norcal burning up

[Daveroo]

well its happening again,from calaveras county to plumas county in the sierra nevada's and from San fransico to north of the napa county wine country,a large fire in napa county has burned to 20,000 + acres ,all just from around midnight,entire tracts of homes,mobile homes,and even a Kmart and strip mall have gone,there were reports of a kiaser hospital that was burning,but that one isnt true,it was completely evac'd though,the 747 super tanker will be used this morning aswell..just got a new report that there is a new fire on and around the sears point raceway.

i was awoken at 5:30am with just non stop sirens passing my home,i turned on my scanner to hear the placer county sheriffs department saying they were code 3 to nevada county,i thought maybe a LE situation,then i heard a deputy say he had never seen anything like what he was seeing.he also said he was seeing flame heights of 200-300 feet high,,,not sure about that though...it is possible but....i doubt it.that fire was reported around 2am and is at 5000+ at 8:47am..

air attack and both tankers were off grass valley at 7am..they usually arent on duty until 10am.

[MrZippy]

Yep, been smelling smoke all night and through this morning. Probably some crazy arsonist out there thinking if he sets fires, then the Devil can't follow him!

[Daveroo]

T944 over flew my home a bit ago while assigned to the lobo fire,but theyre now heading to the 35,000+ acre fire in Santa Rosa,,that fire is actually burning in town.

[PhantomTweak]

Sadly, so many OLD buildings, with all the history associated, have gone up in smoke.
So have many thousands of world famous, award winning grape vines.
Even Calistoga, where I spent many summers at my grandparent's house, and even learned to fly gliders when I turned 14, is being destroyed. Again, so much history, and so many really old mansions and buildings, just.....gone.
I understand they had 40Kt winds overnight, which I am sure helped the flames spread so rapidly.
I hope they catch the arsonist, if it IS one that set it going, and put HIM in the way of the flames. Won't slow them down, buuuut...

Stay safe, all!
Pat☺

[BurningBeard]

My Sister-in-Law lives off of Piner in Santa Rosa, and she has been evacuated. She say 101 is packed (not unusual on a good day). The point is she is in a large Subdivision in Town, not really the outskirts. I hope the animals are safe out at Safari West.

Beard

[lownslo]

Curious... I'm on the west side of Folsom Lake and after sunrise could see smoke off to the west but have yet to smell anything. Heard a couple aircraft come out of KMCC later in the morning and maybe headed up to Grass Valley? Other than that all I know is what I'm seeing on the news. Brings back memories of the late summer fires of the past (Oakland Hills in '91, Atlas Peak in '81, and too many others). Thoughts and prayers for those impacted.

Even Calistoga, where I spent many summers at my grandparent's house, and even learned to fly gliders when I turned 14, is being destroyed.

I learned to fly gliders at KAUN as a teenager in the early 70's but spent many hours flying the ridges above Calistoga. You're right that area has always been a special place. Hate to see this happen to those folks .

Greg

[napamule]

The high winds coming from the North (usual is West) of 30 mph with gusts to 60, and low humidity, blew down power lines (they also are 'old' in that part of the country) at 6 or 8 different places and THEY started the fire(s). Not any arsonist. The trouble started at 10:30 pm. It was evident that is was going to grow due to conditions. So over the dark hours it took off. They have even called in the National Guard around Napa and Santa Rosa. It already consumed 1500 homes and structures. Terrible loss of property. Only 1 casualty so far. It's a terrible shame.
Chuck B
Napamule

[Daveroo]

ive been hearing C130 T133,the 747 T944 and now DC10 T911(may have been 912) flying out of MCC,onl;y T88 and T89 are flying out of grass valley and are assigned to the Lobo fire,theyve broken a new fire,someone had said it had jumped the lines at the collins lake dam ,but the NEU ECC is calling a new start.this is a part of the cascade fire.

to not much smoke in the folsom lake area,wait until the winds shift later today to "down canyon" winds,,it will most likely flow into that entire area.

having been a fire fighter here,as the sacramento valley heats up,the winds blow up slope,or to the east,as everything cools at night,the winds are "down canyon" or blowing to the west.

just another note,the Laport california is where my moms best friend came from and her family owns alot of it still,a fire is burning there,and along jenny lane or road,but shirley got news an hour or so ago,2:33pm now,that her aunts house and the house shirley grew up in are both gone.

[Daveroo]

i just heard on my scanner,theyre now using a copter to evacuate some folks over on the fire in santa rosa.

[BurningBeard]

My Sister-in-Law is back home now, with no electricity. She says they lost 2000 houses and some commercial buildings, a hotel, and a K-Mart. She also said that the fire somehow missed Safari West.

Beard

[Daveroo]

Thats a shame on all the loss,and good thing on the the safari place.the calfire page says 25000 acres,tv 31 said 35000 and kcra3 said 45000 all combined....

[Rami]

Daveroo,

I don't understand something. Didn't California get a significant slug of rain that pulled you out of a multi-year drought? If so, why would there be this level of wildfires? I'm not trying to stir up trouble, I'm just a little mystified as to why things went up like a Roman candle.

[lownslo]

Rami, I'm sure Dave can explain it better, but from one who has lived here most of my life I'll say it has to do with the weather. September and October in this part of the world can be very troublesome from a wildfire standpoint. We always have some form of Indian summer here, and that leads to hot, dry conditions. Which is horrible when combined with a previous wet winter (a you mentioned) that resulted in vastly increased growth of wild vegetation. Mix that increased vegetation and the hot dry conditions and you have the ingredients for what looks to some like a scary, big bomb. These fires are going crazy over all the fuel they have to burn!

HTH,

Greg

[BurningBeard]

I'm at the far north end of the Sacramento Valley, and our humidity is currently 6%. It gets dry especially when we have a north wind which is what this is. When a fire starts they jump on it quickly, but in the dry brush area's like they have in Napa with lots of oak trees and other fuels like manzanita things can burn fast and hot, with the wind it will really spread. You have to remember that around here it stops raining in early June and doesn't really start again until late October.

Beard

[Daveroo]

and to add to Greg and Beards comments,the new growth after that wet winter,fuels are very tall,and as they said,low humidity,winds and we had alot of 100+ temp days in july and august.

the 16 fires that started during last nights wind event have burned in less than 24 hrs.19 hours really,ten pm to 5pm..these 16 fires have burned a combined 88,280 acres,and listening to the scanner,the atlas fire and cascade fires are taking off again.

[SPman]

Doesn't bode well here for in West Australia - we've had a strange moist winter with lots of fuel loading and too wet to burn off - looking like we could be in for something similar our summer - I hope not.
Hope your guys can get on top of it fast, but with those high intensity fires, all you can really do is keep hitting it, try and contain it (Hah!) and pray for a change in the wind and weather. Sounds like the sort of fires we had in Victoria in 2009 (with 110 dead).......

[lownslo]

KCRA3 is reporting 10 dead at this point. Dave, how are the resources holding up? This is an overwhelming event! Fast and ugly!

Greg

[Daveroo]

KCRA3 is reporting 10 dead at this point. Dave, how are the resources holding up? This is an overwhelming event! Fast and ugly!

Greg

Greg i keep hearing that north ops has nothing more to give,seems to me they could pull engines and crews from Nevada or Oregon or even farther away,just before dark i heard T944,T910,T911,T131,T163, all heading for a final drop in the Santa Rosa area.also while i was having dinner and veg fire was toned out near my home here in north auburn,but ive heard nothing since..may have just been a panic'd smoke call...happens.

which reminds me,,a few weeks ago the recology transfer station,fancy way to say "the dump" huh? had a fire,large piles of garbage was piled up waiting to be shoved into the compactor and loaded,,some how it caught fire and burned for many hours.two days later,the final engine left....but i live in a mobile home park off the 25 end of KAUN,aircraft over fly the transfer station when leaving 25,its maybe a bit less then a 1/4 mile from me?..stunk to high heaven ..but the PCSO dispatch got a ton of "crank" calls saying someone was burning thier mother inlaw...made me laugh when i heard the dispatcher say that..lol

[Daveroo]

ust me again,just added all the fires ,CalFire only,north of Yosemite,and only starts from last night,and the number is now 101,152 acres thats a hell of alot of acreage for one day,,still not even 24 hours yet.

[SSI01]

A good friend's mom lives alone (widowed) on a small farm near Sacramento; has there been any activity in that direction?

[FOO FIGHTER]

No fires near Sac, but we get the smoke often enough. Nearest is 60+ miles away.

Scroll past the annoying video:

http://www.abc10.com/news/local/map-...rnia/481988686

No ANG yet at the air attack base at McClellan. They came from as far away as Colorado & Utah last year.

[Daveroo]

hey foo?...have you been able to get over to MCC as yet to get some pics?..i saw on flightradar24 this morning that T02 was enroute to MCC.

[FOO FIGHTER]

Hey Dave,

I drove by there yesterday but didn't take any pics. There was the usual conga line of 747, Coulson C-130 and Neptune's BA-146. The C-130's were flying over my house non-stop all day Sunday fighting the Yuba fire.

There were no ANG C-130's at McClellan but the UH-60's at the Mather ANG base were all painted with the red fire fighting markings. They have mostly been that way all season. VP Pence's Air Force Two and support C-17 from McChord AFB were at Mather and parked at the Western end of the tarmac as well. It was too dark to take any pics.

[FOO FIGHTER]

Went by McClellan yesterday and it remains a hub of fire fighting activity. Two ANG C-130s from the Channel Islands were there along with the usual aircraft. Channel 3's Longranger stopped by to refuel. The air yesterday was really 'soupy', made for bad pictures even at close range.



Grrr, having probs importing images from Imgur.

[FOO FIGHTER]

Ahh, haa. Got it sorted!