Wildfires in California
- Thread starter OhioTC18
- Start date
Doing fine here but those - several fires - are scary close. I'm less than 10 miles southwest of the serious Santa Rosa fire and yesterday (Monday) the wind was blowing from that direction. Fine ash and not so small charcoaled newspaper fragments fluttered down all day Monday.
Thanks for your concern!
This evening (Tuesday) I'm packing to return from the ranch to my home over in the Central Valley, simply due to responsibilities there. It would be better if I could stay here and monitor the place.
I'll post some photos but don't have time at the moment.
The main thing is, this isn't over yet. Wind like what pushed those fires forward is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Because many of the fires are in rough inacessible terrain, only the urban fires have firefighters, spread thin, attending them.
Thanks for your concern!
This evening (Tuesday) I'm packing to return from the ranch to my home over in the Central Valley, simply due to responsibilities there. It would be better if I could stay here and monitor the place.
I'll post some photos but don't have time at the moment.
The main thing is, this isn't over yet. Wind like what pushed those fires forward is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Because many of the fires are in rough inacessible terrain, only the urban fires have firefighters, spread thin, attending them.
thcri RIP
Gone But Not Forgotten
Monday morning very early around 1:00 AM my daughter called me and told me her and her boyfriend were trapped. They were visiting out there and staying at an Air BnB. There was a knock on the door and they were told to get out now. They had no idea were to go.. They ended up in Healdsburg a community. There was an evacuation center there. The fire was within a mile from where they were staying. Thank God for Find Friends on our phone as I was trying to figure out where the Fires were and what direction they were headed. They are OK but I tell you this dad was worried.
My daughter told me both the fire departments and police departments acted very professionally and were most helpful. Kudos to them.
My daughter told me both the fire departments and police departments acted very professionally and were most helpful. Kudos to them.
thcri RIP
Gone But Not Forgotten
Chris glad you are Ok. I read with wind that was present that fire turned in fifteen individual ones. Death toll is at 11 but more expected?
More known deaths already. 150 missing, nearly all are just the chaos and will reappear but it looks like some may have been in a nursing home that burned - relocating those would have been documented.
Would you like to tell Daughter she can stay here? I'm a couple of miles SW of Sebastopol, won't be back for a few days. She might end up hosting displaced locals, my daughter is considering arranging that. Air B&B has free disaster relocation listings, I'm told.
Would you like to tell Daughter she can stay here? I'm a couple of miles SW of Sebastopol, won't be back for a few days. She might end up hosting displaced locals, my daughter is considering arranging that. Air B&B has free disaster relocation listings, I'm told.
SF Chronicle - sfgate.com - maintains the best up to the minute updates I've seen.
thcri RIP
Gone But Not Forgotten
Chris you don’t know how bad I wished I could have called you. Was going to post here but thought you wouldn’t be around for a while. I did think of you not knowing where you lived but you would have known the Area way better than me. I was lost and so were they.
And I thank you for your offer!
I sure would have taken you up on it. They arrived back in Minneapolis just a few hours ago.
It's after midnight and I'm now back home in town, over in the Central Valley.
Before leaving the ranch I packed some ranch work clothes I hadn't used for a while, and some retired towels. On the way out I took them to a church near the ranch that I saw listed as a fire evacuation center. I wasn't familiar with the church but my hunch turned out to be right. I'm pretty sure these were the families of the seasonal harvest and winery workers, maybe some undocumented, now enduring what must be the worst day of their lives. The church's large activities hall was full of people quietly bedded down for the night. Few had luggage with them and there were nearly no cars in the church parking lot. These seemed to be people who previously had little and now had nothing. I doubt any had renter's insurance, or loss insurance on the cars they had needed to get to work.
I won't forget that sight. This was a very up-close view of devastation.
I also was bringing a few 40 lb bins of apples that I donate to a city downtown food closet during harvest season. But I decided to leave a bin at that church since they needed the apples as much as the poor and homeless in the city that I had intended the apples for.
Before leaving the ranch I packed some ranch work clothes I hadn't used for a while, and some retired towels. On the way out I took them to a church near the ranch that I saw listed as a fire evacuation center. I wasn't familiar with the church but my hunch turned out to be right. I'm pretty sure these were the families of the seasonal harvest and winery workers, maybe some undocumented, now enduring what must be the worst day of their lives. The church's large activities hall was full of people quietly bedded down for the night. Few had luggage with them and there were nearly no cars in the church parking lot. These seemed to be people who previously had little and now had nothing. I doubt any had renter's insurance, or loss insurance on the cars they had needed to get to work.
I won't forget that sight. This was a very up-close view of devastation.
I also was bringing a few 40 lb bins of apples that I donate to a city downtown food closet during harvest season. But I decided to leave a bin at that church since they needed the apples as much as the poor and homeless in the city that I had intended the apples for.
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Here are a few photos.
I woke up Monday morning only when my wife phoned to ask if I was ok. I had thought it was before sunrise because it was still dark in the house. The first photo shows why, the sun is barely burning through the heavy smoke overhead. The level of light was like an eclipse, dark enough that I needed the lights on indoors.
Later in the day cold ashes and weightless charcoal were still drifting down. Note the slight difference between filtered sunlight and shadow in these and the next photos.
Visibility steadily got worse as the smoke layer came down from overhead to ground level. The whole time I was very conscious that I was only a few miles downwind from the huge devastating fire that had taken out blocks, whole subdivisions, at Santa Rosa's northern fringe. Live cinders could reach the ranch if the fire and wind return to Monday morning's intensity.
Tuesday was murky (last two photos) then finally late in the day the usual ocean breeze came out of the southwest and cleared the air, a little.
After departing that region I crossed several plumes of smoke from other fires on the way home. One near Fairfield was nearly dense enough to slow traffic on I-80.
I hope I can wrap up the issues that brought me home and get back over to the ranch quickly. Relatives near there are housing several families of fire refugees and I could help, but I want some control over the situation if strangers are going to be there indefinitely.
I woke up Monday morning only when my wife phoned to ask if I was ok. I had thought it was before sunrise because it was still dark in the house. The first photo shows why, the sun is barely burning through the heavy smoke overhead. The level of light was like an eclipse, dark enough that I needed the lights on indoors.
Later in the day cold ashes and weightless charcoal were still drifting down. Note the slight difference between filtered sunlight and shadow in these and the next photos.
Visibility steadily got worse as the smoke layer came down from overhead to ground level. The whole time I was very conscious that I was only a few miles downwind from the huge devastating fire that had taken out blocks, whole subdivisions, at Santa Rosa's northern fringe. Live cinders could reach the ranch if the fire and wind return to Monday morning's intensity.
Tuesday was murky (last two photos) then finally late in the day the usual ocean breeze came out of the southwest and cleared the air, a little.
After departing that region I crossed several plumes of smoke from other fires on the way home. One near Fairfield was nearly dense enough to slow traffic on I-80.
I hope I can wrap up the issues that brought me home and get back over to the ranch quickly. Relatives near there are housing several families of fire refugees and I could help, but I want some control over the situation if strangers are going to be there indefinitely.
