California Fires-here we go again

Good to hear. My wife's cousin lives in Sandy, just north of town. They were packing to leave, but they've
decided not to.
 
There are three major fires near my old home in Humboldt Co, CA, the August, Red Salmon, and Slater fire complexes. About 1.1 Million acres burned so far, larger than Rhode Island, but not quite Delaware yet, just in these three and not counting the other fires in other areas.

lostcoastoutpost.com

FIRE UPDATE: August Complex Grows to Over 875,000 Acres, Still Has Not Burned into Humboldt County; Red-Salmon Fire Continues to Grow; Slater Fire Smaller Than Initially Estimated

lostcoastoutpost.com lostcoastoutpost.com

Unlike the mixed grass/timber/suburban fires, these are more of the true 'forest fire' type with less grass land and very little development. So a different approach to firefighting from when I was on summer fire crew in the 1970's. Back then, there was a lot more emphasis on saving timber, since we still had logging on federal lands. Now, firefighters are apparently letting them burn out to more defensable containment lines except where they threaten lives and structures. Not enough manpower to do more, I guess. And possibly explains why containment is so low even after weeks of firefighting. Seems we are in a holding pattern, pending changes in weather like wind or rain.

Some relatives and friends were ordered to evacuate last week, but are now being allowed to return under 'evacuation warning', meaning they should be ready to leave again at a moments notice. I have a hand hewn redwood boat stored in one evacuation warning zone, but it is being moved to the coast since it is irreplaceable. And it's a real blessing to have time to prepare and sort out what and how to evacuate. Makes one appreciate how bad those folks had it in those emergency evacuations we've seen where they have almost no notice.

Hate the smoke, but here in Sacramento it has knocked down the temperatures since sunlight can't get through.
 
The air of the whole state of Oregon is now a brownish white. The sun is now a reddish orange. A couple of days ago, we had to go to a funeral in Tenino Washington. My one brother could not come because he had to take in his son and family since they lost their home to the fires. Found out at least three arsonists have been caught in Oregon. Hikers in the forest have found camp fires burning with no one around. Some clown in Lynnwood Washington has been taking a chain saw to power poles. My son who maintains the engines on the chinook that fights fires is grounded where they are just east of Salem since there is no visability. Half of the town is gone due to fires. Fortunately. he and the aircraft crew are okay. Still, they have to wait for the air to clear so that the filters and rotors on the chopper are checked out before they can fly. Sorry about the rant. But damn it, it is a real mess.
 
I was born and raised in Humboldt Co. Sad enough to watch it die financially over the last few decades
but even sadder to see it burn....................
 
We are so socked in here North of Seattle that it looks like we are surrounded by fog. I had to run an errand and just came back in. Took a couple of shots going down the road with my camera. Where the smoke is obstructing the view is less than 1/4 mile down the road. This smoke is coming from Oregon and Washington, has blown out to sea and then been blown back onto us.
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middle.road said:
Has anyone heard how @dlane, Stu (@gr8legs ), and Jim (@JimDawson) are doing?
(I apologize if I left anyone out...)
Click to expand...

I'm doing fine. The fires have slowed down dramatically, and the evacuation areas have contracted. Our biggest problem is smoke, extremely hazardous at this point. Due to an extreme inversion layer, the smoke is hugging the ground. This inversion layer is probably a once in a lifetime event. The smoke is not allowing the sun to shine through to heat the ground, so there can be no uplift air mixing. Basically the fires have created their own weather conditions. Hopefully we'll get some onshore airflow in the next day or so and it will relieve the inversion.
 
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