California is Burning (Again)

[LightRanger]

Discuss.

I'll start: King Fire is looking like it isn't going to stop until it hits the Crest. Went from 100 acres on Sunday morning to 3000 that evening to 30000 tonight. 3300 personnel assigned and counting. Two of the three DC-10s.Amazing to me that they haven't reported any structures lost yet. 5% contained. God knows what the total acreage will be when it's done.

Here's a shot of the pyrocumulus that my father took today in Colfax ~30-40 miles away. Reminiscent of last year's Rim Fire.

Boles Fire just ripped through Weed and destroyed over a hundred buildings. Courtney Fire near Bass Lake destroyed a bunch of homes too. Super sad. We need some rain.

[TBS]

Yes you do. The Happy Camp complex is up to 125k acres as well.

[LightRanger]

Yep. It's actually showering over that area as we speak, do that's nice.

Meadow Fire is still burning, but largely contained, in Little Yosemite Valley. Some spectacular night photos of that one.

Then the fires around Burney and Fall River Mills last month were big.

Silverado Fire is going in Cleveland NF. Not unusual there though. Fire burning at the base of June Mountain right now too.

There's actually another fire that guys jumped on in El Dorado NF today or yesterday called the Irene Fire. High elevation. Damn drought.

[~mikey b]

Saw those clouds from Sonora yesterday. Quiet here so far. Some folks not so lucky

[TahoeJ]

June Mountain is on fire as well. Or is that part of one of the other fires? I can't keep track there's so many.

[creaky fossil]

that shit has blown east and we can see, taste, smell it in the air over here

[Meadow Skipper]

I think they're catching the June fire.

This is a big bad season. Pretty predictable given last winter's precip and the lack of landscape scale mitigation like prescribed fire and thinning. Plus there are more people living farther out than there were the last big bust. Vibes, and hoping for rain...even though that just postpones the problem.

[DJSapp]

I flew from Sac to Seattle on tuesday, and flying back to sac tonight. The entire flight was in a light cloud of smoke, and you could see fires all over NCal and Oregon. Tonight is going to be disgusting. If there's enough light, I'll try to get some pictures.

[splat]

Saw those pryocumulus clouds from reno, where the air quality is damn close to hazardous.
The king fire went from 35K acres to 70K acres last night. That is fucking hudge.
I keep hoping I'll get a call to go work ground support...

[LightRanger]

^^^ Appreciated.

Apparently the King Fire ran 10 miles to the north between 4pm yesterday and 6am this morning. Better measuring after yesterday pegs it at 71,000 acres now. So it grew 50000 acres in a day to day and a half. Nuts.

Northern boundary is now at Hell Hole Reservoir--a bit southwest of Alpine Meadows. Here's the map:
And the sat photo showing the smoke from yesterday:


I took this yesterday from Contra Costa County:
And then this one this morning as I was leaving for work:


Gonna be interesting to see if any moisture hits the ground in the fire area.

(Disclaimer: Posting from my phone so no idea how big these images are.)

[snapt]

Jesus fuck, crystal basin was my stomping grounds in HS, sad to see it burn.
The weed fire is extremely sad, that town was already super depressed with the old mill that was holding on all that was keeping things going.

[JAREDS]

FYI this was saddlebag lake, east side of Yosemite, last Saturday night. We almost cancelled plans due to the smoke that everyone said was covering the area, but none was seen.
Obv the nearer you are to these fires the higher the probability of smoke, and wind patterns can change a clear area into a smokey area quickly...Just an FYI in case anyone is planning to head out somewhere, it's not all cough & choke air right now.

[JAREDS]

also - can anyone id the location of this photo?
I've heard it was bass lake fire, placerville fire and Yosemite fire. I'd love some verification. It's taken from Facebook so it's likely a still from a movie or something dumb.
EDIT: it's bass lake. Photog's site here: http://www.fluidr.com/photos/liquidmoonlightcom

[creaky fossil]

in case y'all didn't already use this tool:

InciWeb

[LightRanger]

Inciweb is sweet for sure. Official social media accounts are good too... eg the CalFire PIO Twitter handle.

[old goat]

It's not just raining ash in Truckee any more--it's raining charcoal.

[ill-advised strategy]

Saw those pryocumulus clouds from reno, where the air quality is damn close to hazardous.
The king fire went from 35K acres to 70K acres last night. That is fucking hudge.
I keep hoping I'll get a call to go work ground support...

Have you checked in to make sure your status is available? Sometimes if they throw things to an expanded you can get lost in the shuffle. Then again, sometimes calling to check just pisses people off... Not sure how things run there.

[ill-advised strategy]

It's not just raining ash in Truckee any more--it's raining charcoal.

If you're being serious about raining chunks it's probably time to go soon if not now.

Gather your important shit, close all your windows, check under your deck and awnings for flammable pine needles and duff and get that shit out of there if you can. If you're on top of all that and you have some time, really wet everything down before you go. Gutters, the brush on the perimeter, the crap under your deck. Soak the shit out of it all. If you have a few key trees you need to fall and you can drop them and get them back away from your structures, now is the time.

Vibes.

[LightRanger]

He's in Truckee. It's still a ways away and on the other side of 9800 foot peaks. Although official report of spotting THREE miles ahead of the leading edge of the main fire.

Here's a useful map I just found: www.deercreekgis.com/files/king

And another: https://mapsengine.google.com/maps/d...4.kzoGHac5DqbE

[LightRanger]

El Dorado County Sheriff arrested a 37 YO male for arson yesterday with bail at 10 million. CalFire making the official announcement of cause at 11:30, but it looks like that's what it's going to be. Start was at 6:30 Saturday evening.

[LightRanger]

CalFire saying $5 mil/day to fight this and they're on pace for a "world-record" for retardant use. More than 400k gallons in the last two days. 210k yesterday.




Found some better MODIS maps that I'll link in a bit.

[DasBlunt]

A Dam on the Rubicon was not such a smart idea after all.

[lepistoir]

From NWS: "AS WINDS SHIFT TO THE EAST FROM FRIDAY THROUGH THE
WEEKEND, SMOKE SHOULD REMAIN WEST OF THE SIERRA CREST."

Should keep fire off the lake and help establish some lines to the east. Hopefully won't spread it back west into the inhabited areas.

[east or bust]

That sure is a big'un.

[TahoeBC]

This site is pretty good, you can look at the wind forecasts
http://tmappsevents.esri.com/website...1257.705421076