Crews focus on fires nearing rural towns

Source: Redding Penlight

Residents watched and worried as smoke filled their neighborhoods and firetrucks wound along rural roads as firefighters Monday continued to battle hundreds of lightning-caused blazes in the north state.

While a typical summer lightning storm will spark from eight to 25 fires, the storm that rolled through over the weekend caused more than 100 blazes in the 2.1 million-acre Shasta-Trinity National Forest, said Mike Odle, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman.

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Because of the magnitude of the fires, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday declared a state of emergency in Trinity County.

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Similarly, at least 153 fires were burning in Shasta County, said Roy Del Carlo, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. Several threatened homes.

Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jun/24/crews-focus-on-fires-nearing-rural-towns/

Hope the smoke is not choking you out up there! :hi:


We're having very hazy skies down here.

It doesn't look TOO bad outside right now, but I just don't want to mess around, ya know?

I bet it's hazy down there...I think it's hazy in the whole state. :o

http://www.krqe.com/global/story.asp?s=8556275 It has an impressive list of evacuations.

I can see it from my kitchen window. It's pretty ugly looking out there.

This is dry lightning, forest fire season. This particular fire was started by dry lightning 2 nights ago.

I've heard estimates between 300 and 1,020 fires going in the state... That leaves, what, one crew per fire? They say these fires might burn all summer. :o

I haven't seen blue sky in weeks.

I stayed in yesterday, but have to be out in it today. It's almost worth it to drive around using $4/gal gas just so I can breathe filtered air in a closed car.

Fortunately there was a good delta breeze where we've been working this week. When we got back to Redding I was like "XOMG!" :choke:

I was outside for about 10 minutes and I just got a gnarly sore throat yesterday. :(

Droughts and dry lightening don't mix. :(

I have family in Butte county who have been choking on smoke since Sunday. The Butte Lightening Complex fires grew to 7000 acres last night.

Butte county is getting it bad. :(

According to my family there, they now have 18 active fires. Down from 25 but up from 17 as a new one sprang up last night. The total fire acreage is 7000 with 1200 structures possibly threatened. Barring any more lightening they're projecting containment by July 9th. Which would be extremely fast all things considered. I'm betting they must be moving toward the river for them be making that projection.

am leaving again back to Durham where the air is a little better

and a huge thank-you to all firefighters and emergency personnel!!!

http://www.chicoer.com/ci_9699907?source=most_viewed

Monster planes on the way
All eight of the Air National Guard's C-130s that are equipped for firefighting are coming to the Chico Municipal Airport.

Along with the mammoth aircraft, Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, the nationwide commander for the guard, and Major General William H. Wade II, adjutant general of the California National Guard, will also be coming to Chico.

The generals were scheduled to arrive shortly after noon today.

The eight aircraft are coming from Guard units in North Carolina, Wyoming and Colorado.

Wind coming

When it comes to wildland fires, about the worst news a firefighter can get is that winds are coming and that is the message that is being distributed to officials fighting the Butte Lightning Fire Complex.

Weather alerts were broadcast to the commanders of the various "branches" of the fire complex that over the next 24 to 35 hours winds will be picking up aggressively.

Starting at about 11 p.m., north to northeast winds are expected to increase both in the valley and the foothills. Sustained winds in the 8 to 15 mph range are being predicted in the area.

"The strongest winds will be in the lower Feather River drainages where local gusts of near 40 mph are possible," reports the Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center. The center is operated cooperatively by a consortium of state and federal firefighting agencies.

Joshpae White, Cal Fire-Butte County engineer/public information

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officer, said this change in the weather is not a surprise.
"It's definitely not good news. We knew it was going to come," he said.

White said firefighters have been aggressively cutting fire lines in preparation for the weather change.

The coordination center is also forecasting the arrival of new thunderstorms as early as Friday.

"The renewed lightning outbreak will be a problem, especially with little rain expected Friday and Saturday. More wet storms may mix in Sunday, but even then this could be critical, due to the current siege of fires, and the related resource shortages," says the Web site.

Plumas National Forest fire areas closed

Plumas National Forest has closed areas with active fires to protect the public.

The closure covers public land generally bounded by the north and middle forks of the Feather River, toward the Pacific Crest/Bucks Lake Wilderness and land around the Cold Fire.

Private businesses and resorts, including facilities around Bucks Lake, remain open along state and county highways and in communities. Fire totals jump

While the official number of identified blazes has been hovering in the mid-20s range since last Saturday, this morning the official total has jumped to 31 fires.

A reconnaissance flight that got up Wednesday discovered one previously undetected blaze, the Camp Fire, that had already burned through 2,500 acres off Highway 70 near the western border of the Plumas National Forest.

Besides that, the Smoky and the Little Smoky fires, in the general vicinity of Highway 32 in the Butte Meadows area, have burned together. The combined fire has blackened about 300 acres of brush and timber.

In total, the fires have scorched about 7,000 acres.

am leaving again back to Durham where the air is a little better

and a huge thank-you to all firefighters and emergency personnel!!!

http://www.chicoer.com/ci_9699907?source=most_viewed

Monster planes on the way
All eight of the Air National Guard's C-130s that are equipped for firefighting are coming to the Chico Municipal Airport.

Along with the mammoth aircraft, Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, the nationwide commander for the guard, and Major General William H. Wade II, adjutant general of the California National Guard, will also be coming to Chico.

The generals were scheduled to arrive shortly after noon today.

The eight aircraft are coming from Guard units in North Carolina, Wyoming and Colorado.

Wind coming

When it comes to wildland fires, about the worst news a firefighter can get is that winds are coming and that is the message that is being distributed to officials fighting the Butte Lightning Fire Complex.

Weather alerts were broadcast to the commanders of the various "branches" of the fire complex that over the next 24 to 35 hours winds will be picking up aggressively.

Starting at about 11 p.m., north to northeast winds are expected to increase both in the valley and the foothills. Sustained winds in the 8 to 15 mph range are being predicted in the area.

"The strongest winds will be in the lower Feather River drainages where local gusts of near 40 mph are possible," reports the Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center. The center is operated cooperatively by a consortium of state and federal firefighting agencies.

Joshpae White, Cal Fire-Butte County engineer/public information

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officer, said this change in the weather is not a surprise.
"It's definitely not good news. We knew it was going to come," he said.

White said firefighters have been aggressively cutting fire lines in preparation for the weather change.

The coordination center is also forecasting the arrival of new thunderstorms as early as Friday.

"The renewed lightning outbreak will be a problem, especially with little rain expected Friday and Saturday. More wet storms may mix in Sunday, but even then this could be critical, due to the current siege of fires, and the related resource shortages," says the Web site.

Plumas National Forest fire areas closed

Plumas National Forest has closed areas with active fires to protect the public.

The closure covers public land generally bounded by the north and middle forks of the Feather River, toward the Pacific Crest/Bucks Lake Wilderness and land around the Cold Fire.

Private businesses and resorts, including facilities around Bucks Lake, remain open along state and county highways and in communities. Fire totals jump

While the official number of identified blazes has been hovering in the mid-20s range since last Saturday, this morning the official total has jumped to 31 fires.

A reconnaissance flight that got up Wednesday discovered one previously undetected blaze, the Camp Fire, that had already burned through 2,500 acres off Highway 70 near the western border of the Plumas National Forest.

Besides that, the Smoky and the Little Smoky fires, in the general vicinity of Highway 32 in the Butte Meadows area, have burned together. The combined fire has blackened about 300 acres of brush and timber.

In total, the fires have scorched about 7,000 acres.

Who says CDF has no sense of humor? :P

:hi:

"Posted by kwj on June 24, 2008 at 7:35 a.m.
I don't want to be preachy but it sure is amazing that less then a week after the queers can get married in cali one of the biggest lighting storms comes through and catches the entire north state on fire. Maybe with all the new license fees and tourism they are collecting they can afford fire protection now. I just wish the fires went through San fran instead of up here."

What a jerk.

I have family in the Redding, Anderson, Palo Cedro, and Burney areas. They can't remember a time when fires were this bad this early in the season. I plan on calling again today for another update.
Take care, XemaSab!

"Maybe God is punishing the North State for being on the WRONG SIDE of the gay marriage "debate." Did ya think of that?" :shrug:

Yeah, the comments in teh penlight are stupid, often. :P

That's just perfect.

in the "leave a comment" section.

Seems current:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=110735790609633874400.00044f7bd13c461bb9ba2&ll=38.565348,-121.311035&spn=8.243972,14.0625&z=6&source=embed

The Wild fire (Napa/Solano) is out. Info on the Walker fire is not current either.

Here's a link to a more up-to-date map.
http://www.fire.ca.gov/downloads/incidents/StatewideFireMap_062508_pm.pdf

Here's a map for all the states.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

I hope that the people of Trinity county are safe and sound. Best of luck to your fire-fighters!

I just finished reading "fire on the mountain" about the group of firefighters killed in CO in I think '94. I kept wondering why it was published so recently, since I remember reading about this when I was a kid back in late 60's, then realized THAT book was about the Mann Fire, which is referenced often as being the same conditions.

Having known forest firefighters back in the 80's, I have great respect for them, and hope all stay safe. Thanks for your post as I hadn't realized it was so bad out there.

Good luck to all.

I think it's by Norman MacLean, who also wrote "A River Runs Through It." It's a great book about a sad event.

on the way home to lunch. It's sounding even worse. My spousal equivalent and I fought fire with the USFS during the 70's and 80's, and in her case, till about 12 years ago. I pity the firefighters on the lines. This is bad.

On Edit- Wasn't actually NPR, but the regional public broadcasting station, Jefferson State Radio.

:D

I just went out shopping because the air at ground level was pretty clear, and you can see about 30 smoke plumes going up from the hills outside Redding. :o

But the DEA manages to fly out of Ukiah airport to bust marijuana crops in Humboldt County. I guess they are much too busy to help battle fire.

Walker Fire: The smoke is really Really bad here, having to stay inside most of the time. I found a good face mask, so am able to take care of the garden. Visibility is maybe 2 miles, more like 1 or less.

The Lake county fires are so huge that we have horrible air quality in Ukiah

but the town is choking on smoke! My old house in Junction City is in danger of burning. Dry lightning is SOOOOO bad!

Not good...