Wildfire(s) Out West

DE4173

DE4173

^ Noah Berger/AP

http://www.noahbergerphoto.com/

Twitter @noahberger3884

brianlux

DE4173 said:

Some of our parks are taking a big hit.  One of the most beautiful, Big Basin Redwoods State Park has sustained heavy damage:

https://www.ksbw.com/article/big-basin-redwoods-state-park-severely-damaged-by-czu-lightning-complex/33652383

https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/California-s-oldest-state-park-now-completely-15496200.php

Lake Berryessa, a popular recreation area, is being hit hard:

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/california-wildfires-08-19-2020/index.html

brianlux

I talked to friends in the Bay Area today.  It's worse than bad.  Mother Nature has unleashed her wrath. 

Seems like every year I say, "I've never seen it this bad."  Here we go again.

"The Bear is Burning"

rhanishane

Devastating I'm so sorry. It's really horrible.
We are heading into a la Nina year but that doesn't mean much in Australia it just means more growth of flammables and our summers are still ridiculously hot. Australia was just a massive brown combustion oven last summer it really was inevitable.

brianlux

rhanishane said:

Devastating I'm so sorry. It's really horrible.
We are heading into a la Nina year but that doesn't mean much in Australia it just means more growth of flammables and our summers are still ridiculously hot. Australia was just a massive brown combustion oven last summer it really was inevitable.

That's pretty much the same situation here.  Australia and the U.S. west have a lot in common that way.

We are having our first morning of comfortable temperatures but our air quality is in the "very unhealthy" range today so no opening windows or going outside for any length of time.  Claustrophobic, scary times!

hedonist

Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!

brianlux

hedonist said:

Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!

Bummer!  It's hard enough when days are hot, but when you don't get cooling at night- that's when it gets even more uncomfortable! 

hedonist

It’s days like today I’m very thankful for AC.  I feel for anyone who has to work outside with the added heating layer of mask!

brianlux

hedonist said:

It’s days like today I’m very thankful for AC.  I feel for anyone who has to work outside with the added heating layer of mask!

Excellent point!

I was thinking about that yesterday when I drove to the Post Office.  There was a road crew out there working in the heat and breathing the bad air and I felt badly for them.  And all the other folks who work outdoors. And the firefighters!  How do they do it?!

And then I saw one of our local homeless guys and I thought about all the other many homeless people who are stuck outside most of the time.  It was overwhelming to think about. 

Meltdown99

Just curios.  Have any of you native Californians ever thought of just packing it in and move to another State?  I saw on the news that the entire state is under a state of emergency from these fires.  

brianlux

Meltdown99 said:

Just curios.  Have any of you native Californians ever thought of just packing it in and move to another State?  I saw on the news that the entire state is under a state of emergency from these fires.  

Oh yes,  many a time!  But to where? 

I did live in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula for about three years (1990-93).  But fires are common in all western states as well as western Canada these days.  In fact, all of the western U.S. is prone to fire. 

Until we can fully extricate ourselves from the book store of which my wife is half-owner, we're pretty much stuck here.  In the midst of a pandemic, it's hard enough to keep a small business running, let alone try to sell it off. 

So, yeah, I still look at listings in other places and dream of a new place to live.  But we're all living on the edge of the apocalypse (and that's no exaggeration).  What can we do?  Make the best of what we have, be kind as much as possible, help others, vote, and when ever possible, do what my Pop used to tell us:  "Have fun"!

hedonist

This is my home and I love it for all its faults - both literally and otherwise. My husband wouldn’t mind moving to his home state of Ohio but my health stuff is too tenuous to seriously entertain it in the near future. 

rhanishane

Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.

rhanishane

Australia burnt 38610.216 square miles during the bushfires. Working that out just now blows me away .

rhanishane

hedonist said:

Same here, although already 82 at this early hour? Ugh!

90 is about 32 degrees is that right? We were getting up to 48 degrees in the height of summer it was terrible and the smoke hung around for months. Absolutely sickening and nauseating. I hope this summer gives us a break downunder.
I hope you get the fires under control over there. I read they have asked Australia and Canada for help so fingers crossed they arrive soon.
Be safe

rhanishane

Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all

brianlux

rhanishane said:

Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.

I've seen both but mostly acres.  America is very slow to change with things involving numbers.  We're used to hearing quarts and inches and acres and Fahrenheit numbers and miles per hours.  Most people when they hear liters and centimeters and hectares and  centigrade and kilometers per hour, they're lost.  We're quite behind the times that way.

rhanishane said:

Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all

Greatly appreciated! 

We caught a bit of a break over the weekend as the red flag warning didn't cause as much harm as feared.  Still a long, long way to go.

Updates on all the fires can be found here:

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

and here:

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

rhanishane

brianlux said:

rhanishane said:

Just a question why does America measure the size of fires in acres? We measure ours in hectares. We recently lost over 10 million hectares of land to the fires. 
1 hectare = 10,000 square metres.
An acre is 0.405 of a hectare.

I've seen both but mostly acres.  America is very slow to change with things involving numbers.  We're used to hearing quarts and inches and acres and Fahrenheit numbers and miles per hours.  Most people when they hear liters and centimeters and hectares and  centigrade and kilometers per hour, they're lost.  We're quite behind the times that way.

rhanishane said:

Announced today Australia are sending a team of 55 specialist fire fighters to California. Returning the favour be safe all

Greatly appreciated! 

We caught a bit of a break over the weekend as the red flag warning didn't cause as much harm as feared.  Still a long, long way to go.

Updates on all the fires can be found here:

https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

and here:

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Thanks I like to keep a watch on what's happening. Our fire seasons will definitely cross over again this year. We already have bad fire conditions happening in the northern territory with fire weather warnings issued. While it's cold in NSW and we have had snow the winters dry out the grasses, can already see it happening. There is still a lot of bush to burn and even after the fires the dead leaves trees and branches have now fallen to the ground ready to go again. 9 months on from the fires some areas to the north of myhmy are just bare hills with sticks on them where it just anniallated the bush. South of me none of it burned so our local fire brigades are still very cautious for the upcoming fire season. All it takes is a wind shift and that's what saved my town and my house. Unfortunate for those just a few minutes north though it was unstoppable

rhanishane

NSW Australia

brianlux

rhanishane said:

NSW Australia

Sad.  There are NASA photos showing similar destruction  in our state.

Despite CalFire putting out a message asking (but not requiring) people to not engage in activities that could create sparks, some idiot in my neighborhood was out target practicing with his guns yesterday.  Shooting jacks up my anxiety anyway so yesterday I was a wreck.  Today I sit on pins and needles wondering if it will happen again today.  Why are some people such idiots? 

rhanishane

So many idiots 🙄 
We had snow on the mountain last week.... tomorrow will be high 20s with warm windy conditions and a fire weather warning. Authorities being extra vigilant. Our fire season has started here already and we require a permit for pile burns now. Depending on the weather they will upgrade that to no outdoor fires at all. The Royal commission into the black summer fires have just passed all 76 recommendations by chief firefighters. I'm not sure what they all are yet but it gives fire authorities a lot of power to reduce fuel loads etc without the red tape.

rhanishane

Was a hot 32 degrees Celsius yesterday and windy. Winter straight to summer heat makes for choosing an outfit for the day hard my co-worker cut the legs off her denim jeans yesterday while she was still wearing them lol

brianlux

Currant acreage burning in major California fires:  1,607,815 acres. 

Record heat expected Saturday through Sunday. 

106 (42 Celsius) Fahrenheit here Sunday.  103 (39.44 C) Monday and Tuesday.

122 (50 C) Fahrenheit in Death Valley Sunday and Monday

hedonist

Our air quality is 207, higher than I recall ever seeing it.

In the 100's this weekend, with not much respite after.

Once again, I'm thankful for AC.  As is our fat furry friend.

brianlux

hedonist said:

Our air quality is 207, higher than I recall ever seeing it.

In the 100's this weekend, with not much respite after.

Once again, I'm thankful for AC.  As is our fat furry friend.

Same here! (I mean, assuming AC is air conditioning, not your hubby, lol!)

Yeah, our air quality has sucked for a couple weeks now.  Today, the air movement was definitely not good for us.  When I woke up, for a moment I thought it looked like it might rain outside.  Nope, just a haze of smoke.  And then this evening, when the sun was about a half an hour away from setting on the horizon, it was a red ball that you could look at momentarily without squinting (but still, I only peaked). 

The next three days should be, to put it mildly, interesting.

Hang in the Hedo, and any other fellow west coasters out there.

rhanishane

I couldn't even stand to smell winter chimney smoke after the fires and rarely lit my fire this winter. After choking on it for months it brings about anxiety everytime I smell it now. 

brianlux

rhanishane said:

I couldn't even stand to smell winter chimney smoke after the fires and rarely lit my fire this winter. After choking on it for months it brings about anxiety everytime I smell it now. 

I totally understand!  I've become rather sensitized to the smell myself. 

hedonist

That scent is one of my all-time favorites. I can’t imagine having that taken away. 

brianlux

hedonist said:

That scent is one of my all-time favorites. I can’t imagine having that taken away. 

Well, there actually is one type of smoke scent I like.  A LOT!