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Thread: Northern California wildfires

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Northern California wildfires

    Some of the worst fires in the state's history are raging right now in California wine country.

    2000 homes (!!) have been destroyed, mostly in the cities of Santa Rosa and Napa.

    17 have died, but 180 more people are "unaccounted for", and presumably some will be found dead.

    Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out.



    Two of the dead were a couple aged 98 and 100, who lived near Napa. Presumably they were too old and/or slow to escape quickly enough.

    Mary Beth (Hollywood Dave's ex) posted on Facebook that her home almost was destroyed, but that they lucked out and the fire stopped down the street. Their dog was trapped in the house due to evacuation orders which were given while they were gone.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/10/us/cal...apa/index.html

    Here's an image of the fires from a plane:


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    All Sorts of Sports gut's Avatar
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    thread could just be re-titled "Summer 2017 west of the Rockies".

    everything was on fire. It rained ash in portland for the first time since 1980 last month.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gut View Post
    thread could just be re-titled "Summer 2017 west of the Rockies".

    everything was on fire. It rained ash in portland for the first time since 1980 last month.
    My summer vacation was during the BC fires.

    Fortunately it only made a minor impact on my trip, but I almost canceled it and ate the airfare because I thought it was going to completely ruin it.

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    My understanding is that big fires August-October are a part of the natural ecosystem in the forests west of the Rockies.

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    Name:  B94E5A34-161F-466C-A428-F56ACE51AEF1.jpeg
Views: 175
Size:  440.9 KBthis was my friends house

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    Canadrunk limitles's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Suicide King View Post
    Name:  B94E5A34-161F-466C-A428-F56ACE51AEF1.jpeg
Views: 175
Size:  440.9 KBthis was my friends house
    sad stuff

    They should build homes out of the same materials used in the trash cans in the foreground

     
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      Suicide King: Lol

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    Platinum ftpjesus's Avatar
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    Just wanted to add a little to this story..

    Several of my family on my dads side live up North of The Bay area mostly around Petaluma (as well as San Jose further north as they all work in the Tech industry) i have two cousins and my great uncle (My grandfathers youngest brother who is a retired MD and 85yrs old) and his wife.. My cousin has been tweeting alot right now they are safe however they have been warned that evacuations may have to be ordered if the fire shifts and moves significantly at night as its been shifting back SW over night after the Diablo winds (the ones feeding the explosive fire growth in the day time blowing nearly from due west at 40+MPH). Several of her coworkers have already been forced out of their homes and even know already likely their homes are completely gone as they have resorted to evacuating whole towns en masse now to try and save lives.. The death toll is nowhere near Vegas however there is a very legit concern it will exceed Vegas by 4 fold possibly as over 200 people are currently missing and unaccounted for in the fire areas already burned or likely to be burned..

    Also if your a wine drinker you can forget it its likely at this point a massive portion of the wineries are going to be total losses up there many not just losing their crops but the entire wineries have burned to the ground buildings equipment and all. That area is responsible for 85% of the entire US Wine industry so the effects are going to be devastating for middle aged women everywhere (sorry little humor to a rather dark story).

    I think what irritates me is theres been news coverage showing the smoke and crap down near Disney Land in Orange County while the worst of it is North of San Fran and nowhere near that area.. Maybe its because CalFire has done an amazing job keeping the area cleared out and the news media hates not having '"show and tell" (Newsmedia doesnt realize theyre being done a favor with how fast the fires are moving to keep as many civilians as safe as they can). I juse hope for the best for my family up there we've never been massively close but as we've all gotten older they are some of the only family I have left on my dads side now outside of my Dads sister and my 1st cousin and his family living in Colorado.

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    Platinum ftpjesus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    My understanding is that big fires August-October are a part of the natural ecosystem in the forests west of the Rockies.
    Actually fire season is usually dying down here in the SW and Western States by now.. Sure we get piddly ones now and then but the worst is usually starting late april/early May and through the Monsoon season which runs till Mid September (lightening causes alot of these fires in very remote locales). Early in the season is when humidity levels are dangerously low and dry.. (here in AZ, NV, CA humidity levels can drop into the teens and even single digits at times making anything flammable nearly explosive as it dries out due to the lack of humidity and then becomes fodder for any fires). Some of you may recall the 19 FFs who died here in AZ in June of 2013 which was well into the heart of wildfire season with temps here in AZ near 120 degrees it was in the low 100s up near Yarnell with humidity barely around 10% as I recall along with winds its just a recipe for disaster..

    California is a weird creature in itself as it has the unique beast known as the Santa Anna winds down Southern part of Cali and Diablo winds further North they are all the same.. They are hot dry winds which just push fires rapidly.. Despite the large amounts of rain California got which many are wondering how did this happen with all the rain up north.. Well what it didnt do was do anything to alleviate the massive amounts of fuel for wildfires to get running.. All the rain did was sure increase ground water but the dried out brush, grasses, pinion pine and Chapparel (which is some nasty shit when it burns its like damn near watching a roman candle because the sap will actually explode when the tree is burning) was still all there just watiing for a spark from a lightening strike or a cigarette tossed out a window or even a campfire left unattended..

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