The Northern California Fires

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We have a new fire that is out of control near Placerville, the Caldor fire. This one exploded yesterday and the wind predictions are not good for today.

Skipro, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, lost his last house in a fire a number of years ago. I believe his property is in the wine grape growing area south and southeast of Placerville. That area is not far from the edge of this fire.

Fingers crossed he is not affected by this one, especially with what he is dealing with already.
 
While I am concerned for those near Placerville, my real worry looking at the progression of the Caldor fire is the area west of Lake Tahoe. That terrain is pretty inaccessible and if the fire jumps the 50 it looks like it could burn all the way to the lake.
 
Another Reader said:
We have a new fire that is out of control near Placerville, the Caldor fire. This one exploded yesterday and the wind predictions are not good for today.

Skipro, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, lost his last house in a fire a number of years ago. I believe his property is in the wine grape growing area south and southeast of Placerville. That area is not far from the edge of this fire.

Fingers crossed he is not affected by this one, especially with what he is dealing with already.
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Ah man...I hate hearing this. :(
 
These fires are terrible. I live near enough to the Caldor fire that we are getting tons of smoke, after already dealing with smoke from the Dixie fire for a while now. These last few years, so many friends who have lost everything to fires. It's a horrible thing to go through. Ten years ago, I didn't know a single person who had lost their home to fire, now it's almost commonplace.
 
Kerfuffle said:
These fires are terrible. I live near enough to the Caldor fire that we are getting tons of smoke, after already dealing with smoke from the Dixie fire for a while now. These last few years, so many friends who have lost everything to fires. It's a horrible thing to go through. Ten years ago, I didn't know a single person who had lost their home to fire, now it's almost commonplace.
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I feel very bad for these people. I live 1,600 miles away from these fires but the smoke was bad enough last week that our HVAC filters had to be changed only after about 2 weeks after they had been changed. I cannot fathom how terrible it is in close proximity to these tragedies.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I feel very bad for these people. I live 1,600 miles away from these fires but the smoke was bad enough last week that our HVAC filters had to be changed only after about 2 weeks after they had been changed. I cannot fathom how terrible it is in close proximity to these tragedies.
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Yeah, I feel bad even complaining since we aren't in the direct path of fires, but we are 50 miles or so from the Caldor fire, and the smoke is awful. We run 4 large air purifiers in our home during fire season (because our AC system doesn't have a hope of filtering the smoke), and the filters are supposed to last a year, but we have to change them about every month or two, and they're just black and sooty when we do. Yuck.
 
We are not in the path of the Caldor fire but our air is very thick with smoke and ash. Praying that our hardworking fire crews on the ground and in the air are safe and get containment quickly.
 
In 1970, we did a day trip from my grandmother’s house to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I think my parents were scouting for a family camping experience for the following year. There was 5 feet of snow on either side of the road, and I think it was May. The next year we camped there, and it was an absolute delight. I just read that 1/3 of the park has been ravaged by the fire. That is another tragedy of this fire.
 
EastWest Gal said:
In 1970, we did a day trip from my grandmother’s house to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I think my parents were scouting for a family camping experience for the following year. There was 5 feet of snow on either side of the road, and I think it was May. The next year we camped there, and it was an absolute delight. I just read that 1/3 of the park has been ravaged by the fire. That is another tragedy of this fire.
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We visited Lassen in 2017, what a gem of an area. I was heartbroken to see it's within the boundaries of the fire.
 
DW and I traipsed all over that park in 2017 and 2018, hiking to the top of Mt. Lassen, August 6, 2018 and to the top of the Cinder Cone on August 18th,2017. Many, many acres of dead and dying trees. Usually, the park service allows lightning caused fires to burn as they may, as that is nature reclaiming itself.

But I see they are in full suppression mode.
 
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The air quality situation is highly variable. The apps I use are the Weather app on my iPhone for individual cities/towns and Windy on my iPhone and PC.

Here is what Windy showed early this morning but at at 11:30am it is a lot better:

image1.jpg


We were in Mammoth Lakes area last week and despite some northern Yosemite fires and the other fires it was pretty good most days with bluish skies. There was one day where we hiked south of Mammoth because the air was bad and the beauty of the mountains was reduced.

DW says a friend just came back from South Tahoe and said the air quality was very bad.

I think the particles can be in the upper atmosphere so although the sunrises and sunsets are yellowish the ground level is is in the good to moderate area and the sky can be a bit milky during the days.

Here closer to the coast many including us are clearing brush and making the house more fire safe. This is a good video primer on fire safety:

https://wildfiretoday.com/2018/02/12/prevent-house-burning-wildfire/
 
It was so smoky yesterday the sun looked like an orange moon. Didn't even hurt the eyes.
 
Half of our neighborhood burned down in 2008. For years, I eyed Northern California or Oregon as a safe haven. There doesn't seem to be a safe place anymore. Fall brings the dread of Santa Ana winds and the possibility of devastating fires and is no longer something I look forward to.
 
Born2BRetd said:
Half of our neighborhood burned down in 2008. For years, I eyed Northern California or Oregon as a safe haven. There doesn't seem to be a safe place anymore. Fall brings the dread of Santa Ana winds and the possibility of devastating fires and is no longer something I look forward to.
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I don't think there are many areas that isn't subject to something catastrophic happening. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, ice storms. I think the deserts of Arizona might be about the safest place to go (although they have flooding on occasion and well...HOT!).
 
RobbieB said:
It was so smoky yesterday the sun looked like an orange moon. Didn't even hurt the eyes.
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Been that way here for a month now. A few days better but not much, and really never seen the sun till a couple days ago.
 
I’ve read much of Lassen was burned in the Dixie fire. That’s so awful. It is or was a beautiful park with great hikes. Nearby towns of Chester and Susanville have thus far been mostly spared but still under threat. Not sure all the reasons, but they just can’t seem to get much containment on that Dixie fire.

I’m just now reading this newer Caldor fire has the Desolation Wilderness area of west Tahoe under threat and being evacuated. Makes me want to cry. The PCT goes right through this area as well as Lassen. There are many beautiful sites on the long PCT. But Desolation Wilderness is near the top.

We’ve been in the Colorado Rockies the last two weeks. There’s plenty of hazy smoke on the mountains. The smoke is from the Dixie fire.
 
Another Reader said:
We have a new fire that is out of control near Placerville, the Caldor fire. This one exploded yesterday and the wind predictions are not good for today.

Skipro, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, lost his last house in a fire a number of years ago. I believe his property is in the wine grape growing area south and southeast of Placerville. That area is not far from the edge of this fire.

Fingers crossed he is not affected by this one, especially with what he is dealing with already.
Click to expand...

Man, I hope all goes well for Skipro!!!
 
I haven't looked when the last time he posted but I haven't read any posts of his lately. I sure hope all is well with them.
 
MuirWannabe said:
I’m just now reading this newer Caldor fire has the Desolation Wilderness area of west Tahoe under threat and being evacuated. Makes me want to cry. The PCT goes right through this area as well as Lassen. There are many beautiful sites on the long PCT. But Desolation Wilderness is near the top.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to compare my loss of pretty hiking trails with that of those who've lost homes or loved ones, but this has been an ongoing source of great sadness for DW and me. We've hiked and mountain biked for many years in areas that have been overrun by the Dixie Fire, last year's Creek Fire and now potentially the Caldor Fire as well. Makes me almost want to not visit again so I can remember it the way it was.
 
stepford said:
I don't mean to compare my loss of pretty hiking trails with that of those who've lost homes or loved ones, but this has been an ongoing source of great sadness for DW and me. We've hiked and mountain biked for many years in areas that have been overrun by the Dixie Fire, last year's Creek Fire and now potentially the Caldor Fire as well. Makes me almost want to not visit again so I can remember it the way it was.
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Alltrails app shows plenty of hiking trails in California. Not to make light of these situations. We have been evacuated twice so far but hanging in there and the sometimes long power outages are no fun.
 
The sun at quarter after seven here in the smoky valley

51389498346_ce3c9082b6_b.jpg
 
Dang, Robbie. Hope you can breath. Prolonged exposure to that can’t be healthy.
 
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