Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge California Fires

I hope all you guys and gals are safe out there and don't lose anything. Our prayers are with you. Stay safe!!!

+ 1.

I saw the devastation caused with the wildfires in certain parts of Greece in August (while I was touring).
It makes you see the wind in another light.

I recall Dwight mentioned going north to Canada to meet family over the weekend and haven't seen him on here yet.

Are you ok Dwight? Other members?

Much of the southern California has a range type called "chaparrel", with a major shrub component in the genus Ceanothus. Most Ceanothus species are categorized as "fire adapted", meaning that following fire, it has a competitive advantage in resprouting/re-establishing itself on the landscape. Decadent stands build up fuel in the form of dead/drying woody stems It may be arguable how prevelant fire was in "presettlement" times. However the fact remains that once lit, Chapparel burns hot and fast. Mix in ground cover of straw dry exotic annual grasses, high temps, single digit humidities and desert origin wind, and you have real potential. My understanding is the vast majority of recent (30 years) wildfire have been human caused, as opposed to lightning strikes.

To insult to injury, winter rains often lead to serious mudslides on fire affected landscapes.

None of which is a great comfort to those living in the path. Good luck and good fortune.

jh

Weed nerd.

Two miles from my brother in laws house in San Diego ....they are bugging out now.

Too bad the government and enviro wackos out there forbid doing anything to abate the danger before the fires start. While I sympathize with those in the path of the flames, it’s not as if it has never happened before or they don’t know what to do to minimize the danger. Whether it’s living in a below sea level city near the sea in hurricane country or a brush filled canyon where wildfires are common there are obviously foreseeable threats that should be addressed and are not.

In California there are instances of homeowners being charged with crimes because they cleared brush away from their homes to abate the fire threat. This should be a huge political scandal but since the inmates are running the asylum out there it will not be.

Phil,

The ship I am working on is about 100 miles West of the Channel Islands (they are just off the coast and run from Oxnard, CA south to Los Angels). Today the winds are mild and the smell of smoke is no longer present, but this last Sat, Sun and Mon the winds were near gale force and the smell of smoke was very heavy. It was really amazing that the smoke would still be present near the water more than 100 miles from fires.

Tom

There aren't any fires in or near central San Diego (where I'm at). They're all prettymuch in North County and in the south east. I heard this morning that an estimated 1000 homes have been destroyed.

Hopefully they're able to make more progress today.

Hope everyone keeps safe in California, saw the news this morning

My relatives live in Del Mar.....heard that most of it is mandatory evacuation.

Some friends and their families in Irvine and Laguna Beach are safe thus far.

I just stayed with a friend in Del Mar last month. I better call her.

One of the ME in our office parents live in Del Mar. They are evacuated.....Her father told her their pool is completely black with soot fallen into it.

She is unable to concentrate today as you might imagine.

Boo dude. That's a bummer.

If you want to check the progress of the various fires go to www.calfires.com

Was just watching the news, some 1500 structures damaged or destroyed. I heard yesterday from where I used to work that a fire was less than a mile from the home of one of my co-workers. Good luck to all you folks out there.

California Fire status. This sucks. Can't see. Can't breath. The sky is orange. 250 mile front line. The streets are white with ash. Dogs are barking. They sense the danger. Hospitals are full of patients who can't breath. It is horrible. No one is riding in SoCal these days. We are all in this one together.

I left San Diego on Monday - on the bike (thats a whole different story!) - there was ash in the air in Pacific Beach, you could smell the smoke, and the sunset on Sunday was pretty cool-weird, it went down into the smoke, the horizon was totally obscured (most of that was coming I think from what they were then calling the Witch Fire in northern SD county - that seems to be the worst one). Keeping all those people in my prayers.
Becky

From the descriptions of charcoal briquet sized chunks of embers being tossed two to three miles by 100 mph winds it would seem that the brush clearing discussion is moot.

A couple years ago firefighters were inspecting the remains of a burnt-out house, in Florida I believe, and found the only thing that didn't burn was a container of used diapers .

That led to some experiments and they found that the moisture-absorbent stuff in the disposable diapers held so much water that it was an effective flame-retardant.

So they have been spraying the water-soaked gell on homes in wildfire's path. The reports I heard said it works. I'll try to find out more.

Okay, it's called Thermo-Gel, distributed by KC Specialty Products. One gallon of the concentrate mixes with 100 gallons of water and is sprayed over the house, lawn, whatever.
Might not stop everything, but gives a fighting chance.