The Wildfires Thread

[China]

 

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

My nephew is in Sacramento, his video feed for the games today were about a minute delayed.  He said it's because of the smoke.  Dunno.

[abdcskins]

I went for a walk in Redondo Beach yesterday and it was damn hazy. Sun looked like a tiny dot. Air quality isn't as bad as up north, but geez so disgusting. 

 

I'm really disappointed in humans right now, for a number of reasons. Gotta be more careful - I don't know how many damn fires there are right now, but I'm assuming the majority of them started due to human error.

[GibbsGreen11]

A lot of people camping, hiking pandemic be damned. Record droughts, triple digit weather. People don't realize how quick pine trees light up. I have four on my property, pine needles are highly combustible. Doesn't take much to create a disaster.

[PCS]

Downright nasty outside today. Almost as bad as the Yosemite  fire 7 years ago. That's really bad. Smoke was in the building I work at. Up in Reno they wen't level two with the Air Quality. That's really bad.  I told my wife the same thing about the campers btw. Sigh.  

 

 

[GibbsGreen11]

Yeah it's sad, i drove past some of the lakes in the San Bernadino mountains last weekend. Lake Gregory and Silverwood Lake, I couldn't believe how many people there were. All it takes is a spark. With the droughts, i see the lakes drying up every year. Big Bear Lake especially. Global warming is real. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by GibbsGreen11

[PCS]

 

[mammajamma]

2 minutes ago, PCS said:

 

that meeting is taking place about 10 minutes away from me right now. maybe i should bring him over a rake so trump can get to cleaning up all the federal forest thats on fire

[PCS]

Looks like the #bobcatfire has arrived at the Mount Wilson Observatory. Firefighters on scene all day digging lines and such. They're still there. If they can't hold,they go to the done. 

 

http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/cameras/wilson.html

 

 

 

[China]

Satellite images show Western fires producing massive clouds of smoke, pollutants

 

Satellite images taken of the historic wildfires in the West show the shocking amount of smoke and other pollutants affecting areas beyond where the fires are furiously burning.

At least 36 deaths have been linked to the fires in California, Oregon and Washington state.

 

Nearly three dozen fires were active in Oregon on Monday night, according to state data. About 1 million acres have already burned, double the average of around 500,000 during an entire wildfire season, the Oregon Congressional delegation said.

 

In California, the largest blaze in modern state history, the massive August Complex Fire, had burned more than 755,600 acres in Northern California and was only 30 percent contained as of Monday. That fire was started by lightning last month.

 

Maxar Technologies released on Tuesday satellite images collected at a steep angle of the clouds billowing off the roaring fire.

 

Fires burning near Big Signal Peak in the Mendocino National Forest in California, part of the August Complex Fire, on Sept. 14. Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies
 

Last week, another satellite image taken by NASA showed the smoke streaming from the fires in Oregon and California. NASA said the smoke was so thick, it could be seen from 1 million miles away. On Monday, the National Weather Service said the smoke was spreading as far as the East Coast, affecting even New York City skies.

 

This visualization shows a three-day average of carbon monoxide concentrations, from Sept. 6 to 14, 2020, in the atmosphere over California due to wildfires. Higher concentrations of the gas appear as red and orange regions.NASA / JPL-Caltech

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[The Evil Genius]

Karma is a fickle ****. 

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[China]

Blazes on West Coast Scorch Habitats for Endangered Species

 

The fast-moving fires that swept through Western United States have wiped out critical populations of endangered species and incinerated native habitats that may take years to recover, if they recover at all.

 

Fire is a critical part of ecosystems in the West,  and many plants and animals depend on it to thrive, but the heat and intensity of the wildfires now ravaging California, Oregon, Washington and other Western states are so destructive that wildlife in some areas may struggle to recover.

 

“Some of these places we set aside may be fundamentally impacted by climate change and may not be able to come back,” said Amy Windrope, deputy director of Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. “That’s just a reality.”

 

With millions of acres across the west blackened by fire, the impact on humans has been clear: Lives lost, tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes, possessions and livelihoods destroyed, and state and federal fire fighting resources have been stretched beyond the limit.

 

Residents are even beginning to question whether the changing fire danger will make their hometowns too dangerous to inhabit. Less obvious is the long-term impact to native species.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

---------------------------------

 

In Los Angeles, the smoke just hangs all day, every day. Residents say it's taking a toll

 

In the foothills below the Bobcat Fire, just northeast of Los Angeles, the smoke just hangs all day, every day.

 

"Thirty-plus years ago, I quit smoking," Mike Day, of nearby Monrovia, told CNN on Saturday. "But I've started again in the last six days, just from (breathing) the air."

Day is among thousands of people on the West Coast who feel they are unable to go outside without the poor air quality taking a toll on their health.

The almost 90 large wildfires raging in the West have killed at least 36 people, destroyed hundreds of buildings and even entire towns. The fires have also burned more than 4.6 million acres in the West, creating massive plumes visible even on the International Space Station.

The smoke, many say, has become unbearable.

People in states like California, Oregon and Washington said they have had physical reactions -- headaches, drowsiness and dry, burning eyes -- after air quality index rates in their areas soared.

Air quality levels from Canada to Southern California are unhealthy or even hazardous, according to the US government's AirNow Smoke Map. And three cities -- Portland, Oregon, Seattle and San Francisco -- now have the worst air quality of any in the world, according to the monitoring group Air Quality Index.

And as the fires continue to burn, people's health concerns continue to grow.

Oregon's congressional delegation urged Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to declare the wildfires there a public health emergency, saying 10% of all hospital admissions are asthma-related, according to a statement from Sen. Ron Wyden's office.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[mammajamma]

4 minutes ago, China said:

"Thirty-plus years ago, I quit smoking," Mike Day, of nearby Monrovia, told CNN on Saturday. "But I've started again in the last six days, just from (breathing) the air."

There's actually an app that shows how much you've smoked based on air quality. I calculated the other day that I have smoked about 100 cigarettes over the last month. My chest is burning the last couple of days. Yesterday was the first day in over 4 weeks that I've seen blue skies

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

[China]

Desert communities told to evacuate as winds stoke flames

 

JUNIPER HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Strong winds stoked a wildfire burning for nearly two weeks in mountains northeast of Los Angeles, prompting authorities to issue new evacuation orders for desert communities that lost some homes a day earlier.

 

Meanwhile, officials were investigating the death of a firefighter on the lines of another Southern California wildfire that erupted earlier this month from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.

 

The death occurred Thursday in San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement.

 

In northern Los Angeles County, firefighters focused on protecting homes Saturday as increasingly erratic winds pushed the Bobcat Fire toward foothill communities in the Antelope Valley after churning all the way across the San Gabriel Mountains. An evacuation order was issued Saturday for all residents in that zone as the fire burned toward Wrightwood, a mountain community of 4,000, said fire spokesman Andrew Mitchell.

 

The fire grew to 142 square miles (368 square kilometers) on Saturday when winds pushed the flames into Juniper Hills.

 

Some residents fled as blowing embers sparked spot fires, hitting some homes but sparing others. Bridget Lensing feared her family’s house was lost on Friday after seeing on Twitter that a neighbor’s house three doors down went up in flames.

 

The house stood when she made her way back Saturday afternoon but her neighbors’ houses in the remote community were burned to the ground.

 

“Everything around us is gone,” she said.

 

The extent of the destruction in the area about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of downtown LA wasn’t immediately clear. But, Los Angeles County park officials said the blaze destroyed the nature center at Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area, a geological wonder that attracts some 130,000 visitors per year.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

I wonder what Trump has to say about this:

 

Mexico sending 101 firefighters to help battle Sequoia National Forest blaze

 

Mexico will send 101 firefighters to the United States to help battle wildfires in California.

 

The country’s Environment Department said Wednesday that five teams of 20 qualified, equipped firefighters from Mexico’s national forestry commission will work with the U.S. Forest Service.

 

The group will land Wednesday afternoon at San Bernardino International Airport, KMPH in Fresno reported.

 

They will be sent first to work in California’s Sequoia National Park.

 

The park is threatened by the SQF Complex of fires ignited by lightning in the Sequoia National Forest.

 

The department said Mexico can spare the crews because in 31 of Mexico’s 32 states there are no active wildfires.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

California's largest single wildfire spawned two massive firenados -- one was an EF2

 

California's Creek Fire is not only the largest single wildfire in the state known for huge and destructive blazes, it spawned two rare firenados a day after the fire started earlier this month.

 

One firenado -- short for fire tornado -- was rated an EF-2, with winds up to 125 miles per hour. The other had winds of up to 100 miles per hour and was rated an EF-1.

They wreaked havoc across the rugged area, the result of "unprecedented fire behavior," government forecasters said Thursday.

 

Fire tornadoes are created when the rising heat from a fire pulls in smoke, fire and dirt, creating a rotation vortex above the blaze, according to CNN meteorologist Haley Brink.

 

"To have even one tornado within a fire is rare," CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward said. "Fires can lead to fire whirls -- kind of like a dust devil -- due to differential heating, but to get a tornado with winds of over 100 mph is quite unusual."
 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[Mr. Sinister]

An F2 fire tornado? What the ****

[China]

Bay Area faces weekend of critical fire weather with 100-degree temps, dry winds

 

After a cool and mild work week, summer-like heat with triple-digit temperatures are in the weekend forecast and into next week. Hot, desiccating winds are also expected to kick up, creating the perfect recipe for critical wildfire weather.

 

The National Weather Service has a fire weather watch in effect 11 a.m. Saturday through 8 a.m. Monday for the North Bay mountains, East Bay hills and interior valleys. The highest threat will be in the North Bay.

 

Seasonal temperatures are forecast Friday, and on Saturday a high-pressure system will start to build over the area, pushing the mercury up into the 80s and 90s in inland locations and 70s at the coast.

 

As the high-pressure strengthens, the region will turn hotter Sunday and Monday with near record-breaking heat that could last through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Inland areas will inch up into the high 90s to low 100s, with coastal locations in the 80 to low 90s.

 

"Monday is expected to be the hottest day," said NWS forecaster Gerry Diaz. "San Francisco could hit the low to mid-90s."

 

The Diablo winds — northerly and northeasterly offshore gusts known for fanning wildfire flames — are expected to peak late Saturday night into Sunday morning. Isolated gusts up to 50 mph could knock the region's highest peaks including Mounts Saint Helena, Diablo and Tamalpais.

 

"These are significant fire-weather concerns with all the dry fuels and the winds coming through and lowering relative humidities," said Brian Garcia, a forecaster with the NWS.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[The Evil Genius]

SF this weekend.

 

[China]

Tragedy or party opportunity?

 

California’s largest wildfire is threatening marijuana-growing area in NorCal

 

California’s largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana growing enclave, and authorities said many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their maturing crops even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames.

 

The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported.

 

Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said.

“It’s mainly growers,” Trujillo said. “And a lot of them, they don’t want to leave because that is their livelihood.”

 

As many as 1,000 people remained in Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, authorities and local residents estimated Thursday.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[Xameil]

On 9/25/2020 at 9:38 PM, China said:

Tragedy or party opportunity?

 

California’s largest wildfire is threatening marijuana-growing area in NorCal

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

And just by coincidence the surrounding areas have seen an increase in bean burrito, chip and other miscellaneous snack sales...