So what is the weather report for Paradise, Today you can expect fire and explosions. It's about 1800 degress above the average temperature for this time of year. Things are a little bit on the crispy side compared to yesterday, with humidity at about 0%. And don't forget to, run!
As sports chair for my Cal Alumni group we're organizing a fundraiser with our local Stanford Alumni group around the Cal Stanford Big Game to benefit the victims of these fires. We're planning on sending our donations to this organization. For anyone that wants to help this looks like a good group to donate to. https://www.calfund.org/norcal-wildfire-relief/
Paradise, CA burned so much because the town has way above-average for most density of trees which made it to go through so easily. If they cut more trees to the recommended average they could of salvage the town and save lives. We will never get to CA level because they are low humidity, dry and Texas always have fronts passing by.
Interesting point in an LA Times editorial I read yesterday, and echoing some local NPR talking heads over the last several days: while politicians want to talk climate change or forrest management, the central problem is letting people develop communities in the boundaries of forrest lands. People love "living in nature," but it can be a super bad idea.
Either the government ****ing around with stuff or God finally punishing Hollywood for years of pedophilia and worshiping the devil
I can't believe this fire moved 8 football fields per minute. It seems like you had a very brief window to get out. It's just awful. If removing trees around a community (or deforestation if you will) is one way to stop a forest fire from consuming a community, then it should be done versus having the whole community go up in flames. This is as bad as it gets for those affected. Just horrible.
That was 80 football fields per minute. It has looked like the smoking section at restaurant out here for the past week. "A Northern California fire is growing at a rate of about 80 football fields per minute" https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/08/us/california-camp-fire-hospital-evacuation/index.html
I live in SLO County, and I feel blessed every day there's not a fire near here. One of my co-workers used to live in Paradise, but like you, he experienced the 2008 fire. They were fortunate because the river was full and there was a fire break that kept it from jumping up the canyon wall. That was his signal to move back here. It is (was) a beautiful location, nestled in the trees, but the heavy price they are paying now is partly due to higher than expected population growth with no changes in evacuation routes or contingency plans. So many have lost their lives trying to flee the fire only to be caught in it with no escape. I'm so heartbroken over their loss, especially seeing the drone videos of the devastation. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Prayers to everyone who is affected by this and other fires.
Fire follows fuels and topography, but wind drives fires. When wind lines up with topography and fuels, watch out. That's roughly a square mile every 8 minutes. Assuming 6 hours of intense burning, it's about 28,000 acres. Fast, but not the fastest. For instance, the Wallow Fire in AZ burned the following acreage over the course of seven days: 60,093 43,112 40,320 48,341 76,912 26,910 50,378 Of course, that was at the height of fire season in AZ and this was November in NorCal. The thing about wind-driven fires though, is that it is rarely a flaming front advancing uniformly. Lots of embers get thrown ahead of the main fire so you end up with a bunch of "fire fronts" and you can have fire in front of you and behind you and to the side of you. If you get in a situation like that, sometimes the best option is counter-intuitive. Not good for firefighters, really not good for the general public.
The Bay Area is freaking out now, full on. I was at a hardware store to, you know, buy actual hardware, and all these people were trying to buy the masks. Air quality has deteriorated rapidly, well past any comparison to Beijing. It's almost (not quite) like a post-9/11 type air here now. Mrs. B-Bob and I can't even see a few blocks away. Just sheltering in place. Check the particulate matter readings. God bless the fire fighters.
A friend took these two photos of San Francisco. One was from last week. The other one is from today. Schools are closed tomorrow and it's pretty bad to even be outside for a few minutes.