Fires

[Richard Myers]

Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday that lightning had sparked nearly 400 fires from Monterey County to the California-Oregon line. The governor ordered the California National Guard to assist in firefighting efforts.  source

More fires in New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, and Idaho.

[Larry Lyons]

There is smoke in the air where I live. (Northern CA) There is a fire near here. It is on the other side of the river which gives us a margin of safety. The smoke can be a health hazard though.

[Immanuel]

My friends had to evacuate at 1:30 this morning because of the fire in Solano/Napa County. They are not sure if there house has been destroyed. This fire is heading towards very wealthy communities near Napa.

[Richard Myers]

Have not looked at a fire map, but I think Angwin is on the fire side of Napa.

[Immanuel]

Yes, but it is about 15 miles from Angwin and the fire is currently headed in the opposite direction. Lots of very expensive homes are now in danger.

[Mimi]

National Fires - Current

http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm


Current New Mexico Fire Map

http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/predictive/intelligence/situation/swa_fire_nm.htm


Current California Fire Map

http://firecenter.berkeley.edu/cafiremap/gmap_html/gmodis.html

[Richard Myers]

Here is a better picture of what is going on in California. It is not good.

     Summary of Fires by Unit

Siskiyou Unit: 8 fires reporting minor acreage
Humboldt Unit: 50 fires for more than 200 acres
Mendicino Unit: 60 fires mapped, more than 30 additional observed; fires range in size from 1-125 acres
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit: 15 fires up to 2 acres in size
Amador-El Dorado Unit:8 fires for approximately 75 acres
Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit: 7 fires all less than 1 acre each
Butte Unit: 24 fires for a total of more than 300 acres. Butte County Sheriff’s department is effecting a Precautionary Evacuation Advisory for the Lake Concow Area for a lighting fire in excess of 100 acres burning off of Rim Rd. (Also referred to as Andy Mountain Rd.) in the Concow area. The American Red Cross is setting up an evacuation shelter at the Spring Valley School at 2771 Pentz Rd. off of Hwy 70. There are four road closures in effect: Concow Rd. from Yellow Wood Rd. north to the end of the pavement on Concow Rd, Concow Rd. from Nelson Bar to end of pavement, Rim Rd. (also known as Andy Mtn. Rd) from Hwy 70 to end of Rim Rd., Deadwood from Hwy 70 to Concow Rd.
Tehama-Glen Unit: 34 fires for a total of 550 acres.
Shasta-Trinity Unit: 62 fires up to 50 acres in size.
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit: 5 fires with 4 contained and one burning near Napa West of Fairfield at 300 acres.
Lassen-Modoc Unit: 27 fires for a total of 25 acres.
Tuolumne-Calavares Unit: 16 fires for a total of 140 acres. Currently the counties of Tuolumne and Calaveras are experiencing heavy smoke in low lying areas due to fires caused by heavy lightning activity yesterday.
Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit:15 fires reported
The Cunningham Complex (5 fires total) are burning 3,150 acres total, the Stumpfield Fire is burning 2 acres, the Indian Peak Fire is burning 60 acres, and the Oliver Fire is burning in the Sequoia National Forest. The Sequoia National Forest has reported 25 fires. 

[Larry Lyons]

There was a big pillar of smoke to the east of us during the afternoon. It looks like the wind is carrying the smoke to the North East. I don't know whether that fire would be in Siskiyou or Humboldt County.  If I am reading the map correctly it looks like the fire is about 10 miles away on the other side of the Klamath River. The houses in this area are extremely vulnerable to fire. There is a big fir that towers over my house just a few feet away.

[Richard Myers]

Get your chainsaw ready!!!  You must be in the NW of Calif where they had the most lightning strikes. Shasta Trinity and Six Rivers Nat Forests were the hardest hit from what I can tell. The big fire seems to be the LimeDyke Mountain fire which was at 1,000 acres this morning. It was a complex of many fires close to the Trinity River.

[Richard Myers]

Here is a graphic that portrays the situation.

[Larry Lyons]

Get your chainsaw ready!!!  You must be in the NW of Calif where they had the most lightning strikes. Shasta Trinity and Six Rivers Nat Forests were the hardest hit from what I can tell. The big fire seems to be the LimeDyke Mountain fire which was at 1,000 acres this morning. It was a complex of many fires close to the Trinity River.

I wouldn't be able to cut enough trees down to save the house. I'm in Six Rivers Natl Forest at about 2000 feet. Just west of the Klamath river. Right on the Humbolt/Siskiyou county line. Our only plan is to evacuate if a fire becomes threatening. As long as the fires are on the other side of the river, we are safe.

[Wally]

I lived in Napa County from the time I was born until the mid-70's (almost 25 years), and I don't remember ever having forest fires this early.  We always expected them in Sept., after a bone dry summer and before the fall rains began.  This does not bode well for the rest of the summer.

[Richard Myers]

Current Situation:

Initial attack was heavy with 517 new fires. 26 new large fires started and 6 large fires were contained.

Northern Operations received over 3,200 strikes on Saturday June 21. Lightning was occuring on all the forests and units east of I 5 at that time. As of 8:00 p.m., 602 new fires for a total of 2,918 acres started on Saturday, June 21.

On Sunday, 309 new fires for 14,137 acres were located.

A significant dry lightning event hit California over the weekend. In the past two days, 1,080 new fires were reported in California. Currently, California has 25 large fires that have burned more than 90,000 acres. Evacuation orders are in effect for several fires. New large fire activity was also reported in Arizona, Nevada and Texas.

[Wally]

Current Situation:


A significant dry lightning event hit California over the weekend.

Isn't that a bit unusual?  When I lived there I remember that lightening was not very common (especially during the dry season), except in the High Sierra during the summer.

[Lewis]

They say it was an unprecedented lightning storm...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_re_us/wildfires

[Mimi]

http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/loopsat.php?wfo=sto&area=west&type=vis&size=1

[Richard Myers]

"The State of California is in the midst of the worst wildfire crisis in modern state history. More than 900 wildland fires are burning, many unstaffed. Incident commanders are making do with skeleton crews in most cases. We are still early in the 2008 fire season."

A sign of the times.

[Mimi]

CNN announced CA is calling in help for many other states. So help is coming.

[Mimi]

Larry ... how are you doing? Did the fire stay on the other side of the river? I have been looking at maps today.

[Larry Lyons]

Larry ... how are you doing? Did the fire stay on the other side of the river? I have been looking at maps today.

There is a fire to the North East that has come over a mountain ridge that may only be 5 or 6 miles away or less as the crow flies, but it is on the other side of the river. So far we are pretty safe up here. The smoke is a drag though. It is usually pretty bad in the mornings. I haven't been to town to see the Forest Service fire status reports that they post, so I don't know the details of this particular fire that I can see smoke rising from.