It's fire season again

The fire appears to have started at the popular Bear River Campground just West of Colfax. Dry conditions and light winds allowed the fire to jump the river very early on. The fire in the river canyon is now making its own wind moving the fire faster up river. It has reached the base of the dam at Rollins Lake on the East side of the town of Colfax and is spreading to the West shore of the lake. An evac advisory has been issued for the lake's west shore ~6 miles from us.
 
Sierratim said:
The fire appears to have started at the popular Bear River Campground just West of Colfax. Dry conditions and light winds allowed the fire to jump the river very early on. The fire in the river canyon is now making its own wind moving the fire faster up river. It has reached the base of the dam at Rollins Lake on the East side of the town of Colfax and is spreading to the West shore of the lake. An evac advisory has been issued for the lake's west shore ~6 miles from us.
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Best of luck!
 
The winds died down after sun set. The fire retardant air drops and the lack of wind stopped the fire's advance through the night.

The River Fire is at 1,400Ac this AM. 6,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, including the entire town of Colfax. CalFire estimates that 35-40 structures have burned, maybe 2 dozen of them being homes. No deaths have been reported.

Our morning skies are bright blue. Winds are projected to pickup about now and be stronger than yesterday. We'll see if the fire lines they cut through the night hold.

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The River Fire at ~7PM, nearing 2 sq miles burned in less than 4 hours.
 
Sierratim said:
The winds died down after sun set. The fire retardant air drops and the lack of wind stopped the fire's advance through the night.

The River Fire is at 1,400Ac this AM. 6,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, including the entire town of Colfax. CalFire estimates that 35-40 structures have burned, maybe 2 dozen of them being homes. No deaths have been reported.

Our morning skies are bright blue. Winds are projected to pickup about now and be stronger than yesterday. We'll see if the fire lines they cut through the night hold.

View attachment 95476
The River Fire at ~7PM, nearing 2 sq miles burned in less than 4 hours.
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I want to yell "Get Out of There Now !" but you have experience with wildfires and I don't. Stay safe.
 
Art Deco said:
I want to yell "Get Out of There Now !" but you have experience with wildfires and I don't. Stay safe.
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There are a whole lot of factors that go into what is a safe distance from an active wildfire.

Probably the biggest two are wind direction (both current and likely future wind directions) and what kind of terrain is between you and the fire.

If there are strong winds blowing towards you, or likely to be blowing soon, a dozen miles might be uncomfortably close. It helps that high wind events at a given time of year in most places aren't random and usually come from a fairly narrow range of directions.

If there are terrain features that block a fire that can help you a lot. That might be a body of water, or it might be irrigated fields with green vegetation, or it might even be well-managed forest which is likely pretty robust in the face of a wildfire. Although keep in mind that wind matters a lot more than terrain features. Under the wrong conditions wildfires have been able to cross substantial bodies of water (burning material blown by strong winds can ignite fires several miles in front of the actual fire).

It all comes down to having the local knowledge to make a good judgement call. I've lived in the shadow of active wildfires for years and was quite comfortable (although aware and careful) when there were active wildfires within four miles of my home. My recent wildfire drama involved an accidental brush fire that started approximately 1 mile S and downhill from my home, with a strong wind out of the South blowing it right at me up the hill. So when I saw the smoke I skedaddled.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
There are a whole lot of factors that go into what is a safe distance from an active wildfire.

Probably the biggest two are wind direction (both current and likely future wind directions) and what kind of terrain is between you and the fire.

If there are strong winds blowing towards you, or likely to be blowing soon, a dozen miles might be uncomfortably close. It helps that high wind events at a given time of year in most places aren't random and usually come from a fairly narrow range of directions.

If there are terrain features that block a fire that can help you a lot. That might be a body of water, or it might be irrigated fields with green vegetation, or it might even be well-managed forest which is likely pretty robust in the face of a wildfire. Although keep in mind that wind matters a lot more than terrain features. Under the wrong conditions wildfires have been able to cross substantial bodies of water (burning material blown by strong winds can ignite fires several miles in front of the actual fire).

It all comes down to having the local knowledge to make a good judgement call. I've lived in the shadow of active wildfires for years and was quite comfortable (although aware and careful) when there were active wildfires within four miles of my home. My recent wildfire drama involved an accidental brush fire that started approximately 1 mile S and downhill from my home, with a strong wind out of the South blowing it right at me up the hill. So when I saw the smoke I skedaddled.
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It really feels wrong to hit Like on that post, but you know what I mean. The only way I know to feel safe about wildfires or hurricanes is to be at least 500 miles away.
A true wimp, indeed.
 
The winds have shifted. The River Fire is no longer advancing towards us, though it is now over 2,400Ac and only 30% contained.
Screenshot_20210806-090657_Google News.jpg

The River Fire is the smoke plume in the lower right edge of this NOAA photo. The much larger Dixie Fire is just above this.

The shifting winds turned the Dixie Fire smoke plume to the South, right over us, by morning.
0806211007_Film1.jpg

The smoke came down to ground level in front of our house this AM. It was like a thick fog. The sun is still a dim red ball in the sky this evening.

There's a light dusting of ash over our property today. Very noticable on the black driveway and roofs.

We had a wonderful ride yesterday, but stayed inside most of today to avoid the smoke.
 
Several weeks ago a fire was started south of the popular Lake Tahoe area. It appears that the fire was intentionally set. This is the Caldor fire that, along with the much larger Dixie Fire to the north, has been keeping the Lake Tahoe basin filled with smoke at the 'very unhealthy' level for weeks. Our riding has been curtailed by smoke, but we get enough clear days to stay active.

The Caldor Fire jumped HWY 50 several days ago closing this popular east west route to Tahoe and into Nevada. Last evening multiple spot fires head of the main Caldor Fire crested Echo Summit above the Lake Tahoe basin. CalFire reports that fire containment has dropped to 13% with over 175,000 acres burned so far.

I've lived in California my entire life. This is the first time in my memory that evacuation orders have been issued for the Tahoe basin. The hospital in South Lake Tahoe is being emptied with only emergency crews staying. Nearby residents are under an evac advisory.

Screenshot_20210830-094428_Pixlr.jpg

Darker red are areas with active fires burning. Lighter red are mandatory evac orders, yellow is advisory with the exception of the S Lake Tahoe hospital. One of our favorite Summer rides is on the west shore of Tahoe through the Tahoma area in the upper left end of the yellow zone. Smoke has kept us away from the lake for weeks now.
 
The town of South Lake Tahoe went under a mandatory evac order at 11AM today, shortly after my last post. Our local digital services have been disrupted by the fires since ~10AM so we're just now learning about the new orders ourselves.

E-EDZL7VQAEtbTB.jpeg

Evacuation traffic leaving South Lake Tahoe this afternoon. The haze is of course wild fire smoke.

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The fire fight at Echo Summit from Axios.com

Fire season doesn't usually get into full swing until next month...
 
Sierratim said:
The town of South Lake Tahoe went under a mandatory evac order at 11AM today, shortly after my last post. Our local digital services have been disrupted by the fires since ~10AM so we're just now learning about the new orders ourselves.

View attachment 98411
Evacuation traffic leaving South Lake Tahoe this afternoon. The haze is of course wild fire smoke.

View attachment 98412
The fire fight at Echo Summit from Axios.com

Fire season doesn't usually get into full swing until next month...
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Doesn't make next month (when fire season starts) sound very promising, does it? California went from some of the best weather in the nation to the worst in just a few years. Florida and the whole gulf coast seems to be be doing the same thing on the East coast with hurricane floods not wildfires. It's speeding up the damages....
 
blancolirio on you tube has an excellent analysis of the present situation with Caldor fire. He will also have periodic updates.
 
The threat to Cal. & the PNW is directly related to the I-5 corridor creating drought conditions. Shutting
down I-5 to all but necessary cargo & mass transit is extreme but might alleviate the issue. The odds
of that happening are not good. Clearing away all the dry brown grass that keeps moisture from soil
would also be a really good idea.
 
john peck said:
Terrified at the threat of fire in my neck of the woods I danced for a goodly bit of time last night. I am now
taking full credit for the abundant rainfall now taking place, though I probably had nothing to do with it.:rolleyes:
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3 for 3, IIRC. The government really needs your services.
 
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My step-brother, his wife, and their dog just evacuated their home at the north end of Lake Tahoe. No point on waiting for the knock on the door he says! They've headed to his daughter's place north of San Fran.

Couldn't agree more.

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