Rolling Western U.S. Is On Fire / Wildfires Thread

xp RIP Time tweet

the reagan library is now threatened by the blazes

bump

CalFire admits in presser this morning that they have NO resources to fight this. Like, NONE. Guess why? Bc the prison populations, who have for decades been California’s primary firefighter hand-crews on wildfires, are too sick with Covid to go. https://t.co/ZZKIpsN5lc

— RH Herron/Rachael Herron (@RachaelHerron) August 19, 2020

well, not exactly NONE. but yeah, that is bleak. $2 to $5 a fucking day for the work, too, which probably makes it the highest paid position available for them

it would be disgusting even if they weren't exposing themselves to immediate and long term danger for that wage. absolutely unconscionable.

https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-climate-danger-of-kamala-harris-prison-labor-legac-1844712734 this suggests it's $5/hour? not that it makes a difference. (n.b. in spite of myself i don't place much of the blame for this on kamala herself, article doesn't do a great job of explaining how the AG's office got to the point of filing that. however, it's not justifiable.)

Anyone know the likelihood of Santa Cruz city having to evacuate? My sister lives there, and this is cranking up her nervousness...

(caveat that i'm just some guy, not a firefighter) It's not too close yet but I'd be concerned about the cluster that just broke out south of Henry Cowell State Park (https://www.esri.com/en-us/disaster-response/disasters/wildfires) . CalFire's general policy is to greatly favor protecting residential areas over parks so I wouldn't be surprised if they're already doing controlled burns around UC Santa Cruz.

xp: She should be fine if she's in town. If she's up the coast or in the hills off Hwy 9 she's probably already evac'd.

I don’t really want to reveal where I live (not Santa Cruz) but um I have a bag packed. 😬

DJI: this account has all the latest information

https://twitter.com/CALFIRECZU/

Now UCSC is under evac warning

If it gives you any optimism, a fire crew on loan from SLO drove high up into the mountains above San Jose to save all of the Lick Observatory structures last night despite insane high winds, swirling flame and ash.

https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/08/mt-hamilton-fire.html

and here's the live shot (the other cams from the actual observatory are no longer broadcasting, not sure if they got damaged):

https://www.see.cam/us/ca/san-jose/mount-hamilton

This was a remote outpost some 30 miles up the hill from San Jose.

california and also the entire intermountain west is on fire

Fire and wind map: https://caltopo.com/map.html?fbclid=IwAR2hBujGNlyLgghWv-ugwVIlK_Sq7s0ywcQEqPelsbsLZGOJa8WuRNmgfrg#ll=37.15703,-122.23938&z=12&b=map&a=modis_mp%2Cwxd_wspd-01

We're lucky the wind isn't higher.

according to this, my parents (and most of their town) are fine unless the fire jumps the freeway

https://twitter.com/calfireSCU

Fire Weather Watch issued for 11am Sunday through 11am Tuesday for possibility of dry lightning. Graphics are pending, but here's the fire weather watch text:https://t.co/nADYZ6w9jn

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 21, 2020

The most optimistic take that I've seen today is that having these fires will establish some natural firebreaks for a month from now, when the Santa Ana / Diablo winds start up.

this place suuuuuucks

Bonny Doon, SantaCruz County, CA
37.1004, -122.1410
2618 ft above sea level, facing northhttps://t.co/6jWU2cuETC pic.twitter.com/axwBZEtg7r

— California Landscapes (@CALandscapeBot) August 21, 2020

The LNU and SCU lightning complexes are now the #2 and #3 largest wildfires on the books and the president is threatening to refuse aid because we didn't "clean our floors"

fire burned thru the Ventana condor zone where at least 1 baby condor was nexting 2 days ago, so that's a drag

Okay this 2019 story is too long but it's good. https://story.californiasunday.com/gone-paradise-fire

Cities founded in the fire-prone frontier by anti-government types that didn't want to be told how to build (proper infrastructure, firebreaks etc.)

Real estate has been the main wealth generator for a while, "Selling out to a developer was the only retirement plan most farmers knew."

"What was once sparse is now densely packed with pine, fir, cedar, and manzanita. A forest that supported 64 trees an acre in pre-settlement times now boasted 160 trees an acre ... 'I don't think we could have managed the forests any worse.'"

"as Wilson and his staff studied the fires more closely, he could see that their oddly linear pattern of ignition clusters corresponded to major electrical power lines."

Forestry management and fire prevention - prescribed burns, reducing fuel load - curtailed in favor of military-style firefighting.

"To justify its high costs, [Cal Fire] had to figure out a way to make itself essential throughout the year. This was how it evolved into a 24/7 provider of emergency services to the sprawling mountain communities ... instead of trying to slow down the suburbanization of forestlands, Wilson said, the department served the growth — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year in funding."

PG&E and a Public Utilities Commission that's not equipped or inclined to regulate it

Yet again, a baby gender reveal party sparks a wildfire:

2020: A gender reveal sparked a wildfire in California that's grown to 7,000 acres
2020: A gender reveal party ignited a 10-acre brush fire in Florida, fire officials say
2017: Officials release video from gender reveal party that ignited a 47,000-acre wildfire in Arizona

bonus gender reveal combustion:
2019: Partygoers thought they'd built a clever gender reveal device. It turned out to be a deadly pipe bomb
2019: Australian gender reveal party goes wrong as car bursts into flames

Oregon is collectively holding its breath for the next 48 hours

https://www.kptv.com/weather/blog/extreme-fire-weather-next-48-hours-includes-damaging-wind-for-some/article_9f381716-f0be-11ea-9a76-47427495df5f.html

View of the Bobcat Fire from my street last night. Tonight is the same.

#BobcatFire over Sierra Madre right now + couple hours of ashfall on my car. pic.twitter.com/zXc0ZDmL0c

— Chris Barrus (@quartzcity) September 7, 2020

Here's a timelapse from inception, from a Mt Wilson cam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX49jfIAJwI&feature=emb_logo

or search this on youtube.

Bobcat Fire Time-Lapse from Mt. Wilson

Christ! Doesn't take much does it? Hope y'all are breathing ok.
Over the past ~3 weeks in SF I've figured out that anything above 70 on Purple Air's AQandU setting starts bothering my throat/lungs so I let that dictate whether I sweat it out in my hotbox of an apartment or open the windows and take a walk. It hit a hundred degrees yesterday while the AQI was around 90 and I'd never been more grateful to have a box fan and the electricity to power it.

Friend of mine is posting live AQI updates from Eugene ... 538, 560, 593, 607 ...

I don't even care if it actually retards the actual fire - they can hike my taxes if it means I get to be treated more frequently to these sweet jet dump Action Tweets

The #ValleyFire currently has eight air tankers assigned to the incident. When the retardant is dumped it can be a spectacular sight. Video taken 9/6/20 at 5:14 p.m. near Alpine pic.twitter.com/rwyXFpEEbD

— CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) September 7, 2020

I could watch that cherry red retardant get dumped from that screaming sky bird all day long baby

does it smell great in the morning?

on the morning after a beet salad dinner hahahaa

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that what is essentially the opposite of napalm smells like Code Red Mountain Dew and say that yes, yes it does

but, key thing ... do you surf???

nah, too dangerous! I boogie board for fifteen minutes once every quarter-century, but that's it. beach schmeach, that's what I say

@MikeNiccoABC7 @DrewTumaABC7 These were from Willits and Covelo, respectively, around 2:30 today. Ukiah is as dark as 10pm would be but my camera won’t pick it up. It’s insane here. Apocalypse-like. pic.twitter.com/sAUPvRbaa6

— AlmightyAce (@AlmightyAcey) September 8, 2020

lukas, I'm in Eugene. It's apocalyptic. We're packing emergency kits tonight.

numerous friends who live less than an hour away have had to evacuate

all hell broke loose all over western Oregon last night and today. we are OK, but our neighborhood is thick with trees and all it would take is a power line sparking and that could change fast.

Ugh, sorry

possible water outages projected for tonight in addition to power outages, stocking up now

glad I have a serious solar array and battery backup for our freezer

sorry sleeve and Aimless, this sucks

lost power for about 10 hours last night, recently went through a very extreme and awful respiratory illness and remain in recovery for that, so sitting in a hot box terrified of the smoke with no ability to move any air around in here was a real anxiety experience i'd like to not go through again for a bit

What with huge masses of home grown smoke and more wildfire smoke able to travel down from WA and up from CA, I have the idea that when it comes to smoky air the ordeal is only beginning for most western Oregonians.

Speaking of wildfire smoke, this is a satellite photo of NW Oregon today:
https://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/download/file.php?id=76887&t=1

Sympathy for those living in the shadow of the pyrocumulus, from hurricane alley.

Daniel Swain @Weather_West is a great follow for those interested in satellite animations of this.

hmm yes that particular satellite image probably came from either NASA's MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Aqua or Terra satellites. I do believe one of the two recently came back online. The image would be preferable if the heat-sensitive filters had been applied, but I understand Aimless is more of a humanities major. One would have to wonder what the post-burn EVI or NDVI value differential would be for the affected AOI...

i mean noaa's smoke forecast. it used to be somewhere else (and better?) but that site is defunct now.

This one?

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5213bcd1c851452d8adc7f5cf788659b

that's the one I know

i still get nextdoor emails from where i used to live in the colorado rockies and there are fires up there nearly constantly what a mess

xp the arcgis one i don't like because it doesn't actually simulate the smoke plumes moving in a forecast timeline, it just outlines areas that are smokey right now. if you haven't seen what i'm talking about, it's pretty cool (and useful!). just click that long-ass link above and then select "VI Smoke" at the bottom of the "Surface" menu (under "Miscellaneous") ("VI Smoke" stands for "vertically integrated smoke" and it gives you everything in the atmosphere).

smoke from a big one in oregon (emigrant fire) is currently arcing down into the wasatch front - gonna be pretty smokey here for at least the next two days.

I thought that old one shut down, but it looks like it still works?

https://fire.airnow.gov/#3.71/41.36/-82.56

I swear, this fucking idiot they arrested for starting the Palisades fire -- whole thread is full of wonders but to start:

https://bsky.app/profile/davidingram.bsky.social/post/3m2patkh6ns22

This detail about the Palisades arrest is wild:
While on the phone with 911, Rinderknecht allegedly typed a question into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift because of your cigarettes,” according to the criminal complaint.

Yeah, the details in this are nuts.

sorry this is the exact opposite of wildfires, the southwest has had quite a bit of flooding lately due to tropical storms moving north from the gulf of california, and this blurry pic of a hot tub floating away near pagosa springs nm tickled me:

https://scontent.fslc3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/561093002_1335212041302602_4603585277220757027_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=pF-sWL8HT20Q7kNvwF7U73k&_nc_oc=AdlUmKuwDdG5ux1WLG9qSHslgLxp8v6-Q0exv31ptm5mL_DxOxvGTwXx4JGVPN7MlRPklIICbi5eZkaH7VssS9Ac&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fslc3-1.fna&_nc_gid=bpTvnlE8M8buEtihV5sB8g&oh=00_AffPuMKB9nVA88nZye50RofL_aNSyHyuV5TioSAE2V4Wzg&oe=68F1F333

pagosa springs is in co not nm.

what happens when utah red rock areas get heavy rain:

https://scontent.fslc3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/558840745_817969380973399_3296424165109681379_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=833d8c&_nc_ohc=9x7NC6ca6WEQ7kNvwEfvqUq&_nc_oc=Adm-wjldAgatsuwVhSlGUJgrvRQ4Pnw1JQqkRg8zd9kbIcKtIhGNblFMuR9ph1p46cE-J6Z2kX7IPAHBQ-1_5Wln&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fslc3-1.fna&_nc_gid=FDzqOiJphhcmUMrgPOp6Jw&oh=00_AfdAfr_37zDSuRp-y48vQd6BIv09ZN372I3uR8h5C9-BEg&oe=68F1F451

yeah the hot tub photo was very striking