California WildFires 2017

[Hatfield]

That body-cam rescue reminded me so much of Dante's Peak, when they were driving and you just see ash flying at the windshield. And then the fires out the side window. Freaky and terrifying.

So far most of the names they have released appear to be elderly and I feel as if that is going to continue when more names of the deceased come out.

So heartbreaking.

Re BBM

Yes this is a heartbreaking news story. I cannot believe how many people have died in the fire already. The total is approaching 40. It stands at 34 or 35 people died depending on which news article. And many missing unaccounted for.

This is just horrible.

I never could understand why California gets these fires and when I finally got a chance to visit there I found out why. Some parts of the state just do not get a lot of rain at all.

I was there for almost a month and I had brought an umbrella with me because I had never been before. By the 2nd week of beautiful sunny predictable weather I threw my cheap umbrella in the trash. Each day was like the last. Just beautiful weather and sunny and not many clouds. It was then that i realized how dry the grasses and land gets there in some places. Just not much annual rainfall in some large swaths of california. Its also what makes it a beatiful place to live because they dont get much nasty weather.

 

[zencompass]

“"During the many years of the evaluated chemicals’ use in firefighting, reports of adverse health effects have been limited to skin and eye irritation and potential allergic reactions,” concluded a study released by the U.S. Forest Service in 2007."

"But it’s a different story with aquatic life. Several scientific studies have found the chemicals are toxic to fish and frogs."

“In still bodies of water like lakes and ponds, concentrated doses of retardant can immediately kill fish,” according to a 2004 report by Timothy Ingalsbee at the Western Fire Ecology Center, “or the nitrogen and phosphorus in retardants can lead to algae blooms that consumes oxygen and kills fish slowly over time.”



http://www.firehouse.com/news/12239233/wildfire-retardant-toxic-to-frogs-fish

 

[Hatfield]

Dear Hatfield,

That was a great catch (as usual!)

It's been difficult for me to find studies on the effects of the fire retardant material on animals and fish. This is surprising to me because apparently this has been manufactured since the late 1960's.

Thanks. Yeah i bet it is like a catch-22 for them. Nobody wants to spray toxic chemicals all over the land but then again they dont want the forests to burn to the ground. So i guess they have to use whats available.

This fire is a bad one. Really bad. Ive luckily never been too close to a large blaze like that but we once had one a few towns over and I do remember the smell of smoke in the air was scary. The fire was miles and miles away and yet we still smelled the smoke for days.

I think inhaling the smoke for people is going to be really bad because it probably goes for miles in every direction. I am praying for them out there to get a break in the weather and hope firefighters can knock down the main ones.

 

[Hatfield]

Whenever i hear of these really bad fires I always get sad thinking of the animals. We humans have it bad enough but the thought of the terrified animals also makes me cringe.

This photo taken during a past bad fire made news as an award winning photograph.
Click on the link inside the article near the top to see the high resolution image. Its an amazing photo and also sad of course.

Tears for the animals and people affected by the CA fire.

Near top of article you can click on where it says "(see high-resolution version of the photo)"

https://www.thoughtco.com/most-famous-wildfire-photograph-ever-taken-1342839

 

[Bird of Paradise]

An older article, but worth reading as it explains the lessons learned from the Oakland Hills fire of '91.
There are more articles posted on the internet on the anniversary of the fire, but this one gives a lot of information about how our firefighters weren't fully prepared and how communication was enhanced since the fire.

How Firefighting Changed in California Following 1991’s Oakland-Berkeley Hills Fire

http://www.govtech.com/em/disaster/California-Oakland-Berkeley-Hills-Fire.html

 

[Spellbound]

Trying to catch up to you all, and very appreciative of all the updates and info available here!

Sending all my hopes and love to all who can use a little extra TLC.

An earthquake on top of everything else that is happening? When does this end? Prayers that it ends soon.

 

[Bird of Paradise]

Because we all need some good news. A recent update I received from one of the rescue organizations:

"Day 4, and animals continue to arrive as the fires spread further North. We are getting ready for more animals to arrive from Napa."

"We have been inundated with phone calls and emails offering help, and we apologize that we are delayed in responding. Just know that we appreciate your offers, and will get to you as soon as we can. We have people driving all over the Bay Area on a daily basis picking up animals and supplies. It has been amazing.

Hopalong Animal Rescue has 6 full time staff, 340 volunteers and 380 foster homes. In the last week, our volunteers grew to 475, and foster homes increased to 575. The outpouring of support has been incredible."

:loveyou:

 

[everybodhi]

Re BBM

Yes this is a heartbreaking news story. I cannot believe how many people have died in the fire already. The total is approaching 40. It stands at 34 or 35 people died depending on which news article. And many missing unaccounted for.

This is just horrible.

I never could understand why California gets these fires and when I finally got a chance to visit there I found out why. Some parts of the state just do not get a lot of rain at all.

I was there for almost a month and I had brought an umbrella with me because I had never been before. By the 2nd week of beautiful sunny predictable weather I threw my cheap umbrella in the trash. Each day was like the last. Just beautiful weather and sunny and not many clouds. It was then that i realized how dry the grasses and land gets there in some places. Just not much annual rainfall in some large swaths of california. Its also what makes it a beatiful place to live because they dont get much nasty weather.

It doesn't rain here all summer, the rains come in the winter and then, if it rains too much the rivers start flooding. That happens about every ten years. It turns green here in the winter, all those dry yellow hills look like green velvet in the winter. I moved here from Maine, winter in Northern California is like spring in Maine.

 

[everybodhi]

Because we all need some good news. A recent update I received from one of the rescue organizations:

"Day 4, and animals continue to arrive as the fires spread further North. We are getting ready for more animals to arrive from Napa."

"We have been inundated with phone calls and emails offering help, and we apologize that we are delayed in responding. Just know that we appreciate your offers, and will get to you as soon as we can. We have people driving all over the Bay Area on a daily basis picking up animals and supplies. It has been amazing.

Hopalong Animal Rescue has 6 full time staff, 340 volunteers and 380 foster homes. In the last week, our volunteers grew to 475, and foster homes increased to 575. The outpouring of support has been incredible."

:loveyou:

There's a mountain lion walking around the town of Fairfield.
[video=twitter;918988430314475520]https://twitter.com/FairfieldPolice/status/918988430314475520[/video]

 

[everybodhi]

Hey everyone. Do you know about the frozen health food company, Amy's?
They are probably in your grocery store.
They are a Santa Rosa based company and they give a lot of good food to food banks. They have a restaurant in Rosa and it is free right now.
They are a great company.
Buy Amy's, and give them some support, if you can.

 

[Damarna]

Hey everyone. Do you know about the frozen health food company, Amy's?
They are probably in your grocery store.
They are a Santa Rosa based company and they give a lot of good food to food banks. They have a restaurant in Rosa and it is free right now.
They are a great company.
Buy Amy's, and give them some support, if you can.

One of my favorites!! Thank you for reminding me to stock up.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[MsFacetious]

Woman escapes Las Vegas massacre only to have Santa Rosa home burn down

http://www.ktvu.com/news/woman-escapes-las-vegas-massacre-only-to-have-santa-rosa-home-burn-down

 

[Lilibet]

Hey everyone. Do you know about the frozen health food company, Amy's?
They are probably in your grocery store.
They are a Santa Rosa based company and they give a lot of good food to food banks. They have a restaurant in Rosa and it is free right now.
They are a great company.
Buy Amy's, and give them some support, if you can.

Being past the stage of life where I want to do much cooking, a frequent question in our household is “Honey, which Amy’s frozen dinner do you want tonight?” :giggle:

 

[KALI]

I live in a rural community in Southern Calif. In San Diego County called Fallbrook. You may have heard of Fallbrook via news media as we've been hit hard with fires and the McStay Family murders.

IN 2003 we were devastated by the San Diego fires which caused us to be evacuated for a week. National guard deployed here and hundreds of homes burned.

I evacated my 2 horses and 6 dogs. We own a restaurant here, so had to scramble to pack ice as well to try to save some food inventory.

It took our community years to recover. Fortunately, we did not lose our home to the fires and wonderful people brought a horse trailor and loaded our horses and moved them to safety for a week.

Anyway, we've had to evacuate a few times more due to fires, 2007 was another bad year. But not as bad as 2003 and definately not as bad as these poor people in the Napa Valley areas.

With all of this news and our fire department hosting a planned open house, I decided to go.

Glad I did.

It was near the end of the open house so I had a chance for some one on one time with the head driver of this beautiful fire truck.

He let me climb up into the drivers seat and check it all out whilst I asked him tons of questions. To continue...

 

[KALI]

This truck was 10 years old. He said, thats near the end of it's life span for So. Calif. As it gets used hard.

Without any equipment (hoses, axes and tons of other equipment) her base price is $600,000,

She gets about 3 miles per gallon of fuel. She can go up to 65 miles per hour maximum.

Sorry, I forget how large the fuel and water tanks are and how heavy she is. Trust, that she's BIG.

He said that to be the driver, you need to study and take classes before your tests for about a year.

We have 5 fire stations in our community and 1 fire truck at each station.

 

[Bird of Paradise]

Wildfires, now up to 100 miles wide, threaten more California wineries; death toll now 40

https://www.dcourier.com/news/2017/oct/15/wildfires-now-100-miles-wide-threaten-more-califor/

 

[SCHMAE]

How many are missing right now ? It's shocking how ' little ' coverage this is getting in the news. They touch on it a half a minute and then move to politics or celebrity stuff. The world is upside down.
Anyone have a good live feed local news channel to share? TIA

 

[zencompass]

Good morning,

Here is an article about the press conference held yesterday (Oct 14) in Santa Rosa with Governor Brown and
Senators Feinstein and Harris:

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/...-and-harris-will-visit-santa-rosa-amid-fires/

From article (above):

"Emergency state and federal officials, along with Sonoma County authorities, spent 3 hours answering people’s questions in a town hall setting. While a few voiced frustration, many seemed satisfied with what they heard from Brown and the senators."

“I was just glad they showed and are giving voice to the community,” said David Lear, a Santa Rosa artist who lost his home in the Foothill neighborhood early Monday morning."

"Brown said “the horror is something none of us we will ever forget. It’s not over yet."”

 

[zencompass]

Dear Schmae,

I agree that this catastrophe is huge and it needs to be front and center on the news.

I hope, too, that someone here can direct us to a live tv station for updates.

Praying hard for the folks there and the courageous and exhausted fire fighters and law enforcement.

 

[SCHMAE]

http://www.ktvu.com/live