It's fire season again

Sierratim said:
Our power came back on about 30 minutes ago. It's been off since SUN at ~3PM. Our winds peaked yesterday afternoon with local gusts in the 60mph range. Utility helicopters were surveying local power lines for possible damage earlier today. Other than a bunch of pine needles and leaves on the walks and drive, we have no damage.

Nice to have grid power back, but the whole house generator certainly takes the edge off. The 'worst' part is walking out in my slippers in the AM to 'fire up' the genset, then back in to turn the coffee on while the wife stays 'snug as a bug in a rug' waiting for her morning coffee. Hey, happy wife, happy life...🤣

Stil no rain in the long range forecast though nighttime temps are dipping down into the 30's now. Fires continue to burn...😕
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Sounds like you were glamping for a couple of days:)
 
The local utility has been orderd by the State's Public Utility Commission to remove hazardous trees in their rights of way as a fire prevention measure. Protestors in Nevada City have opposed these efforts for months. Starting at 4AM this morning PG&E crews, supported by local law enforement, moved into Nevada City's Pioneer Cemetery to remove a large diseased pine that threatened neary by power lines. Protestors sleeping on the ground left when they realized a temp fence was being constructed but 'reinforcements' arrived shortly thereafter. This NEWS CLIP from a Sacramento area station reports on what happened next.

One protestor remained in the tree blocking tree removal for now.

If I'd known there was more drama in town, I would have focused my ride there today...😉

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A pic from last week's ride when I visited the tree sitter.

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High voltage power lines that had become interwoven with a large tree near downtown. This tree has been removed for fire protection, but not without protests, a short lived law suit, and of course, tree sitters.
 
RAIN.

Rain is finaly on the forcast! It hasn't rained here since last May. We'd normally have 3 inches of rain by now (since JUL 1). Our fire season continues until we get some moisture. We usualy get rain in AUG with big thunderheads. This year the thunderheads came, but no rain. Their lightening kicked off the most destructive fire season on record that still continues in many areas.

Hopefully our 60% chance or rain will produce real results for us.
 
Sierratim said:
RAIN.

Rain is finaly on the forcast! It hasn't rained here since last May. We'd normally have 3 inches of rain by now (since JUL 1). Our fire season continues until we get some moisture. We usualy get rain in AUG with big thunderheads. This year the thunderheads came, but no rain. Their lightening kicked off the most destructive fire season on record that still continues in many areas.

Hopefully our 60% chance or rain will produce real results for us.
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Great to hear this news... hope we see some showers in the Bay Area.
 
Sierratim said:
RAIN.

Rain is finaly on the forcast! It hasn't rained here since last May. We'd normally have 3 inches of rain by now (since JUL 1). Our fire season continues until we get some moisture. We usualy get rain in AUG with big thunderheads. This year the thunderheads came, but no rain. Their lightening kicked off the most destructive fire season on record that still continues in many areas.

Hopefully our 60% chance or rain will produce real results for us.
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Hopefully. A 60% chance of rain is an everyday normal forcast here in Pennsylvania.
 
Art Deco said:
Hopefully. A 60% chance of rain is an everyday normal forcast here in Pennsylvania.
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California likes to boast of its mild 'Mediterranean' climate. What that means for much of the State is rainless Summers that set us up for a fire season each year, esp in the heavily forested areas, like ours.
 
It's raining! 🤩 Not hard, but it is rain. There's even snow is in the forecast for this weekend! Temps will finally be dropping to more like the season average with peak temps down up to 25°F in one day. Good news for Northern California. Maybe this year's fire season can finally come to an end.

More good news, the last local tree sitter 'settled' yesterday with the utility cutting trees for fire protection. At first the tree sitters wanted to negotiate each of the 263 trees marked for removal. After a local judge said 'NO', the tree sitters were OK negotiating 16 'important' trees. As the utility moved ahead under orders from the State Public Utilities Commission, the sitters vowed to physically protect 10 'key' trees. After 3 protesters got arrested it was down to the one tree sitter in the old cemetery.

He's claiming victory over the nasty utility but the settlement cuts the tree at the 80 foot mark so it can't hit any power lines when it falls. There's so few branches left at that point that I'm guessing the tree will die in a few seasons. In the meantime it's an unsightly reminder of the protesters' 'victory' that will end up costing the cemetery district $ to remove later, rather than getting it over with now.
 
Sierratim said:
It's raining! 🤩 Not hard, but it is rain. There's even snow is in the forecast for this weekend! Temps will finally be dropping to more like the season average with peak temps down up to 25°F in one day. Good news for Northern California. Maybe this year's fire season can finally come to an end.

More good news, the last local tree sitter 'settled' yesterday with the utility cutting trees for fire protection. At first the tree sitters wanted to negotiate each of the 263 trees marked for removal. After a local judge said 'NO', the tree sitters were OK negotiating 16 'important' trees. As the utility moved ahead under orders from the State Public Utilities Commission, the sitters vowed to physically protect 10 'key' trees. After 3 protesters got arrested it was down to the one tree sitter in the old cemetery.

He's claiming victory over the nasty utility but the settlement cuts the tree at the 80 foot mark so it can't hit any power lines when it falls. There's so few branches left at that point that I'm guessing the tree will die in a few seasons. In the meantime it's an unsightly reminder of the protesters' 'victory' that will end up costing the cemetery district $ to remove later, rather than getting it over with now.
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I made a career out of forestry. It's been frustrating at times. Forestry is one of those areas where anybody who reads a paper seems to think they are an expert and those of us who went to school and actually studied it and then worked for years managing forests (or trying to) know nothing. We see the results now. I've worked where judges have decided what machinery will or will not be used to log a unit. We had to do some creative thinking to meet those requirements. I've had people questioning and accusing me of doing devious things. Trees of all sizes have to be cut if they are hazards to people. Nature doesn't care how old or big a tree is when she is about to blow it over. Dealing with trees is enjoyable, but dealing with some of the armchair experts is not. Emotions overrule science.
 
Cowlitz said:
I made a career out of forestry. It's been frustrating at times. Forestry is one of those areas where anybody who reads a paper seems to think they are an expert and those of us who went to school and actually studied it and then worked for years managing forests (or trying to) know nothing. We see the results now. I've worked where judges have decided what machinery will or will not be used to log a unit. We had to do some creative thinking to meet those requirements. I've had people questioning and accusing me of doing devious things. Trees of all sizes have to be cut if they are hazards to people. Nature doesn't care how old or big a tree is when she is about to blow it over. Dealing with trees is enjoyable, but dealing with some of the armchair experts is not. Emotions overrule science.
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Thanks for sharing your experience... would love to learn more about the science vs speculation on the root cause of the West Coast fires this year.
 
The August Complex Fire is finally at 100% containment! This fire in California's rugged Coastal Range mountains started in mid-August with the lightening storm that started hundreds of other fires. The August Complex Fire grew to move 1,000,000 acres over the 3 months that it grew becoming the largest fire in California history.

Containment doesn't mean that it's out, just not growing any longer. It'll take the fall rains to put it out. Ocean currents this year have delayed the rains over much of the State so the fires continue to burn. This ARTICLE has a good summary of the largest active fires that continue to burn in the State. Thankfully none are near us. We are continuing to get light rains that have pretty well ended our local fire season. Local authorities have lifted the annual burn ban effective today so yard waste burning can resume on properties like ours outside the cities.

Now, about that COVID thing...😫
 
More rain! We got over 3 inches of rain over the 24 hours ending WED noon. That pretty much ends our local fire season (finally) but this storm was accompanied by high winds.

These winds started a wild fire near Reno, Nevada, about 90 minutes to the east of us. By the time the firefighters and rains got it under control it had burned 1,500 acres, destroyed 5 homes and evacuated 1,000 people, including the mayor. Another fire broke out just over the State line that damaged 80 structures and killed one person. Fire season burns on in the Western U.S.

Our daughter lives in Reno, but was in no danger from this fire.
 
Parts of southern California are experiencing their seasonal Santa Ana winds. The area's largest electric utility has cut power to ~100,000 homes on Thanksgiving Day as a apart of their wild fire prevention strategy.

Los Angles, CA, has received just 8% of its normal rain fall this season, primarily due to the La Nina ocean temps and currents out in the Pacific. Fire season will continue until these conditions change allowing more rain.
 
Sierratim said:
Los Angles, CA, has received just 8% of its normal rain fall this season, primarily due to the La Nina ocean temps and currents out in the Pacific. Fire season will continue until these conditions change allowing more rain.
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Yes, thank you for your rainfall. It's giving us a brief respite from our usual drought cycles.

Although tomorrow is shaping up to be 110F - and it's still spring! - we shouldn't see the fires that burnt through 46 million or so acres last season (that's the size of a little place called Washington State for you Americans).
 
I know it's DEC, but it's still fire season here in the Western US. High winds gusting to 90mph in So Cal have started the new Bond fire, despite utilities cutting power to 10's of thousands. It's currently at 0% containment with over 7,200 acres burned. 25,000 are under evacuation orders. Two fire fighters have been injured. Several homes have been damaged.

Pray for rain. 😔 So Cal has received just 8% of normal rainfall.
 
Sierratim said:
I know it's DEC, but it's still fire season here in the Western US. High winds gusting to 90mph in So Cal have started the new Bond fire, despite utilities cutting power to 10's of thousands. It's currently at 0% containment with over 7,200 acres burned. 25,000 are under evacuation orders. Two fire fighters have been injured. Several homes have been damaged.

Pray for rain. 😔 So Cal has received just 8% of normal rainfall.
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Deja Vu all over again. 2020...2020...2020...👎
 
Sierratim said:
I know it's DEC, but it's still fire season here in the Western US. High winds gusting to 90mph in So Cal have started the new Bond fire, despite utilities cutting power to 10's of thousands. It's currently at 0% containment with over 7,200 acres burned. 25,000 are under evacuation orders. Two fire fighters have been injured. Several homes have been damaged.

Pray for rain. 😔 So Cal has received just 8% of normal rainfall.
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I hear you... nothing in the long-range forecast until 2021.
 
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