Woolsey Fire, further south.

President Donald Trump will travel to California on Saturday to survey the damage and meet those affected.

[DD*]

What a mess - praying for those you out there and/or affected by the fires. I don't care how good the weather is, CA is just past my limit of "this is fucked up" with the earthquakes, brownouts, fires, mudslides, droughts, etc etc.

Scary stuff for sure...

[Lorini]

What a mess - praying for those you out there and/or affected by the fires. I don't care how good the weather is, CA is just past my limit of "this is fucked up" with the earthquakes, brownouts, fires, mudslides, droughts, etc etc.

Scary stuff for sure...

Flooding in other regions would really scare me honestly. Because then you get mold which can affect your health. While the air there is bad, and I can relate having lived right next to a wildfire about 10 years ago, it will get better. The brownouts are a long long time ago and won't happen again. That was just stupidity. Mudslides don't happen anymore either although silt is a problem. The droughts themselves aren't necessarily problems on a personal basis and in fact there's even more sunny days. But because of the drought and because California is the biggest farming state in the country the droughts may eventually affect nearly everyone.

I think the biggest problem here is the housing, both the cost and the huge homeless issue. The traffic is terrible as well.

Of course we do have good sports teams

[Scuzz]

What a mess - praying for those you out there and/or affected by the fires. I don't care how good the weather is, CA is just past my limit of "this is fucked up" with the earthquakes, brownouts, fires, mudslides, droughts, etc etc.

Scary stuff for sure...

I think the idea of living in the southeast with hurricanes, humidity and alligators is even worse. It is only small parts of California that burn, and earthquakes are generational usually. The problem with the fires now is the 7 years of drought followed by a historically wet year has led to lots of low stuff willing to burn.

Plus, you have to look at California as it truly is. Most of it is natural desert that has been made livable by man. The San Joaquin Valley may be great farmland but without man it was part Tule Lake and the rest desert. The forest fires are so bad now because people are living in places where they didn't in the past. There is some forest management problems as well. Add in drought, a bark beetle that kills pine trees and an environmental movement that somehow thinks leaving something alone is best and you get what we have. And oh yea, utility companies who don't maintain their equipment.

[GreenGoo]

So I see the US interior chief is blaming lawsuits brought by environmentalists for the fires.


So... that's a thing.

Scuzz alluded to this above.