Northern California Fires (Los Angeles, Merced, Madera: live, move, smog)

[imlen]

i live in redding it is very smokie if you have any respiratory problems you should try a quick vacation to the coast for a few weeks

[KarlaT2]

Do you guys know if any of the major freeways are being slowed or affected? I was planning a few days next week in Sacramento/Taho/Napa area prior to my drive up to Oregon on I-5. Wondering if I should skip the 3-4 days in Sacramento. Is it really smoky there?

[happ]

To my understanding it is bad throughout the Central Valley but maybe worse in the San Joaquin valley. My sister in Chico [central Sacramento valley] told me yesterday that the smoke was so bad that they’re keeping the a/c on day & night [no open windows - of-course it is 100F as usual]

I think the high Sierra range is above the smoke but it is even bad down in LA

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

You can find out specific information about current fires here National Interagency Fire Center and here
CALIFORNIA FIRE NEWS

The terrain, weather and fuel load (how much combustible material) have an enormous amount to do with how any individual fire is attacked. Also the agencies responsible for fighting the fire (In both of the cases you mention) is the USFS. I also worked for them a couple of seasons. It takes the FS quite a long time to staff up a fire, because they rely on other USFS crews from all over the country to get there.

The Indians fire which you reference near King City is partly burning within the Ventana Wilderness area, which means there are restrictions on the use of machinery in the fire fighting effort. Because CDF's protection area is more accessible than the FS, they tend to use more engines than hand crews and it's pretty amazing how much water works better than dirt at extinguishing a fire.

I'd take any 15 person inmate crew from CDF over any 21 member "hot shot" crew from the FS. In CA, the FS does rely more on help from CDF than in other parts of the country, but they still insist on bringing their own from far away rather than the closest resource. I remember getting flown to AZ and reporting in to camp as a falling team from the Stanislaus NF back in the '70's. They gave us a dumb look and asked around..."anyone need fallers?"..."nope"..."OK boys go chow down and grab a paper sleeping bag and we'll call you in the morning".

We woke up with an inch of snow on us and froze our little butts off!

Thank you ... very interesting.
I must say that those fire fighters up in Idaho did an amazing job and the woman (i think a California fire fighter) who was running the operation was amazing as well.
I'm pretty sure that they were at the top of their game up there.
From what i heard, they did a very, very impressive job.

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by smiles

Rubyskye,

I remember reading about the Sun Valley fires and that the home owners paid private firefighting crews to protect their homes. I looked for the article, but could not find it. Then in our paper this morning was this little article. I think it answers your question about how the people of Sun Valley kept their homes.

"Mendocino County property owners Tuesday turned to hiring private firefighting crews and leasing helicopters to help fight fires on their own land.

"We understand the state's problems, but we can't wait for our lands to make their way up the priority list," said Mike Jani, chief forester for Mendocino Redwood Co. of Ukiah.

Jani said 31 lightning-caused fires are flaring across a 228,000-acre strip of company timberlands running along the rugged Mendocino-Sonoma coastline.

Jani said company crews and state firefighters are coordinating firefighting efforts, but more personnel and equipment are needed.

"We have two 20-man private crews arriving from Montana, and we may bring in more," Jani said.

The company has rented a private firefighting helicopter to dump ocean water on a fire near Rockport on the north Mendocino Coast."

I'm not sure what percentage of homeowners hired private folks. I know that some of them had insurance that sent their own people to fire proof the houses but i'm not sure if there were private fire fighters actually dealing with the fire itself.
There were 100's of fire fighters from all over the country up there.
A huge field was filled with row after row of tents for the fire men.
The National Guard was there as well dealing with traffic control, keeping people out of evacuated neighborhoods, etc.
It was just an amazing force up there last summer. I actually cried when i saw them coming back in the evening a few times. They were wonderful.
And then when i saw the Navajo guys up there .... oh man .... big tears.
I'm kinda that way

[norcalmom101]

Karla, I'd skip that trip for sure.

[OhBeeHave]

Is the Yreka area affected? A friend lives out that way.

[calif]

Officials have declared today "Unhealthy Air Day".

It is still very smoky here. We all have headaches, sore throats and even eye problems. Fun, fun! Stay inside today folks.

[SoCalif]

I live in Northern Santa Barbara County and I have ashes on my car, and smell the smoke. Been starting to cough, I can just imagine how it is north of us.

[calif]

More fires are popping up all the time. Do you think there is one closer to you? We feel like we are totally suffacating here. It is really startling that it is that bad down there too. We feel like there is nowhere to go to get away from it. This is totally ruining my kids summer vacation.