It's fire season again

Art Deco said:
Thought you might be due for flood and mud next month.
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Probably not until OCT then various parts of So Cal slide into the ocean every year...😆

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Jones Fire, S Yuba River canyon. 08/19/2020 - PM. theunion.com
 
We don't get fires in the humid NE, but we seem to have the 100 year flood thing figured out. We get them about every decade or so, nowadays. 2011 iIRC.
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Art Deco said:
So that's what they call a small blaze today ? :oops:
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At least in California...

Fires in steep canyons like this quickly create their own heat-driven upslope winds that drive the fire uphill faster than a man can run. Very dangerous if you're not paying close attention, hence the large mandatory evacuation areas around these types of fires.
 
Our local Jones Fire is now 25% contained with CALFIRE estimating 100% containment by the 25th. 21 structures have burned, including 6 homes. 4 firefighters have been injured but thankfully no fatalities.

Ef1mLC7UYAMgdMl.jpeg

Dozer silhouetted against the Jones Fire as the struggle to contain the fire went through the night. Photo by CALFIRE.

Air crews have already delivered more fire retardant to this one fire than for all of last year. Flights continue this morning. This VIDEO CLIP shows a drop, courtesy of CALFIRE.

Our air quality is much better, but smoke is in the air. I think I'll do a short ride today.
 
Sierratim said:
Our local Jones Fire is now 25% contained with CALFIRE estimating 100% containment by the 25th. 21 structures have burned, including 6 homes. 4 firefighters have been injured but thankfully no fatalities.

View attachment 63092
Dozer silhouetted against the Jones Fire as the struggle to contain the fire went through the night. Photo by CALFIRE.

Air crews have already delivered more fire retardant to this one fire than for all of last year. Flights continue this morning. This VIDEO CLIP shows a drop, courtesy of CALFIRE.

Our air quality is much better, but smoke is in the air. I think I'll do a short ride today.
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Good news! Fingers crossed. I had heard one pilot crashed and died. Was that a different fire?
 
J.R. said:
Good news! Fingers crossed. I had heard one pilot crashed and died. Was that a different fire?
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I'm guessing it was a different fire. There are a lot to choose from right now, 367 at last count. The morning CALFIRE Report doesn't list any fatalites for our Jones Fire.
 
We normally would have had air quality issues here from forest fires, but this year we haven't had any that have impacted us here. Based on the fact it's near the end of August, we've likely dodged it this year. But, to quote a famous catcher from NY, "it's never over until it's over" as I knock on wood.

We've had a relatively wet summer, and as I have just returned from a 2000 km road trip north and back from Northern Alberta with no signs of fire, it looks like a lot of the province has fared the same.

One contributing factor must be the substantially lower human impact due to the travel restrictions imposed because of Covid. Too many forest fires in this part of the world are caused by careless people.
 
Northern California has had a very dry season. Combined with millions of standing dead beetle kill trees and it's a receipe for for a very active fire season that is likely to continue into October when the rains come.
 
Sierratim said:
Northern California has had a very dry season. Combined with millions of standing dead beetle kill trees and it's a receipe for for a very active fire season that is likely to continue into October when the rains come.
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Beetle kill trees are a common site here too. We drove the Icefield Parkway from Banff to Jasper and it was actually worse the farther north we got. Without the hordes of tourists, it was actully easy to visit some of the attractions, and there was parking. That is NOT the norm in August!
 
Ah, the advantages of sunny California!
With my technical skills, I could have doubled my income & tripled the taxes I paid by living there. On the fault, or in the fire prone country just inland. I'd of spent 4 hours a day commuting in a car to achieve the 30' distance from the neighbors I have here.
Instead I moved here. I'm a queer duck in the land of farms food plants and conveyor pushers (at work).
But the main risk here is the Ohio, which may flood in future as badly as 1937, when it filled my city house by 8". Didn't damage the plaster walls or the poplar floors & siding, obsolete products no longer sold or installed. We do get tornadoes, last F4 in 1973. I have a basement surrounded by cinder block to retire to.
I like where I live, convenient to shopping, banking, bus service, the county hospital, the symphony, high speed internet.
I'm planning to replace my crumbling cinder block foundation with 6 concrete piers 25' into the silt, with steel beams on top supporting the house. Also jack the house up 40", which means more stairs. Very inspired by what they are doing to the remainer houses on Staten Island in NYC. Trouble is, no contractor in this area ever did that or even thought of doing that. 2" thick concrete perimeter walls around the basement is what one bidder recommended. Goes with those partical board walls they build all the $300000 mansions out of these days. This house is built of poplar lumber. I paid 1.4 year's salary for it. Paid off since 1991.
 
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Well I spoke too soon about the air quality here. California smoke has arrived in western Canada...
 
Art Deco said:
Yep. Much better coverage. 10,800 lighting strikes in 72 hrs. :oops: Like a cosmic machine gun aimed at CA.
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Note that from the above report that two DC-10s and 1 747 are working the LNU complex near Lake Berryessa. Those are the only heavy and superheavy firefighting aircraft outside of Russia -- which has a conversion kit for an IL-76 but I do not know how many they have -- probably not very many.

Even if you look at Medium Air Tankers (1000-10000 Gallons) in the US there really aren't that many -- probably fewer than 100.

Oh, and here is an update -- 175000 people now evacuated:

wildfiretoday.com

Briefing on the largest California fires - Wildfire Today

Briefing on largest fires in California August 22, 2020
wildfiretoday.com wildfiretoday.com
 
On the bright side, all evacuation orders related to our little Jones Fire have been lifted. All roads are open. Fire crews are on target of 100% containment by TUES.

Still lots of smoke, but much of it could be coming from the larger fires to the East and West of us. The sun is still an orange ball through the day.

There is a 'Red Flag Warning' in effect through Monday with more thunder showers and lightening in the forecast. If we get rain with the lightening, no problem. Without rain, they'll be more fires. 😔
 
"Where's a sharpie when you need one?"

Looks like it was drawn in already

Screen Shot 2020-08-23 at 1.27.55 PM.png


Having never lived in fire/hurricane country it is hard to imagine how devastating it can be. Best to all out there!
 
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