It's fire season again

[ActionJackson]

Took the electrics up to Beals Point State Park at Folsom Lake a couple of days ago. Folsom Dam was built starting in 1948 forming the lake that supplies much of the State's capital, Sacramento, with water. The water levels always drop through the Summer as it is released for the City, farmers, and salmon. Rains and snow pack usually bring it back to full or near full. Not this year;

View attachment 93641
I'm standing at what would normally be the water's edge this time of year. We've water skied through this area for years. Not today. The lack of a normal snow pack has put the lake 68 feet below where it was last year, another low rain year. The lake shore is now at 380 foot, down 90 feet from its rim.

It's going to be a long, dry Summer.

Well you should take a drive around Calabasas and see what that water is being used for. Those properties are much greener and more lush than at our house in Honolulu, and that’s amongst the highest rainfall in the USA. It’s not only global warming that’s doing in the Sierras, it’s human urbanization and over farming in the Central Valley. They’re literally sucking the life out of nature, and burning down the forests as well.

 

[reed scott]

This guy has excellent up to date info on the Caldor and Dixie fires:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRjxRIbCmsP2z6bcxlwun9A

 

[john peck]

Naw, folks just need to have faith & ask for the right things

I can´t believe I said that; then again I´ve dodged responsibility for decades. We gotta make the
right things happen. Failure is not an option. Saw an item on Bing,(I think), that disastrous weather
events have increased 5 fold in the last 50 years. When we wound the planet, it will fight back.
Better we should heal it. Easy to say, but we must stop burning & treating earth like a toilet.
It is imperative! There most certainly is a climate crisis that must be addressed, priority number
one! Seeing over a million domestic climate refugees in just the last few days should jar the
staunchest denier. A: We must drastically reduce fossil fuel use. B:We need a massive
civilian corp of engineers to create better flood management & fight drought & desertification
the way Roosevelt fought the Dust Bowl. Sacrifices to personal comfort must be made. This
should be the primary focus of the infrastructure bill.
Bike paths are cheaper than freeways. low speed 2 & 3 wheel bikes & scooters need to replace
cars as personal transport. Mass transit needs to better address the needs of the individual.
Rail is the most efficient way to move large numbers of goods & people. Jets are just pumping huge
amounts of gases directly into the upper atmosphere where they can be the most harmful.
I am not optimistic about getting people to voluntarily adopt these measures, nor do I think they
can be forced upon the people. It will require unity & determination if anything is to be done.

 

[john peck]

The National Forest Service, ahead of the upcoming Labor Day weekend, has temporarily closed all the National Parks in CA through mid-SEP.

Inconvenient, but definitely necessary. Dry forests in WA should probly have guards.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Inconvenient, but definitely necessary. Dry forests in WA should probly have guards.

Some of them do.

 

[Cowlitz]

Here in North Central Warshington, we finally got a nice steady heavy drizzle type of rain for a few hours. Last week was smoke on, smoke off, but nothing like a year ago, when I hitched up my trailer and ran away in search of cleaner air.

The Walker Fire, to the NE was being a bit stubborn. I want to go up and see what it has done next year. I worked a few years on that area where we were trying to get rid of the dead and dying Lodgepole Pine to reduce fuels. I fear that all we did was only to make some safety zones for firefighters to run away to.

I also am interested in how the Tahoe area fares. They have been doing quite a bit of fuels reduction work in that area for many years now. While that kind of work does not "put fires out" it does cause the fires to slow down and cool down a bit, if the wind allows it. Wind is the driver of fires.

This is a picture of last year's Labor Day fire. We were having 40 mph gusts. I was lucky to live out of the path of the fire, but could see the mushroom cloud and the ever smoldering sawdust fire blow up. This fire covered a lot of ground and jumped the Columbia River, in a short time.

 

[reed scott]

Here in North Central Warshington, we finally got a nice steady heavy drizzle type of rain for a few hours. Last week was smoke on, smoke off, but nothing like a year ago, when I hitched up my trailer and ran away in search of cleaner air.

The Walker Fire, to the NE was being a bit stubborn. I want to go up and see what it has done next year. I worked a few years on that area where we were trying to get rid of the dead and dying Lodgepole Pine to reduce fuels. I fear that all we did was only to make some safety zones for firefighters to run away to.

I also am interested in how the Tahoe area fares. They have been doing quite a bit of fuels reduction work in that area for many years now. While that kind of work does not "put fires out" it does cause the fires to slow down and cool down a bit, if the wind allows it. Wind is the driver of fires.

This is a picture of last year's Labor Day fire. We were having 40 mph gusts. I was lucky to live out of the path of the fire, but could see the mushroom cloud and the ever smoldering sawdust fire blow up. This fire covered a lot of ground and jumped the Columbia River, in a short time. View attachment 99655

There's a forest management guy on You Tube who has been doing very good updates with maps on the main Cal fires: The Lookout

 

[Art Deco]

Here in North Central Warshington, we finally got a nice steady heavy drizzle type of rain for a few hours. Last week was smoke on, smoke off, but nothing like a year ago, when I hitched up my trailer and ran away in search of cleaner air.

The Walker Fire, to the NE was being a bit stubborn. I want to go up and see what it has done next year. I worked a few years on that area where we were trying to get rid of the dead and dying Lodgepole Pine to reduce fuels. I fear that all we did was only to make some safety zones for firefighters to run away to.

I also am interested in how the Tahoe area fares. They have been doing quite a bit of fuels reduction work in that area for many years now. While that kind of work does not "put fires out" it does cause the fires to slow down and cool down a bit, if the wind allows it. Wind is the driver of fires.

This is a picture of last year's Labor Day fire. We were having 40 mph gusts. I was lucky to live out of the path of the fire, but could see the mushroom cloud and the ever smoldering sawdust fire blow up. This fire covered a lot of ground and jumped the Columbia River, in a short time. View attachment 99655

I didn't expect this thread to run with over a year of nonstop PNW fires when @Sierratim started it over a year ago...

 

[Sierratim]

I'm surprised as well. California has been hit with several large fires, the largest - the Dixie fire - has been burning since early July and is nearing 1 million acres. The Caldor fire threatened South Lake Tahoe and burned over the ridge of the more than a mile high Sierras, the first wildfire to do that as I understand it.

Regardless, the PNW and neighboring Idaho are struggling with many more fires as the map shows;

from https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/.

Thunderstorms moved over Northern CA last evening. Luckily they were accompanied with some rain so the fires they started have not been too disruptive.

Peak fire season is here.

 

[reed scott]

The guy I linked above, The Lookout on you tube, makes a substantial case that S Lake Tahoe was saved, in large amount, by previous extensive clearing and fire prevention done by the Forest Service. Ya think people will l listen?

I was surprised to learn that the FS actually bought up many many newly created lots in new subdivisions thus preventing building and then cleaned out the fuel in those lots.

Also, though heavily criticized for it, the large previously burned tracts of forest done purposely, greatly helped fire fighters this time around in both the Caldor and Dixie fires.

 

[Art Deco]

I'm surprised as well. California has been hit with several large fires, the largest - the Dixie fire - has been burning since early July and is nearing 1 million acres. The Caldor fire threatened South Lake Tahoe and burned over the ridge of the more than a mile high Sierras, the first wildfire to do that as I understand it.

Regardless, the PNW and neighboring Idaho are struggling with many more fires as the map shows;
View attachment 99659
from https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/.

Thunderstorms moved over Northern CA last evening. Luckily they were accompanied with some rain so the fires they started have not been too disruptive.

Peak fire season is here.

We don't seem to have any members commenting on the hurricane and flood seasons on EBR, but the same ever lengthing season shows up there as well. I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

 

[john peck]

Here in North Central Warshington, we finally got a nice steady heavy drizzle type of rain for a few hours. Last week was smoke on, smoke off, but nothing like a year ago, when I hitched up my trailer and ran away in search of cleaner air.

The Walker Fire, to the NE was being a bit stubborn. I want to go up and see what it has done next year. I worked a few years on that area where we were trying to get rid of the dead and dying Lodgepole Pine to reduce fuels. I fear that all we did was only to make some safety zones for firefighters to run away to.

I also am interested in how the Tahoe area fares. They have been doing quite a bit of fuels reduction work in that area for many years now. While that kind of work does not "put fires out" it does cause the fires to slow down and cool down a bit, if the wind allows it. Wind is the driver of fires.

This is a picture of last year's Labor Day fire. We were having 40 mph gusts. I was lucky to live out of the path of the fire, but could see the mushroom cloud and the ever smoldering sawdust fire blow up. This fire covered a lot of ground and jumped the Columbia River, in a short time. View attachment 99655

Jumped the Columbia, wow! Scary stuff in light of what one kid with fireworks did near Cascade Locks. We got
brief relief on the Olypen, but much more is needed. My poor efforts haven´t helped much. It´s been so dry
here, & it scares the hell outa me.

 

[Art Deco]

Jumped the Columbia, wow! Scary stuff in light of what one kid with fireworks did near Cascade Locks. We got
brief relief on the Olypen, but much more is needed. My poor efforts haven´t helped much. It´s been so dry
here, & it scares the hell outa me.

Another faux like. How wide is the river where the fire jumped it? Yards or miles?

 

[john peck]

We don't seem to have any members commenting on the hurricane and flood seasons on EBR, but the same ever lengthing season shows up there as well. I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

Probably because our million+ domestic climate refugees still don´t have power.

 

[Art Deco]

Probably because our million+ domestic climate refugees still don´t have power.

Maybe more important things to charge their phones for than a forum. BTW I saw a figure of over 1.8 million climate refugee inside the USA recently, but noone seems to be counting. Or admitting that counting is even going to be needed. Except for whatever they call gerrymandering today.

 

[reed scott]

Another faux like. How wide is the river where the fire jumped it? Yards or miles?

Forest fires regularly create 'spot' fires out ahead (downwind) of themselves a mile to a mile an a half with just some wind. With lots of winds or fire tornadoes ... who knows? Imagine a flaming pine cone taken up in a fire tornado then moved horizontally by a 25mph wind. Five miles would not surprise me. And that bomb would likely land into 2 or 3 feet of dry forest litter.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Another faux like. How wide is the river where the fire jumped it? Yards or miles?

Jumped the Columbia, wow! Scary stuff in light of what one kid with fireworks did near Cascade Locks. We got
brief relief on the Olypen, but much more is needed. My poor efforts haven´t helped much. It´s been so dry
here, & it scares the hell outa me.

That isn't even the first time that has happened.

The Yacolt Burn of 1902 jumped the Columbia River near Bridal Veil, Oregon (just upstream from Rooster Rock State Park). The Columbia is about a mile wide there.

In 1994 a fire near Chelan, WA crossed from the north side of Lake Chelan to the south side (near Lake Chelan State Park), again crossing about a mile of open water.

During the recent fires that burnt over my property, I personally saw brands transported over a quarter of a mile in the presence of fairly light (15mph) winds.

https://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/weise/psw_2010_weise(koo)001.pdf

 

[Merle Nelson]

We had a bad fire near me in CA a couple of years ago and people were still wanting me to come look at tree jobs at their houses even though I was laying low and not working for safety reasons, smoke issues, and just general respect for all the hardship people and fire crews were going through.

I'm walking around yards looking at trees and seeing hundreds of leaves that were scorched brown. And pages out of books that were partially burned. Finally it dawns on me that these could only come from the fire about 10 miles away.

I couldn't believe it. We're lucky our whole county didn't go up. Maybe chocked out from lack of oxygen up high before wafted over miles away.

 

[Art Deco]

Forest fires regularly create 'spot' fires out ahead (downwind) of themselves a mile to a mile an a half with just some wind. With lots of winds or fire tornadoes ... who knows? Imagine a flaming pine cone taken up in a fire tornado then moved horizontally by a 25mph wind. Five miles would not surprise me. And that bomb would likely land into 2 or 3 feet of dry forest litter.

I don't need to imagine it, you just described it. Horrifically enough. Thanks, I guess. But seriously, I and most of our lucky citizens have never seen a real forest fire. Or a real 'over the dam top' flood. Or acres of drought killed crops in the field all the way over the horizon. And those are all parts of the new normal we need to prepare for.

 

[Handlebars]

I don't need to imagine it, you just described it. Horrifically enough. Thanks, I guess. But seriously, I and most of our lucky citizens have never seen a real forest fire. Or a real 'over the dam top' flood. Or acres of drought killed crops in the field all the way over the horizon. And those are all parts of the new normal we need to prepare for.

Gimme a break. You still haven't prepared for the past.