Devastation is just awful.
#3 son's house spared -- he and his wife have been pretty aggressive in keeping the brush down and removing fuel from around the house. They got a panicked call at 1:00 a.m. to evacuate and fled down the valley from Glen Ellen to Sonoma. When they returned this afternoon there was only one other house left standing in their neighborhood.
friend who runs a bio-tech company closer to the Bay said that ash is everywhere in Northern Cali.
#3 son's house spared -- he and his wife have been pretty aggressive in keeping the brush down and removing fuel from around the house. They got a panicked call at 1:00 a.m. to evacuate and fled down the valley from Glen Ellen to Sonoma. When they returned this afternoon there was only one other house left standing in their neighborhood.
friend who runs a bio-tech company closer to the Bay said that ash is everywhere in Northern Cali.
Keysight HQ shut down -- saw a picture of one KEYS facility burned totally to the ground.
Keysight Technologies’ Corporate Headquarters Impacted by Northern California Fires | Business Wire
Keysight Technologies’ Corporate Headquarters Impacted by Northern California Fires | Business Wire
I've been following some of this as I have a nephew in Santa Rosa. Looks bad. On BBC this morning was a case of one homeowner where his is the only house left standing in the street.
I wouldn't have expected fires that far north.
I wouldn't have expected fires that far north.
This is obscene. Nothing to burn but a few trees (some not burnt) and the houses. I know _my_ house would burn like that, but I am hundreds of feet from my neighbors. How can they allow houses cheek-to-jowl and not require fireproof construction? Never heard of Chicago? London?
Attachments
I must admit to have been being boggled by some of the aerial shots on our news of quite how it could burn like that. But I do know that wild fires have some freaky physics.
Chicago was a shanty town before The Fire. You could build whatever you wanted using whatever material you wanted on your property. This was a major contributing factor to the spread of the fire.
Now Chicago has some of the strictest building codes in the world. It makes a big difference in occupant safety. Chicago's Fire Department is top notch too.
I too facepalm when I see those houses built so close on what is basically chaparral. You know what they say about trying to fool mother nature.
Eucalypti burn like napalm, especially when the wind is strong, it is like a torch.
It is sunny here today, but I found ashes on my car. Yesterday it was dark, like solar eclipse, all in smoke.
It is sunny here today, but I found ashes on my car. Yesterday it was dark, like solar eclipse, all in smoke.
Attachments
Last edited:
I was near the Los Angeles fires of the late 1950s. Similar, in that dry brush close to houses encouraged spread. Different, in that the worst losses were way up switch-back hill roads where firetrucks could not respond well. Perhaps the Coffee Park area fire dept assumed that with the good road grid and presumably huge water mains (for hi-density housing) they would always be able to fight a fire. _A_ fire-- but not many fires coming into town on all sides.
Anyway, after those LA fires (and similar there and other places) there is a period of intense brush clearing, tile roofs, etc. I've lived in two homes with (asbestos) cement shingled walls. I know a low-cost high-density development with aluminum siding over _gypsum_ sheathing (supposed to be weather-proof; wasn't) which will take a lot of heat and only need new siding (except the damp got to the gypsum before fire happened).
I'm not so far from Bar Harbor Maine, which is celebrating 70 years since the Great Fires of 1947, when half the east side of the island, and many grand houses, burned for a week and the town evacuated. Not much fire in town, but the tourist/rusticator economy ruined for decades.
You can usually tell a town that already had its Great Fire. There's a lot of brick buildings from the same time. Look around, there is a dam and water-mains also built in the aftermath. A town near me was all like that (until mass cars moved the shopping district along the highway-- and the water mains were extended along with the new growth).
Anyway, after those LA fires (and similar there and other places) there is a period of intense brush clearing, tile roofs, etc. I've lived in two homes with (asbestos) cement shingled walls. I know a low-cost high-density development with aluminum siding over _gypsum_ sheathing (supposed to be weather-proof; wasn't) which will take a lot of heat and only need new siding (except the damp got to the gypsum before fire happened).
I'm not so far from Bar Harbor Maine, which is celebrating 70 years since the Great Fires of 1947, when half the east side of the island, and many grand houses, burned for a week and the town evacuated. Not much fire in town, but the tourist/rusticator economy ruined for decades.
You can usually tell a town that already had its Great Fire. There's a lot of brick buildings from the same time. Look around, there is a dam and water-mains also built in the aftermath. A town near me was all like that (until mass cars moved the shopping district along the highway-- and the water mains were extended along with the new growth).
#3 son got a visit from a fire inspector trying to determine why their house was spared -- one of the things I was just told was that they had removed tree branches which were less than 10 feet above the ground.
will have to await the fall rains and spring to see how the oaks did.
a lot of Sonoma is being evac'd because of the fires moving east to west.
will have to await the fall rains and spring to see how the oaks did.
a lot of Sonoma is being evac'd because of the fires moving east to west.
You probably know that Chicago is a city built out of bricks. There are at least a few wooden houses that survived the fire, as well as a few wooden houses in areas annexed by the city after the fire. But everything built in the city that was built after the fire was either brick (mostly), concrete, or steel.
Brick houses always leave something to rebuild after a fire or tornado. I remember the 1967 Oak Lawn (Il) tornado, an EF 4 or 5 that went right down Southwest Highway towards the city. I lived in the city just a couple miles from where it hit. In Oak Lawn there were nice brick houses along Southwest Highway. The houses right along the highway were barely 20-25 feet from the road. They all had their roofs blown completely off but the brick structure was still standing. All houses were quickly rebuilt just as nice as before.But barely a mile north was Hometown, where the houses were wooden frame structures on cinderblock foundations; as cheap as could be. They were all completely demolished for blocks; I remember rows of toilets standing up in a neat line amidst the rubble. And right across 87th street from Hometown, where there was virtually 100% devastation, was the city. Rows of brick 3 flats stood with hardly a shingle blown off.
A house burned about a mile from where I lived. I looked inside and you could see that the fire started by the furnace. It was a bad fire too; the floor had collapsed into the basement and the roof had completely caved in. An architect bough it, cleaned up the bricks on the outside (modern yellow brick scorched black), and put a completely different floor plan in. You couldn't even tell it had burned and the house (1970s construction) had an ingenious, modern floor plan - not the typical ranch layout. It was awesome! She sold it before it was even finished, and a family lives in it today.
DaveG, thanks for the map.
I see now that this really was a fire-storm, burning chunks blowing 50MPH, not a house-to-house fire spread.
As I expected, California has Code to address general wild-fire. In high-risk areas you may have to clear 100 feet from the building. But here the embers were blowing from a large fire much further away. The only defenses were to pre-clear scenic hillside or brick-up all wood houses, neither of which would happen.
All of this is on my mind. My house is all wood siding over tinder-studs. I am IN a spruce/pine woods. The last two summers have been VERY dry (but not dry like Calif). Maine is not prone to large fires, but in 1947 fires raged all along this coast, and it could happen again.
I see now that this really was a fire-storm, burning chunks blowing 50MPH, not a house-to-house fire spread.
As I expected, California has Code to address general wild-fire. In high-risk areas you may have to clear 100 feet from the building. But here the embers were blowing from a large fire much further away. The only defenses were to pre-clear scenic hillside or brick-up all wood houses, neither of which would happen.
All of this is on my mind. My house is all wood siding over tinder-studs. I am IN a spruce/pine woods. The last two summers have been VERY dry (but not dry like Calif). Maine is not prone to large fires, but in 1947 fires raged all along this coast, and it could happen again.
My son reported that the folks in Sonoma have been working around the clock to halt the spread of fire towards the city. They've gained some time, but the winds are picking up.
Yesterday tanker aircraft were covering the area with a retardant.
Most of the deceased average age = 79 -- they couldn't move fast enough.
I should have had the foresight to time lapse the Cal-Fire maps -- two days ago the fires to the east of Sonoma had not joined.
Yesterday tanker aircraft were covering the area with a retardant.
Most of the deceased average age = 79 -- they couldn't move fast enough.
I should have had the foresight to time lapse the Cal-Fire maps -- two days ago the fires to the east of Sonoma had not joined.
Attachments
We had ash raining down Sunday. I feel for the victims of this tragedy. We cut our vacation short after hearing of this from our son who was freaking out on the day it started. Being out in the country we've always thought we were prepared for something like this but after seeing the devastation on our drive home thru Willits I'm not so sure.
Like burning oil/gas......... time to stop building houses out of fire wood. Better for environment and last longer and I like the wild life which depends on the diversity of wilderness..... plants and trees.
-Richard
-Richard
Spain and portugal caught fire again at the weekend. The sky turned yellow in UK yesterday from the ash. Given earlier in the year there was the brocolli panic after a late frost in spain and houston flooded whilst CA is burning its certainly an unusual weather year.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.