It's fire season again

This was earlier this year. Only a mile away from home. Grew to a couple hundred acres. I was riding my ebike to investigate source of heavy smoke in the neighborhood. Last year we lost 11000 acres about 8 miles south of us.
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Sierratim said:
Being a bit out in the country we too have a backup generator. It's hooked up to the house propane tank so lots of fuel!

Very handy when the kids were young esp when snows break a power line, or lightening takes out a transformer, or 'they' just turn the power off for whatever...🤣

I keep telling myself California is not a 3rd world country. Now where did I put that emergency radio?
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Too late... welcome to the first Third World State. ;)

www.nationalreview.com

America’s First Third-World State | National Review

Medieval diseases, gangs, corruption, crime, crumbling infrastructure, out-of-touch wealthy elites …
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Lots of fires out here in CO as well.

The sun (if you can see it) turns orange around 3pm as it starts to set in the west (where the fires are coming from as seen from denver/boulder area).

Smoke today was especially bad, as I was in the last stages of my ride, all the street lights were casting light into the smoke. Looked cool although not good for the lungs.
 
FlatSix911 said:
Too late... welcome to the first Third World State. ;)

www.nationalreview.com

America’s First Third-World State | National Review

Medieval diseases, gangs, corruption, crime, crumbling infrastructure, out-of-touch wealthy elites …
www.nationalreview.com www.nationalreview.com
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I hear ya. We moved out of Silicon Valley decades ago to raise our family in a small town environment. That worked out well, but the State can't seem to get it together beyond small pockets of places that have been able to insulate themselves from the troubles. But it's beginning to show, even here. We've made an offer on a multi-family compound in Scottsdale, AZ.
 
Sierratim said:
I hear ya. We moved out of Silicon Valley decades ago to raise our family in a small town environment. That worked out well, but the State can't seem to get it together beyond small pockets of places that have been able to insulate themselves from the troubles. But it's beginning to show, even here. We've made an offer on a multi-family compound in Scottsdale, AZ.
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Same here, loved the SF bay area while I was there (1988-1998). Never regret moving to Colorado in 1998
 
linklemming said:
Same here, loved the SF bay area while I was there (1988-1998). Never regret moving to Colorado in 1998
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I was born and raised in the SF bay area. Off to college in the 60's in what would become Silicon Valley. Moved to the Sierra's in the 80's. Who knows where now.

This morning's sky is orange with a dim light. There's a heavier smoke smell.

As of 8:30PM last evening the Jones Fire had burned 650 acres and 3 homes. It was 15% contained. We should start hearing helicopters overhead on their water runs any time now.

Mandatory evacuation orders are still in place for over 4,000 people. Evacuation warnings have been lifted for areas to the South of the fire as winds remain calm. Some roads have been reopened though one highway route is still closed.
 
San Francisco isn’t even that close to any of the fires right now. But the impact is here. The first big fire I remember as a child was across the bay in the Oakland hills. I recall playing outside and seeing ash come down like someone was having a barbecue above us. Now it’s happening multiple times a year. Crazy. I hope you all stay safe.

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Sierratim said:
Our power just went out. Looks like a wide area has been impacted. No pre-warnings from the utility so it wasn't planned. Either fire or heat related. Either way, off to the backup generator.
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Pretty scary.
It would be hard just waiting. Everything packed? People, pets, ebikes? I would probably have to leave the ebikes due to space issues :(
 
Marci jo said:
Pretty scary.
It would be hard just waiting. Everything packed? People, pets, ebikes? I would probably have to leave the ebikes due to space issues :(
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Well that gets complicated fast.

I generally think in terms of a two day, two hour, and two minute plan,.

With two days warning, I can move some things to a safer location, then follow the two-hour plan.

With two hours, again, I can load my rig up to bursting and pack the animals in and bolt.

With two minutes, I've got a few boxes and bags by the front door and the rig is parked outside, backed in. Car keys and ID are left on top of one of the boxes. The animals will likely run for the car if that is where I'm going. Sometimes the two-minute plan is already packed in the rig. In those cases I usually leave the key and my wallet and ID in the rig as well, so basically I can run out of the house in my underwear and load up the dogs and GTFO.
 
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Mr. Coffee said:
Well that gets complicated fast.

I generally think in terms of a two day, two hour, and two minute plan,.

With two days warning, I can move some things to a safer location, then follow the two-hour plan.

With two hours, again, I can load my rig up to bursting and pack the animals in and bolt.

With two minutes, I've got a few boxes and bags by the front door and the rig is parked outside, backed in. Car keys and ID are left on top of one of the boxes. The animals will likely run for the car if that is where I'm going. Sometimes the two-minute plan is already packed in the rig. In those cases I usually leave the key and my wallet and ID in the rig as well, so basically I can run out of the house in my underwear and load up the dogs and GTFO.
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We have a 'Go' bag with extra clothes, toiletries, snacks, etc, always packed. With the fire we've gather the binder of 'important' papers, filled a water jug and picked the car with the most gas. Everything else is either backed up on the cloud or insured. We can leave in less than 5 minutes.

Power did come back on. The sky is very orange and the air is unhealthy, it's hard to breathe outside without coughing.

The mandatory evacuation area has been extended, but not towards us.
 
We got pretty devastating fires last season here on the Australian east coast. I read somewhere the Wollemi superfire was 10 times the size of your little Californian fires. We had smoke in the air for months, continuously.

I drove through some affected areas last weekend. Tens of kilometres of burnt out bushland, which has all begun to reshoot.

The smoke got pretty bad on the lungs on my commute so I invested in one of these: https://www.wiggle.com.au/respro-city-anti-pollution-mask

Not the most comfortable but at least it kept me on the bike during that season. The country is bracing itself for this one, though you have to wonder how much more fuel is out there.

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The evening news was all about California wildfires, 367 of them active as of last night! Our Jones Fire is small in comparison to some, but it is still growing, 705 acres now. The sky was orange all day. It's better this AM, but still lots of smoke. There is white ash on the deck that drifted in overnight.

I didn't hear any helicopters over the house all day yesterday. As it turns out equipment has been transferred from our little fire to larger ones encroching on more urban areas.

The evacuation area was shrunk though estimates of containment also shrunk form 15% to 5%. There are no roads where this fire is centered. Access is very difficult by ground.

Our youngest son and his wife were able to move back into their home late yesterday.

My wife and sons had planned a ride with me this AM as a birthday present. We had to take a rain check due to air quaity. Dang!

Life during fire season!
 
Sierratim said:
The evening news was all about California wildfires, 367 of them active as of last night! Our Jones Fire is small in comparison to some, but it is still growing, 705 acres now. The sky was orange all day. It's better this AM, but still lots of smoke. There is white ash on the deck that drifted in overnight.

I didn't hear any helicopters over the house all day yesterday. As it turns out equipment has been transferred from our little fire to larger ones encroching on more urban areas.

The evacuation area was shrunk though estimates of containment also shrunk form 15% to 5%. There are no roads where this fire is centered. Access is very difficult by ground.

Our youngest son and his wife were able to move back into their home late yesterday.

My wife and sons had planned a ride with me this AM as a birthday present. We had to take a rain check due to air quaity. Dang!

Life during fire season!
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I'm just glad you're all safe. The rides can wait. :)
 
Sierratim said:
The evening news was all about California wildfires, 367 of them active as of last night! Our Jones Fire is small in comparison to some, but it is still growing, 705 acres now. The sky was orange all day. It's better this AM, but still lots of smoke. There is white ash on the deck that drifted in overnight.

I didn't hear any helicopters over the house all day yesterday. As it turns out equipment has been transferred from our little fire to larger ones encroching on more urban areas.

The evacuation area was shrunk though estimates of containment also shrunk form 15% to 5%. There are no roads where this fire is centered. Access is very difficult by ground.

Our youngest son and his wife were able to move back into their home late yesterday.

My wife and sons had planned a ride with me this AM as a birthday present. We had to take a rain check due to air quaity. Dang!

Life during fire season!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on surviving another year in CA, anyway @Sierratim
 
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