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This Fire Really Sounds Bad

It is very bad & sad. Have friends in area.
The Sierras have been hammered by beetles & drought. Half the trees are dead now too.
 
I'm sitting here wondering why urban thinning hasn't taken place? (Wondering if public lands in the surrounding urban inter phase areas have had a priority to thin and alleviate this situation? The Middle East Fork project took place where there's a 1/100th the number of homes in the way, and now the upper East fork urban inter phase project is going so the homes and cabins have a lesser chance of burning up in wildfires. Compared to these parts of California the total risk is far less in the East Fork for this type of catastrophe than Cali. Is this because there's money to be made by corporate America, using this rally cry, not really caring about the highest priority areas? Just a thought.
 
My Mom, sister, and her kids evacuated last night. My brother stayed behind to try and help out where he can, but he is pretty close to having to get out to. I can't believe how fast the fire spread. It started yesterday and it already is surrounding Chico. My family has two houses and a small business on the SE side of Chico. I am hoping that the structures survive. I have alot childhood friends that lost homes of 20 years in Paradise. Very sad, my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
 
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shoots-straight said:
I'm sitting here wondering why urban thinning hasn't taken place? (Wondering if public lands in the surrounding urban inter phase areas have had a priority to thin and alleviate this situation? The Middle East Fork project took place where there's a 1/100th the number of homes in the way, and now the upper East fork urban inter phase project is going so the homes and cabins have a lesser chance of burning up in wildfires. Compared to these parts of California the total risk is far less in the East Fork for this type of catastrophe than Cali. Is this because there's money to be made by corporate America, using this rally cry, not really caring about the highest priority areas? Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Google earth man, totally different types of forests. I'm not claiming to have any knowledge about thinning, that is the main management tactic in the area I'm from as well, but just a quick glace at the CA fires and you realize it's a completely different environment they are dealing with.

From street view in the heart of the Camp fire in area that burned.

cafire.jpg
 
I worked on so many propossed thinning projects ,urban interface peer review boards, funding for local communities & counties for schools & jobs & such w/USDA-FS in CA ,I cannot remember & very little has ever been done.

And this Paridise fire is just in the foothills of Sierra's & could jump 99..........scale.
The places burning in So Cal around Ventura just burned recently too.
 
ishootdasmallones said:
My Mom, sister, and her kids evacuated last night. My brother stayed behind to try and help out where he can, but he is pretty close to having to get out to. I can't believe how fast the fire spread. It started yesterday and it already is surrounding Chico. My family has two houses and a small business on the SE side of Chico. I am hoping that the structures survive. I have alot childhood friends that lost homes of 20 years in Paradise. Very sad, my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Click to expand...

Prayers to you and your family, my aunt and uncle were in the heart of the Carr fire this summer. Hope at least everyone makes it out safe. I was able to use the site above to check and see if their house had burned throughout the fire. If their isn't a MODIS detection on the structure or immediately adjacent it's probably in the clear. Also there was drone imagery available pretty soon after the Carr fire that you could view to see what structures survived.
 
wllm1313 said:
Prayers to you and your family, my aunt and uncle were in the heart of the Carr fire this summer. Hope at least everyone makes it out safe. I was able to use the site above to check and see if their house had burned throughout the fire. If their isn't a MODIS detection on the structure or immediately adjacent it's probably in the clear. Also there was drone imagery available pretty soon after the Carr fire that you could view to see what structures survived.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thank you.
 
wllm1313 said:
Google earth man, totally different types of forests. I'm not claiming to have any knowledge about thinning, that is the main management tactic in the area I'm from as well, but just a quick glace at the CA fires and you realize it's a completely different environment they are dealing with.

From street view in the heart of the Camp fire in area that burned.

View attachment 89850
Click to expand...

From this picture, the area is one giant cheat grass patch. Cured cheat grass with 50 mile winds and a spark is not good.

When I was 7 to 9 years old we lived in the foothills of the Sierra's near Sonora. It was a hot dry brushy tinder box there. I remember my family doing a lot of thinning and burning when appropriate to try to keep our place fire safe. 50 mile an hour winds and no humidity it's hard to have a fire safe property.
 
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Blows my mind that thousands are homeless, with nothing left. So many dead . And so many missing.
Thousands in tents being cared for by a few. And Thanksgiving & winter heading their way.
I have seen lots of news feed with no answers from anyone on what these poor folks will do.

It is amazing to me that not one of the ubber wealthy,dotcom billionaires who have made their $ in CA have stepped forward to at least temporaraly house them. Could be paid for by the pocket change they have,and be a tax write off. Could build them a whole new town and not have their bank accounts dented.

Even sadder is no plan from FEMA mentioned. None from Prez,Gov., or anyone else. Just head shaking.
No hundreds of truckloads of food & water & proper tents & shelters like if a hurricane had hit another state......or maybe it is just because it is in CA.

It is a sad state of affairs if you ask me.
 
shoots-straight said:
I'm sitting here wondering why urban thinning hasn't taken place? (Wondering if public lands in the surrounding urban inter phase areas have had a priority to thin and alleviate this situation? The Middle East Fork project took place where there's a 1/100th the number of homes in the way, and now the upper East fork urban inter phase project is going so the homes and cabins have a lesser chance of burning up in wildfires. Compared to these parts of California the total risk is far less in the East Fork for this type of catastrophe than Cali. Is this because there's money to be made by corporate America, using this rally cry, not really caring about the highest priority areas? Just a thought.
Click to expand...
I'm sure it varies, but in a couple pictures I saw the fire jumped house to house with the trees remaining largely unburned.
 
Though not related to the Camp Fire, the City of Redding dealt with similar destruction on a smaller scale with the Carr Fire - 8 people died and 1700 structures were lost.

After the ashes cool on this fire, it will be interesting to see something similar to this: https://redding.maps.arcgis.com/app....html?appid=60abe6c7170244cfbf784ff828627f66#

Drone imagery really brings home how insane fires in this chunk of California in densely populated areas are. In the app at the link shared above, click on those 360 degree symbols like the one I circled in red. It's out of this world and is some of the most shocking imagery I've ever seen.

Like RobG mentioned above, you'll see rows of houses turned to ash with trees still standing in between them.
 

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The "hopscotch" or random nature of destruction you describe is mainly from spotting. The amount of embers generated during these wind events is unreal. The combination of strong winds with thousands of embers and not enough firefighters leads to this. Even fire resistive houses were destroyed. Embers ignite landscaping, landscaping fire moves into a fence or patio furniture, that moves into the eves, and into the attic. When there is nobody around to put that bush or fence out, that's what happens.
California fires are becoming downright dangerous and scary. I was involved in the Carr fire, and it was a sobering experience.
 
Building materials, siding, roofing and decks play a big part in how homes fair in events like this. Defensible space also does, and I've seen numerous pictures of homes where it was seriously lacking.
 
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