Fires

[Mimi]

What is the status on the fires? On the ground observations?

[Richard Myers]

The governor just said there are 1400 fires burning in the state. Nothing on record like it.

The national guard is fighting it. The feds have sent in planes to help. Many of the fires in remote areas are still unattended. The smoke is better at times, but in some areas it is very, very bad. Big Sur has lost quite a few homes. But, relatively few homes have burned. More were lost in the Paradise fire three weeks ago which was just a local fire, than have been lost in this conflagration. God is holding back the winds. In this case  it is both literal and figurative.

Even though most homosexuals and atheists don't make the connection between homosexual marriage in San Francisco and California and the fires, some will. Hopefully the governor who stands in opposition to the November ballot measure to stop it, will be told of the connection. He can take personal responsibility for the burning of California. He and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

[Richard Myers]

Progress is being made on all of the major fires. Property and life have been protected. But, much natural beauty and valuable timber has been destroyed.

[Lewis]

Most residents told to evacuate town of Big Sur

By AMANDA FEHD, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

BIG SUR, Calif. - Authorities ordered most of the remaining residents of this scenic coastal community to leave Wednesday because an out-of-control wildfire, one of hundreds of California, had jumped a fire line and was threatening more homes.....


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/ap_on_re_us/wildfires

[Richard Myers]

We were just at Big Sur. It is beautiful. It is very sad, but the governor and his friends need to reconsider their evil ways with their homosexual agenda. If Sodom and Gomorrah burned, then so will California. We can surely sympathize with God having to allow the innocent to suffer with the guilty for so many years. We look forward to the Great Controversy ending. Sadly, many watching these fires have no idea what the Great Controversy is.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it is fast becoming today.

[Richard Myers]

 More than 13,000 firefighters and support personnel are battling the wildfires in northern California. Firefighters and other resources have come from across the country to aid the northern California firefighters. They have come from other state and federal agencies, the military, and local fire departments.

Firefighters have made substantial progress in containing this unprecedented number of fires. Just how long the fires will last depends on a number of factors, especially weather. Some fires are expected to continue burning for weeks or months.

Northern California Area (PL 5)
New fires: 17
New large fires: 0
Uncontained large fires: 62

Total Fires: 1,459
Total Acres Burned: 435,894
These numbers are total fires and acres that have occured from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

[Richard Myers]

State of California Fire Stats

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

Total Fires at Peak: 1,783
Total Fires Contained: 1,451
Total Active Fires: 332
Total Acres Burned: 549,155

Statewide Resources Committed

Personnel Committed: 21,111
Fire Engines: 1,612
Hand Crews: 500
Dozers: 339
Water Tenders: 472
Helicopters: 114


As an example of an individual fire that remains active, here is info on the Big Sur fire:

Incident Type    Wildland Fire
Cause    Lightning
Date of Origin    Saturday June 21st, 2008 aprox 12:56 PM
Location    5 miles south of Big Sur

Current Situation
Total Personnel    2,320
Size    72,429 acres
Percent Contained    11%

Fuels Involved    
4 Chaparral (6 Feet) Timber and slash in higher areas. Heavy dead loading from sudden oak death in the Tan Oak.

Fire Behavior    
West Zone:Fire behavior was high to extreme in the north, northwest and southwest flanks with group tree torching, spotting and short duration crown fire runs. Fire exhibited backing towards the community of Big Sur. East Zone: Active fire runs with occasional group torching.

Significant Events    
West Zone: A major burnout was accompilshed from Big Sur River to Little Sur River. A mandatory evacuation and road closure is in effect for the entire community of Big Sur and both sides of Hwy 1 from Lucia Inn north to Palo Colorado Road. An evacuation advisory remains in place for residents of the Palo Colorado Canyon from Hwy 1 to the Pico Blanco Boy Scout Camp and from Lucia Inn South to Lime Kiln State Park. East Zone: Continue structure preparation on Carmel Valley Road and Cachagua areas and line improvement near Arroyo Seco, Piney Creek and Los Padres Dam. Helicopters were very effective in checking fire spread.

Outlook  Planned Actions    
West Zone: Provide structure protection. Firing along lines in north and northwest areas of the fire. Continue structure protection assessment and preparation in the community of Big Sur, Palo Colorado Canyon area and south of Dolan Ridge. Conduct firing operations to check fire spread along Hwy 1 and on Dolan Ridge, on Mescal Ridge from Bottchers Gap to the Old Coast Road, from Bottchers Gap to Skinners Ridge. Construct contingency dozer line from Highway 1 east towards Whiterock Ridge. East Zone: Continue structure protection preparation in Cachagua area/Carmel Valley Road. Hold and improve line.

Growth Potential    High

Terrain Difficulty    High

Remarks    
The fire has entered into the area of Big Sur on the east side.

Weather
Current Wind Conditions    34 gusts mph NE
Current Temperature    74 degrees
Current Humidity    33 %

[Mimi]

Total Active Fires: 332

This is a huge improvement! With the humidity at 30+%, we can say, thank God! But we need some help with wind gusts.

Prayers continue, dear friends in California!

[Richard Myers]

Wildfires have charred more than 800 square miles of forest, brush and grass and have destroyed at least 69 homes throughout California. According to state forestry officials, at one time there were more than 1,700 active fires, but about 1,400 had been contained, leaving more than 330 still out of control this  morning.

400 National Guard troops are being trained to help fight the blazes. The governor urged lawmakers to adopt his budget plan for a $70 million emergency surcharge on home and business insurance policies to buy more firefighting equipment.

The Big Sur fire, which has blackened 111 square miles, is only 5 percent contained with full containment not expected until July 30, but morning fog that moved in from the sea helped prevent it from advancing on Big Sur's famed restaurants and hotels.

Cal Fire Map

[Mimi]

Smoke Map of California.

[Richard Myers]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:  July 12, 2008
Paradise, California

Feather River (Seventh-day Adventist) Hospital Helps Enloe Medical Center During Closure

In order to protect the health and safety of its patients, staff, volunteers and physicians Feather River Hospital evacuated the entire hospital late in the evening last Tuesday and completed the evacuation at approximately 2:00 am on Wednesday, July 9.

“The hospital’s emphasis on disaster planning, including our many drills definitely enabled this process to go as smoothly as possible,” stated Wayne Ferch, President and CEO. “Our physicans, nurses and other staff responded in mass to the evacuation decision as well as staff in our neighboring hospitals - Enloe Medical Center and Oroville Hospital.  We will be forever grateful to those facilities and their employees and physicians for all of their support during the evacuation itself.  We are also indebted to the numerous ambulance crews from First Responder, Merit Medi-Trans, and ambulances from other facilities in the region, along with fire crews and law enforcement personnel that assisted in the evacuation. The hospital has maintained its command center 24/7 throughout this crisis and the hospital anticipates this center being open 24/7 during the time needed to re-open the hospital.”

[JimB]

Overseas crews coming to battle Calif. wildfires

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) - As hundreds of blazes continue to char California, additional National Guard troops and overseas crews are being called in to assist exhausted firefighters, and President Bush has scheduled a visit to the state.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered 2,000 more National Guard troops to join the 400 already on firefighting duty. Australia, Canada, Greece, Mexico and New Zealand are also sending firefighters and equipment, federal officials said.

"We are stretched thin, and our firefighters are exhausted," Schwarzenegger said. "The fire season as we've known it is pretty much over. ... Now we have fire season all year round."

Federal officials said they would send more equipment and personnel to California. The federal government has committed $100 million and 80 percent of its firefighting resources to California, said Glen Cannon, an assistant administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Full Article

[Larry Lyons]

The "Siskiyou Complex" fire in Siskiyou County has jumped a number of containment lines and has moved in our direction. It is not far as the crow flies. There is a possibility that we will have to evacuate. There are 6 houses here and we are surrounded by forest. Very vulnerable to fire. A man was here from the forest service this afternoon doing an assesment as to the exact GPS of the houses and determining what kinds of equipment will be needed to protect the houses and the buildings. There is an inversion layer that has been inhibiting the fire somewhat but it keeps the smoke from dispersing. If the wind comes up and moves in the wrong direction, the fire can move very fast. This particular fire has burned over 35,000 acres so far.
It appears that evacuation is not imminent, but it remains a possibility. Please pray that God will keep the fire away from our houses and buildings and that the firefighters will be safe.

[LindaRS]

The news tonight said that over 1300 square miles have burned. It's the biggest fire loss in the state's history.

[Immanuel]

The news tonight said that over 1300 square miles have burned. It's the biggest fire loss in the state's history.

For comparison the state of Rhode Island has a surface area of 1214 square miles.

Larry,

I am praying for a wind-free rain storm for you.

[Mimi]

Amen!

[Mimi]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:  July 12, 2008
Paradise, California

Feather River (Seventh-day Adventist) Hospital Helps Enloe Medical Center During Closure

In order to protect the health and safety of its patients, staff, volunteers and physicians Feather River Hospital evacuated the entire hospital late in the evening last Tuesday and completed the evacuation at approximately 2:00 am on Wednesday, July 9.

“The hospital’s emphasis on disaster planning, including our many drills definitely enabled this process to go as smoothly as possible,” stated Wayne Ferch, President and CEO. “Our physicans, nurses and other staff responded in mass to the evacuation decision as well as staff in our neighboring hospitals - Enloe Medical Center and Oroville Hospital.  We will be forever grateful to those facilities and their employees and physicians for all of their support during the evacuation itself.  We are also indebted to the numerous ambulance crews from First Responder, Merit Medi-Trans, and ambulances from other facilities in the region, along with fire crews and law enforcement personnel that assisted in the evacuation. The hospital has maintained its command center 24/7 throughout this crisis and the hospital anticipates this center being open 24/7 during the time needed to re-open the hospital.”

Recognizing the angels of Paradise
By Paradise Post Editorial Board
Article Launched: 07/14/2008 10:18:11 PM PDT

As fire retardant was applied to the roof of the Feather River hospital and patients were being evacuated Tuesday night due to the threatening fire at the bottom of the adjacent canyon, we couldn't help but reflect on what valuable resources that hospital and its staff are to our community. What a tragedy it would be were we to lose it.

As it so happens, one of the members of our editorial board spent the better part of a week in that hospital just days prior to the evacuation, recovering from a hip replacement. This experience gave us an "insider's" view of the workings of the hospital and from what he reported to us, we came away from that experience very favorably impressed.

There are two essential qualities to an effective nurse. The first, of course, is competence. One can't even begin to take on the stresses and challenges of the nursing profession without significant advanced training. One who administers potentially life-saving or life-taking drugs to patients had better know what she is doing. From everything we observed, the staff of Feather River excels in competence. But as anyone familiar with "Big Nurse Ratched," in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest can attest, professional training is not nearly sufficient in the nursing profession. Compassion - the ability to feel "with passion" - is just as important.

The nursing staff at Feather River absolutely defines compassion. These ladies and a few men seem to possess a remarkable ability to
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exude compassion, whether carrying out mundane chores such as changing a bed or fetching fresh water or applying that technical training by changing a dressing or administering drugs. One senses a deep empathic involvement between these angels of mercy and their patients.

None of this is surprising given the articulated mission of the Seventh-day Adventist owned Feather River Hospital: "At Feather River Hospital we seek to share God's love by providing physical, mental and spiritual healing. We are devoted to maintaining the dignity of the patient."

Now we know that not every member of the staff is a Seventh-day Adventist. In fact, we'd be surprised if all are Christians of any denomination. Nonetheless, it is evident that those who do the hiring at Feather River do a remarkably effective job of finding people who absolutely reflect the core values of that institution. Whether it is "God's love" or simply their own, the sharing definitely occurs.

We'd love to list here the names of all of those caring individuals who prompted this editorial. But inevitably, we'd leave someone out.

It takes so many people to provide all the services so essential to the healing of our local hospital's patients. So let it suffice for us to simply express our deep gratitude, on behalf of our entire community, for all the staff at Feather River Hospital and especially those who cared last week for the patient in bed 293A.

We are so glad you are an integral part of what makes Paradise Paradise.

[Richard Myers]

While there are still many many fires burning in the state, God has kept the winds from running rampant over the state. The corner has been turned and if the winds are held in check, the fires will be contained sooner rather than later. This does not mean that homes will not burn or that thousands more acres will not be lost, but the corner has been turned and some of the resources being used on the 1700 fires now can be moved to some of the larger fires still uncontrolled. The firefighters are tired. Many have been at work for a long time in very difficult situations.

[JimB]

I do not know the weather patterns for that part of the country but I'm wondering if there is a danger of mudslides now that fires have exposed the earth.

[Mimi]

While there are still many many fires burning in the state, God has kept the winds from running rampant over the state. The corner has been turned and if the winds are held in check, the fires will be contained sooner rather than later. This does not mean that homes will not burn or that thousands more acres will not be lost, but the corner has been turned and some of the resources being used on the 1700 fires now can be moved to some of the larger fires still uncontrolled. The firefighters are tired. Many have been at work for a long time in very difficult situations.

Praise the Lord, Richard! This is the news we have needed to hear!