It's fire season again

The Sierras got the first snows of the season this past weekend into today! Lake effect snow off Lake Tahoe dropped up to 3 inches on South Lake Tahoe, the community threatened by the Caldor fire just weeks ago.

The downside? The winds required to generate lake effect snow have been over 20mph across much of the north state today, with gusts to 46mph. These winds have fanned new fires across the state with homes being lost on Brannan Island in the delta area. Winds are quieting for the evening, but darkness has grounded all aerial fire fighting until dawn. Strong winds are expected to resume as the sun rises as well.

It is peak fire season in the western US...☹
Fire season and it's raining in Palm Springs!
 
Fire season done here for now. We got a non-stop 12 hr. soaking last week & the forecast is rain
for the next 10 days. Looking at the drought monitor map, most of Wa. & a small corner of OR are
the only places west of Colorado with no drought whatsoever. Kinda puts a ´damper´ on riding
though.🙁 None-the-less l´m gonna ride.
 
Fire season done here for now. We got a non-stop 12 hr. soaking last week & the forecast is rain
for the next 10 days. Looking at the drought monitor map, most of Wa. & a small corner of OR are
the only places west of Colorado with no drought whatsoever. Kinda puts a ´damper´ on riding
though.🙁 None-the-less l´m gonna ride.
I especially like the, None-the less.... :)
 
I especially like the, None-the less.... :)
Kin I change that to ´well maybe?´ we had 16 hrs of virtually uninterrupted rain yesterday, & I may
need to create pontoon accessories for the bike. I´m okay up to the point where my controller
submerges. Beyond that I´m hesitant. I have semi-inflated the kayak & have two 1200-20 tractor
tubes for rescuing any livestock that floats by. Hopefully this should quench any remaining fires.
I am a mite concerned; the last time this happened two trees blew down trapping us in the house.
So far no serious power outages or reports of cannibalism.🥴
 
Our power went out yesterday, but only for a few hours. A far cry from that windstorm some years ago where we were without power for 12 & 1/2 days. Hey! You need some of these light bulbs with a rechargeable battery in them: https://amzn.to/3CnZu68. You use them normally, in a lamp, plugged in, so they are always charged up. Then when the power goes out, they switch to battery power. Super handy and they work well.
 
Anyone have anything to add about the Colorado fire that's all over the news? IDK about their fire season, but it seems late.
 
Anyone have anything to add about the Colorado fire that's all over the news? IDK about their fire season, but it seems late.
My best friend lives in Colo. Sprs. Some years back they put a subdivision on the hillside above the
Garden of the Gods which was utterly devastingly to a delicate ecosystem there in spite on oppostion
from the locals. Neither he or I shed a tear when it burned.
 
Anyone have anything to add about the Colorado fire that's all over the news? IDK about their fire season, but it seems late.
It is very late and largely caused by extreme drought conditions in Colorado.

Also, the homes which were lost were in extremely dense subdivisions with less than 20 feet of separation between homes. This produces a continuous fuel bed and allows homes to be ignited by radiant and convected heat from nearby burning homes.
 
It is very late and largely caused by extreme drought conditions in Colorado.

Also, the homes which were lost were in extremely dense subdivisions with less than 20 feet of separation between homes. This produces a continuous fuel bed and allows homes to be ignited by radiant and convected heat from nearby burning homes.
´Developers don´t give a dam about that stuff or the impact it has on it´s surroundings.All they care about
is $. They come & scrape off all the top soil & sell it to the next deveiopment that´s ready for lawns to
pay for the water system. I´ve worked for these people, & i´ve been scammed by them as well. As far
as I´m concerned they´re worse than child molesters. Some friends of my used to live in the very site
that burned near Boulder but luckily they got out b4 the fire.
 
Last edited:
Anyone have anything to add about the Colorado fire that's all over the news? IDK about their fire season, but it seems late.
An old friend dodged it but had to stand by all day hosing down his roof and packing stuff up because he was literally in the line of fire if it had kept going. Pic from his house.

Fire.jpg


He also lives right up the street from that King Soopers that got shot up a few years ago.

Feeling sorry for the people affected by this disaster and glad there weren't any fatalities.
 
An old friend dodged it but had to stand by all day hosing down his roof and packing stuff up because he was literally in the line of fire if it had kept going. Pic from his house.

View attachment 110751

He also lives right up the street from that King Soopers that got shot up a few years ago.

Feeling sorry for the people affected by this disaster and glad there weren't any fatalities.
The front range has been getting more & more of this nonsense as time goes by. It´s aways been a fairly
dry high Sonorran ecosystem but populations there are 10 to 20 times what they were when I was a kid,
maybe more in some places. Instead of building east on the flat they head up into the foothills. I guess a better
view is a huge selling point for which they ask top dollar. I blame John Denver for the influx of flatlanders
looking to get ´Rocky Moutain High´. P.s. that little red ball of flame mid-page & on the left May well be my
friend Mike´s old house.
 
Last edited:
I was in the middle of this and am lucky to still have my house. People upwind across the street were not so lucky and blocks away(upwind) looks like a warzone. It looks like the firefighters decided to make a stand on my street as thats pretty much where the fire stopped. Kudos to having a fire hydrant on my street. Just a block away/downwind you would never know. Its hard to fight fires when the wind is over 100mph.

I spent thursday night watching the fires consume louisville from a few miles away on a hilltop/overlook, It was surreal. I watched huge million dollar homes totally ablaze within a minute and gone after 5.

We are lucky to have electricity so keeping the houses warm with electric space heaters (getting to -2f tonight).

Its really hard to comprehend something like this unless you see it in person. People walking around like zombies staring at what used to be their homes. I will provide more pictures on monday when its warm enough to ride.

Here are some for now (first pic is across the street, last one are a few million dollar homes, house prices are insane out here, I was lucky to get in in 1998 when they were still low)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20211231_091123527.jpg
    IMG_20211231_091123527.jpg
    390.1 KB · Views: 202
  • IMG_20211231_095916077.jpg
    IMG_20211231_095916077.jpg
    627.5 KB · Views: 196
  • IMG_20211231_095907929.jpg
    IMG_20211231_095907929.jpg
    833.7 KB · Views: 190
  • IMG_20211231_100018774.jpg
    IMG_20211231_100018774.jpg
    555.1 KB · Views: 202
Last edited:
I was in the middle of this and am lucky to still have my house. People upwind across the street were not so lucky and blocks away(upwind) looks like a warzone. It looks like the firefighters decided to make a stand on my street as thats pretty much where the fire stopped. Kudos to having a fire hydrant on my street. Just a block away/downwind you would never know. Its hard to fight fires when the wind is over 100mph.

I spent thursday night watching the fires consume louisville from a few miles away on a hilltop/overlook, It was surreal

We are lucky to have electricity so keeping the houses warm with electric space heaters (getting to -2f tonight).

Its really hard to comprehend something like this unless you see it in person. People walking around like zombies staring at what used to be their homes. I will provide more pictures on monday when its warm enough to ride.

Here are some for now
This has been a big year for domestic refugees; I don´t see how they manage. Better luck next year
just don´t cover it.
 
Some more pics
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20211231_100908884.jpg
    IMG_20211231_100908884.jpg
    815.9 KB · Views: 189
  • IMG_20211231_100846923.jpg
    IMG_20211231_100846923.jpg
    604.3 KB · Views: 187
  • IMG_20211231_100331627.jpg
    IMG_20211231_100331627.jpg
    476.2 KB · Views: 187
  • IMG_20211231_100053314.jpg
    IMG_20211231_100053314.jpg
    595.4 KB · Views: 196
  • IMG_20211231_095916077.jpg
    IMG_20211231_095916077.jpg
    627.5 KB · Views: 179
  • IMG_20211231_095819774.jpg
    IMG_20211231_095819774.jpg
    565.3 KB · Views: 194
I was in the middle of this and am lucky to still have my house. People upwind across the street were not so lucky and blocks away(upwind) looks like a warzone. It looks like the firefighters decided to make a stand on my street as thats pretty much where the fire stopped. Kudos to having a fire hydrant on my street. Just a block away/downwind you would never know. Its hard to fight fires when the wind is over 100mph.

I spent thursday night watching the fires consume louisville from a few miles away on a hilltop/overlook, It was surreal. I watched huge million dollar homes totally ablaze within a minute and gone after 5.

We are lucky to have electricity so keeping the houses warm with electric space heaters (getting to -2f tonight).

Its really hard to comprehend something like this unless you see it in person. People walking around like zombies staring at what used to be their homes. I will provide more pictures on monday when its warm enough to ride.

Here are some for now (first pic is across the street, last one are a few million dollar homes, house prices are insane out here, I was lucky to get in in 1998 when they were still low)
Thanks for your reply. There’s nothing for me to say except glad to hear you and yours are safe 🙏.
 
Back