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Ed California Wild Fires: Death Toll 21...

dudalb

Penultimate Amazing
dudalb
Joined
Aug 9, 2007
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Location
Sacramento
And no end in sight to the damage in what is being called The Wine Country fires.

Here in Sacramento, a good 200 miles from the Sonoma area, the skies are clouded over with Smoke.

Also some fires in Socal:they had to close Disneyland for a while yesterday....
 
Already the worst wild fire on state history.

California’s out-of-control wildfires are officially the worst in state history. Heartbreaking images are pouring in from wine country, north of San Francisco, where fires continue to rage.*At least 21 people have died in the blazes so far, and in one county alone, 670 people are listed as missing.

The devastating wildfires in Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties have reached historic proportions: More than 3,500 structures had been destroyed as of Wednesday morning. That surpasses the damage of the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm, previously the worst wildfire disaster in state history. Nationally, this week’s fires rank*as the most destructive wildfire complex since at least 1980.
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dudalb said:
And no end in sight to the damage in what is being called The Wine Country fires.
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I saw a news photo showing a small river of red wine that was flowing from a winery which had burned along with its wine casks.
 
I've lived in "the wine country" for over 45 years, and almost had to evacuate on Monday. It is till not safe to be outdoors for any length of time unless you like breathing ashes.

Literally, I haven't talked to anyone who has not been negatively impacted. From loss of life to friends who lost everything and are just grateful they survived.

Now I recall hearing about disasters in other parts of the country, and thought dispassionately, "how awful". It is a different perspective when you are in the middle of the rubble.
 
I was leery of starting the thread because there is always someone that says "why do they live there"?
 
wasapi said:
I've lived in "the wine country" for over 45 years, and almost had to evacuate on Monday. It is till not safe to be outdoors for any length of time unless you like breathing ashes.

Literally, I haven't talked to anyone who has not been negatively impacted. From loss of life to friends who lost everything and are just grateful they survived.

Now I recall hearing about disasters in other parts of the country, and thought dispassionately, "how awful". It is a different perspective when you are in the middle of the rubble.
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I have family and friends that have evacuated today and they are safe. We are all anxiously watching to see where the fires go and hoping that their friends are safe and they get to keep their houses. Santa Rosa was just devastated, even one of the fire stations burnt down to the ground.
 
Our fire department deployed to Napa. As they were leaving they asked for anything anyone had to spare. I donated a bunch of clothes.
 
Travis said:
I was leery of starting the thread because there is always someone that says "why do they live there"?
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Show them this picture and ask them if they too live in a similar neighborhood, and if so, why? I can't believe what I'm seeing here.

[imgw=640]http://www.trbimg.com/img-59dc085e/turbine/la-coffey-park-after-20171009/[/IMGw]
 
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Travis said:
I was leery of starting the thread because there is always someone that says "why do they live there"?
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How we zone, how we have building codes, and how we do urban planning, how me manage risk, etc. contribute greatly to the severity of natural disasters. I don't have any opinions or knowledge on what they could have done differently in Santa Rosa. Perhaps they could have turned off the electricity and natural gas preemptively when there were red flag conditions, I don't know but it isn't so much "why do they live there?" but it is important to ask these questions about how and where we live to prevent these situations, especially in the Huston flooding situation which was predicted to happen sooner or later. There is a lot of discussion about development, including things like permeable pavement, a mind set of "sponging" the water in situ rather than just channeling it, and so on. These issues always come up after a disaster. Maybe the right question to ask is "How do they live there?"
As I'm writing this I have relatives who've been evacuated risk losing their homes.
 
portlandatheist said:
How we zone, how we have building codes, and how we do urban planning, how me manage risk, etc. contribute greatly to the severity of natural disasters. I don't have any opinions or knowledge on what they could have done differently in Santa Rosa. Perhaps they could have turned off the electricity and natural gas preemptively when there were red flag conditions, I don't know but it isn't so much "why do they live there?" but it is important to ask these questions about how and where we live to prevent these situations, especially in the Huston flooding situation which was predicted to happen sooner or later. There is a lot of discussion about development, including things like permeable pavement, a mind set of "sponging" the water in situ rather than just channeling it, and so on. These issues always come up after a disaster. Maybe the right question to ask is "How do they live there?"
As I'm writing this I have relatives who've been evacuated risk losing their homes.
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I understand what you are saying, but after living in the area since 1970, I have some opinions. Also, since I've lived here this is the 2nd fire threat I have experienced such as this, and have been through one earthquake and 3 floods. So why do I live here?

When I moved here, still in my teens, it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. Living high above the river, the view was mostly forest. Beautiful forest. It was a quick drive to the ocean and the snow. Mild temp, many warm days. Then I raised a family. My sons, a firefighter/paramedic and a Probation Officer, loved growing up in the country and have decided to stay.

The 'why' we live here seems simple
 
rwguinn said:
When you build 2000 square foot homes on 1500 square foot lots, you get this kind of threat.

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What is your source and if it applies in this situation?
 
rwguinn said:
When you build 2000 square foot homes on 1500 square foot lots, you get this kind of threat.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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Winds were blowing 60 mph Sunday night. Stand alone buildings surrounded by parking lots burnt down to the ground like the K-mart, Trader Joes, Luther Burbank Center for the arts, a fire station, wineries, etc.

Lack of defensible space is definitely a risk factor to homes near wildfire prone areas but this wildfire was especially problematic due to the extremely high winds. I don't think spaces between houses would have made much of a difference for this specific outbreak of fires.
 
The first I heard of this was a tweet in my timeline from someone who said they'd had to evacuate their home with almost no notice and they'd now lost everything - they even thought their cat was dead - but at least they were all safe. Utterly horrifying.

Of course these streets and neighbourhoods all look absolutely fine on Google Streetview. You can drive along these virtual streets and see them as they were last spring, basking in sunshine. It must be heartbreaking for everyone there. I wonder how many houses have been sestroyed overall?
 
portlandatheist said:
Winds were blowing 60 mph Sunday night. Stand alone buildings surrounded by parking lots burnt down to the ground like the K-mart, Trader Joes, Luther Burbank Center for the arts, a fire station, wineries, etc.

Lack of defensible space is definitely a risk factor to homes near wildfire prone areas but this wildfire was especially problematic due to the extremely high winds. I don't think spaces between houses would have made much of a difference for this specific outbreak of fires.
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True. Extraoranay circumstances do tend to mask problems with concepts. But high-density construction practices do tend to encourage fire losses in some areas.
I just happen to be "allergic " to the California solution to insufficient profits in the land-sales market...

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