Members in the California fire areas check in please!

Liberty said:
My friend, who lives in Colorado, is not allowed to have any trees within 50 ft of his house for this very reason. As anyone who has ever burned a good size brush pile knows, embers can spark and there's always the dreaded "chimney"tree. My hub is a fire commissioner.
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@Liberty it was my understanding that homeowners must also keep brush away from the house in CA but many were not doing it and the state didn't inspect.

Perhaps I am wrong.
 

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Linda said:
I’m ok except my husband and I realized we don’t have bad colds, we are getting sick from breathing in the air from the fires. None are close to us but the smoke is coming from different directions and settles here in the foothills of the mountains. My son drove by the Getty yesterday and saw a lot of smoke and a few flames pretty close to it. My kids in LA are having smoke problems but so far haven’t had to evacuate.

Any of us might lose our electric power about anytime. The gas stations need electric to run their pumps. We have a hand crank radio to use in emergencies.

They are advising babies and seniors and anyone with breathing problems to stay indoors if they can.
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Linda ... thinking of you and your situation. That's just awful. You guys need to go somewhere. Do you have breathing masks?
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
Has anybody heard from Mrs. Robinson?
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I'm here and safe,thanks! No power since Saturday and internet on my phone(and everyone elses) very spotty. Went to friends last night as my daughter made a humongous pot of posole' and took it up there. Then we went to her house and played music and sang. They all have generators-we do not. We have had no water since Friday as our well is having issues. We don't yet know if it is an electrical problem or a matter of our well going dry. Can't get it checked out until the power is back on. Friday at the earliest they are now saying. The fire I told you all about starting last Thursday night is now consuming a huge part of Sonoma County and has now doubled back to our county. Still a long way from us but with these winds I guess anything is possible. Ok,gonna go-have to conserve my battery!
 

Lara said:
Thank you for that update GeorgiaXplant. I've been worried about Mrs. R.

I was also worried about my daughter in Santa Monica with the Los Angeles Getty fire. I wasn't worried (yet) about the flames reaching her but she was inhaling smoke this morning and the lack of power threat is so hard to hear when you fear losing alerts and communication with family.

She has no friends yet as she's only lived there a few months. Also no car (rides her bike and occasionally uses Uber and Lyft). It was dark and businesses were closed so she couldn't even call for a rental car. She was alone in her apartment. The window broke as she tried to shut out the smoke.

I knew LA would be a traffic jam of epic proportions if they all had the same plan that we had to evacuate early so we wanted to exit asap before rush hour. They had already shut down the 405 to one lane.

Well she found a rental car, headed south, and got an Airbnb at her destination...so all is well now. Winds are suppose to pick up in a couple of days so we're waiting to see what happens with the fire spreading...or not.
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Glad to read she found a way out! Know that was a scary time for you.
 
Linda said:
I’m ok except my husband and I realized we don’t have bad colds, we are getting sick from breathing in the air from the fires. None are close to us but the smoke is coming from different directions and settles here in the foothills of the mountains. My son drove by the Getty yesterday and saw a lot of smoke and a few flames pretty close to it. My kids in LA are having smoke problems but so far haven’t had to evacuate.

Any of us might lose our electric power about anytime. The gas stations need electric to run their pumps. We have a hand crank radio to use in emergencies.

They are advising babies and seniors and anyone with breathing problems to stay indoors if they can.
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Thanks for checking in Linda. Please be careful and best luck to you and your husband.
 
In many areas of CA the fire departments are vigilant about requiring brush control on private property, particularly the areas adjacent to homes.

However, even within the Los Angeles borders there are many square miles of undeveloped rugged, brush-filled, natural terrain including thousands of acres of parkland and miles of steep canyons.
 
California needs more desert landscaping like Phoenix ..

iu
 
Liberty said:
Like evergreens? Would think most all types of landscaping shrubs could burn.
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Evergreens burn like torches.

Californians are generally advised against having shrubs up against or very near homes. Rose bushes, flowers and the like abut our house, but there are also some fruit trees, palms and other trees dotting our postage stamp sized lot. If a wildfire with winds over 40 MPH hits our street, our house will surely burn unless the FD takes a dedicated stand to save it.

High winds and flying embers are nearly impossible to defeat with or without "defensible space." Embers get wind carried hundreds of yards, hit the wood eaves or other fuel, and that's all she wrote. The house is aflame before the FD can dispatch resources from the main fire half a mile away. That's why evacuation zones are so large and often so remote from the actual fire location.

That said, in 35 years no fires have come close enough to threatening our home that we actually had to evacuate, knock on wood.

California is home to some 40 million people. The news profiles the hundred or so California homes consumed by fires most years, but in reality they are a tiny percentage of the overall.
 
StarSong said:
Evergreens burn like torches.

Californians are generally advised against having shrubs up against or very near homes. Rose bushes, flowers and the like abut our house, but there are also some fruit trees, palms and other trees dotting our postage stamp sized lot. If a wildfire with winds over 40 MPH hits our street, our house will surely burn unless the FD takes a dedicated stand to save it.

High winds and flying embers are nearly impossible to defeat with or without "defensible space." Embers get wind carried hundreds of yards, hit the wood eaves or other fuel, and that's all she wrote. The house is aflame before the FD can dispatch resources from the main fire half a mile away. That's why evacuation zones are so large and often so remote from the actual fire location.

That said, in 35 years no fires have come close enough to threatening our home that we actually had to evacuate, knock on wood.

California is home to some 40 million people. The news profiles the hundred or so California homes consumed by fires most years, but in reality they are a tiny percentage of the overall.
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Just saw on the news the fire spoksman said they had evacuated 200,000 people in the northern fires and now think they have it 30% contained. Sure hope they get a handle on it soon. Its scary for those folks. One woman and her 2 kids have been living in their fan since Sat.
 
AnnieA said:
Great way to clear brush:

Laguna Beach uses goats to help prevent wildfires.

90

.
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This past spring, goats were used to help clear brush from the natural terrain area of the Reagan Library's enormous 300 acre grounds.

The Library has an enormous defensible space, interior and exterior sprinkler systems, buildings made of fire resistant materials, etc. Not to mention the swift deployment of water dropping helicopters, fixed wing aircraft and every other asset that could be found to fight this fire.
 
StarSong said:
This past spring, goats were used to help clear brush from the natural terrain area of the Reagan Library's enormous 300 acre grounds.

The Library has an enormous defensible space, interior and exterior sprinkler systems, buildings made of fire resistant materials, etc. Not to mention the swift deployment of water dropping helicopters, fixed wing aircraft and every other asset that could be found to fight this fire.
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Saw that on the evening news last night.
 
The goats are a great solution-until they get loose,which they frequently do. Goats are escape artists lol.

Our one grandson was the only family member who got evacuated. He lives in Windsor,CA-a town that very nearly was wiped out but the firefighters made an extra valiant effort to save,and succeeded! Hopefully,he was able to go back to work today-he has rent to pay! He just came home and stayed with his parents,and his brother,the one in college,is coming home at Christmas and finishing school at the local college. Once football is over,he has no reason to stay there. I told my daughter that before she knows it,she`s gonna have all five of her chickens back in the nest lol.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
The goats are a great solution-until they get loose,which they frequently do. Goats are escape artists lol.

Our one grandson was the only family member who got evacuated. He lives in Windsor,CA-a town that very nearly was wiped out but the firefighters made an extra valiant effort to save,and succeeded! Hopefully,he was able to go back to work today-he has rent to pay! He just came home and stayed with his parents,and his brother,the one in college,is coming home at Christmas and finishing school at the local college. Once football is over,he has no reason to stay there. I told my daughter that before she knows it,she`s gonna have all five of her chickens back in the nest lol.
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Never thought about the challenge of herding goats. The devil is always in the details, isn't it?
 
I feel for you all who are affected by the fires.

Many people here and ather places in Europe, envy America,
I do up to a point, but I don't envy your weather variations.

I know we only hear about the bad bits and I am sure that there
are some very nice place with great weather, but I worry about
the Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Ice Storms, Hot weather that causes
fires, torrential rains all in the wrong places away from the fires.

I hope that you are all safe wherever you might be.

Mike.
 
Thanks for your concern everyone. We are fine here. We still have colds or something which may or may not be smoke related.

Hollydolly: "Linda... is there nowhere you can go to out of the county?.... I am worried about you, and the ''Kids'' ..!!.. " Yes Holly we could but we really don't want to leave our home. We both have colds and don't feel too well and we need to be home in case a wildfire breaks out in our area and we have to take care of things here. We've had 3 or 4 wildfires break out in the mts here in the last week or so but they brought in fire trucks, a bulldozer, and water and retardant planes and knocked them out real fast. We have a great local fire department and then fire personnel from outlaying towns are good about coming in to help.

Here's a photo someone put on Facebook from a fire about 15 miles up the mountain from us. This was about a week ago.

72576090_543177183160910_7217802882932801536_n.jpg
 

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