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RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/16/18 11:52 a.m.

I went to our local hardware store as soon as they opened last Saturday and I picked up a filter. There were three people in the checkout line by the time I got to it – all were buying filters – no one took more than one – I was happy to see community members being considerate.

D2W
D2W HalfDork
11/16/18 11:55 a.m.
Toyman01 said:
BoxheadTim said:
Toyman01 said:

It's not like this is anything new. Doesn't it burn every year?

Not this badly, at least not on average.

Maybe they should try prescribed burns to keep the underbrush under control. The Francis Marion, lights off 10-20% of the forest every year to keep the wild fires under control. 

They're doing that already, but the forests are tinder dry and have a fair number of dead trees in them. It hasn't rained for quite a while, too (like, in months). Combine that with strong winds and you have a recipe for disaster, underbrush or no underbrush.

I guess drought out west is a little different than it is here. Our droughts are 10" of rain for the month, instead of 15". I guess out there is could just not rain at all. 

Drought is very location specific. We went 3 months this year without any measurable rain. That's not a drought though, we only get about 16.5" a year.  

 

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/16/18 12:25 p.m.

True, but there has been a drought out here for years by now.

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/16/18 12:34 p.m.

In reply to D2W :

I'd go insane. I love a good thunderstorm. We average 50" a year. 

MulletTruck
MulletTruck HalfDork
11/16/18 12:38 p.m.

I rode through the flames as they crossed the freeway on Friday Morning about 5am A few cars followed me but most stopped.

We lost a bit of the building to the fire, The rest was water damage. A/V equipment is not too fond of having water pour on it for an hour or so.  I grabbed the office computer hard drives and came home. 

Luckily it was the shop this time rather than the house like the past two years 

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
11/16/18 1:00 p.m.
GameboyRMH said:
Brian said:

Hell, had I hit one of those mega ball jackpots I would be on Catalina Island now. 

Keep in mind that Catalina Island is the deepest pit of gearhead hell:

https://traveltips.usatoday.com/cars-allowed-catalina-island-109661.html

Catalina is filled with interesting Kei cars and trucks. 

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/catalina-is-the-weirdest-place-in-the-world-for-car-lov-891706925

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
11/16/18 1:40 p.m.

I sympathize.

When I was a kid out in Montana that was us kids biggest fear: fire. We've had our small town completely surrounded by fire. When your fire fighter father tells your mom that if he gets the call, to grab the kids, the dog, get into the Suburban and head into the wind. When you get to the flames, hold your breath as long as you can. 

Can you imagine the mind of a 31 year old mother of 3 being told this?

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/16/18 2:48 p.m.
Appleseed said:

I sympathize.

When I was a kid out in Montana that was us kids biggest fear: fire. We've had our small town completely surrounded by fire. When your fire fighter father tells your mom that if he gets the call, to grab the kids, the dog, get into the Suburban and head into the wind. When you get to the flames, hold your breath as long as you can. 

Can you imagine the mind of a 31 year old mother of 3 being told this?

The number of missing people was just increased to 631 and our Governor said “as evacuation orders are lifted and many return home, realize that the cadaver dogs are going to miss many people - be prepared for what you might find”.

Toebra
Toebra Dork
11/16/18 6:01 p.m.
Toyman01 said:

It's not like this is anything new. Doesn't it burn every year?

Maybe they should try prescribed burns to keep the underbrush under control. The Francis Marion, lights off 10-20% of the forest every year to keep the wild fires under control. 

That is how it was handled in the distant past.  Went away from the practice for many, many years because, environment.  Recently this has been reintroduced.  With the demise of logging on the West coast, we have also seen the size of fires grow significantly.  There has been a boom in population growth in inaccessible areas, prone to fire.  All these things are compounded by the mismanagement of resources.

 

There was a problem with the Oroville Dam last year, very close to where the fires are.  The spill way was damaged by erosion, which has been a known issue for years, but repairs were deferred.  The emergency spillway was dirt.  The Army Corps of Engineers told them this was a problem back in the 1970's.  It took a near catastrophe to get any action.  They do a lot of management by crisis.

 

There are going to be more bodies found up in Butte County, a lot more.

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy UltimaDork
11/16/18 7:29 p.m.

My mind can’t wrap around the 600+ missing people.  My heart is heavy.  

T.J.
T.J. MegaDork
11/16/18 7:33 p.m.

I've had over 90" of rain fall this year which is a couple feet more than average. Too bad there isn't a way to spread it around to the places that need it. 

Ian F
Ian F MegaDork
11/16/18 7:57 p.m.

One of the guys I know on Facebook through a Volvo 1800 group lived in Paradise.  He lost pretty much everything, getting out with his wife and son (thankfully) and one of his 1800's on a trailer.  His other three 1800s along with two 122s and other items in his collection were lost.

Image may contain: car and outdoor

Image may contain: outdoor

This is what the car looked like before. An all original 1972 1800E. sad

Image may contain: car, tree and outdoor

We've heard of many others who have lost classic cars.  The fire just happened so fast and there are limited ways in and out of Paradise. This will likely be the most deadly disaster in the continental US since Katrina.

 

Brett_Murphy
Brett_Murphy GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
11/16/18 8:05 p.m.

All you Cali people stay safe. 

Boost_Crazy
Boost_Crazy HalfDork
11/17/18 1:39 a.m.

The wind patterns are crazy, pushing much of the smoke through the valley and to the west. I live about about 120 miles from the fire, and my kid's school was closed today. I heard on the radio today that San Francisco had the worst air quality of all of the major cities in the world today.

I've lived in California for 40 years, and while fires happen during the dry periods,  the scale and devastation to populated areas has been off the charts in the last couple years. We are not really even in a drought, we've had much worse. There are lots of factors that added up to bring us to the current situation. There is lots of fuel to burn. As others have mentioned, lots of dead trees in the state, just waiting for a spark. It looks like the last three deadly fires have all been started by issues with the utilities, Santa Rosa last year, the one is So. Cal, and the one in Paradise. That is going to be very interesting if they find PG&E at fault in Paradise, as they are already paying cubic dollars for Santa Rosa. I sure hope we get this figured out soon. I love California, and I sure don't want this to become the new norm. 

Tk8398
Tk8398 Reader
11/17/18 1:52 a.m.
Ian F said:

We've heard of many others who have lost classic cars.  The fire just happened so fast and there are limited ways in and out of Paradise. This will likely be the most deadly disaster in the continental US since Katrina.

 

I have seen quite a few in pictures, a vanagon, a whole lot of vw bugs and busses, a Volvo 544, a couple older dodge trucks, Mercedes W116, W201, and a W126 300SD (which I could tell because the aluminum hood and trunk had been vaporized, and thats the only model of W126 that had them), etc.

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
11/17/18 7:32 a.m.

News this morning is that the list of missing is over 1000.  Hard to fathom that, and is a good illustration of the speed of the fire. 

Sobering. 

Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
11/17/18 8:03 a.m.

Tom and Nicole are in San Fran for their honeymoon. Said yesterday the city is basically shut down due to the smoke. 

Margie

Slippery
Slippery GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/17/18 8:10 a.m.
Marjorie Suddard said:

Tim and Nicole are in San Fran for their honeymoon. Said yesterday the city is basically shut down due to the smoke. 

Margie

Tim? 

Jay_W
Jay_W Dork
11/17/18 10:05 a.m.
Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
11/17/18 1:49 p.m.

In reply to Slippery :

oops, fixed.

 

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia Reader
11/17/18 3:22 p.m.

Air quality index in the SF Bay area is around 200 , Down here in Los Angeles near the airport is 56 , as we are out of the direct airflow of the Malibu fires ,

And this is almost a week after the main fire , 

Wear a N 95 mask or better,

Hopefully a light rain is coming in a few days

 

Antihero
Antihero GRM+ Memberand Dork
11/19/18 12:14 a.m.
californiamilleghia said:

Air quality index in the SF Bay area is around 200 , Down here in Los Angeles near the airport is 56 , as we are out of the direct airflow of the Malibu fires ,

And this is almost a week after the main fire , 

Wear a N 95 mask or better,

Hopefully a light rain is coming in a few days

 

This last summer Spokane briefly hit 404 air quality index,it was terrible.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/19/18 10:02 a.m.

This post has received too many downvotes to be displayed.


Stefan
Stefan GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/19/18 12:34 p.m.
GameboyRMH said:

And to think, all of this could've been avoided if Californians had just raked more.

Sigh.... I just can't write anything that wouldn't get me banned or this thread locked.  I'll just say, lets all tread lightly and focus on helping the folks directly impacted.

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
11/19/18 1:45 p.m.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Yes, thanks for sh**ing on this thread about massive loss of property and life to make your petty political jab...

...classy.

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