The AP is reporting that tens of thousands are fleeing, some thru walls of flame. It sounds really urgent and really fucking bad.
I knew there was a big fire somewhere, because of all the murky smoke we’re seeing here in San Jose. I hope everyone gets out safely up there.
It was blowing a gale this morning on my way to work.
How long has it been since California hasn’t had at least one, large scale wildfire causing people to flee?
Warm dry weather in northern California is predicted to go on until the 16th or so, another week. This is very bad.
Our weather-talkers are predicting no precipitation through Thanksgiving. (backside of the Sierra)
Some Old Bullshit, to be sure. But I love me a good camp fire. I have about 3 a week. Might burn one tonight…
Well, I must say the thread title promised more fun stuff than the OP contained.
My thoughts are with all those affected. Living in Australia, bushfires (wildfires) are a fact of life in late summer (esp Feb/March) and particularly in the southern states and every year sees lives and properties lost with some years being worse than others.
May the losses in Paradise be minimal and just stuff that can be rebuilt. May everyone be safe.
Man, ever since that huge tornado in Joplin in 2011 I’ve been woken up to the idea that natural disasters wipe out entire towns. Yes, yes I know - hurricanes and tornadoes have been wiping out huge swaths of populations for millennia (and also New Orleans, duh). But for some reason the Joplin one just finally made it click for me how devastating that is.
I just cannot fathom the idea of not only losing your home but all your neighbors, your schools, your parks, your business districts, all gone at the same time. There’s nowhere safe and happy for you to land.
With these wildfires too, add in the terror of just the FLAMES…boy oh boy, the OP makes my stomach turn.
It seems like the people of Paradise are helping each other, and that’s what’s most important in times like this. No one will survive if people don’t band together.
The fire is still burning and still out of control. And it’s huge.
And new fires started yesterday too:
Many people are missing & unaccounted for in Paradise.
I know a bunch of folks from there. Trying to find out what happened to them.
Hoping the fire does spread to Chico. Apparently they’re evacuating parts of that city, too.
Malibu ordered evacuated. Yes: all of Malibu.
I wonder if I should ask a mod to remove “Northern” from the thread title.
The Camp Fire has moved insanely fast. Early on it was burning 80+ acres/minute, but it has sustained 50+ for most of the last day - from nothing to 70,000+ acres in ~20 hours. The town of Paradise is more less gone from the looks of things and we’re only at ~5% containment.
About half of the cities of Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park are under mandatory evacuation orders. That’s a huge population.
For those who are not Californians, here is the Cal State Fire Map. There is a clickable link below it to get to a bigger map that can be zoomed and clicked more easily. The information generally isn’t the absolutely freshest (Facebook and local blogs tend to have the most recent news) but it is the most comprehensive source.
And yes, there are 16 active fires in California at this time (many mostly contained). 
I moved to that region (briefly, as it turned out) a few months later. I never could bring myself to go there even though it wasn’t all that far away.
One of my FBFs in my previous town said that her kids, who were then late grade-schoolers, said, “What happened to their houses?” “They’re gone.” “And their clothes?” “They’re gone.” “And their toys?” “They’re gone too.” “The kids in Joplin don’t have any toys? Let’s have a lemonade stand.” So, they did that and the neighborhood kids’ parents bought $10 or $20 cups of lemonade, and my FBF went online and found an organization that specialized in helping kids, and sent them a check.
There was a lot of news about people finding X-rays and other medical records, from the hospital that was wrenched right off its foundation. That was not as unexpected as the story about the X-ray MACHINE that was found 30 miles away. :eek: The building could not be imploded because it was constructed over a defunct lead mine, and instead was dismantled and later subjected to a wrecking ball.
Back to the fire.
I heard that Caitlyn Jenner’s house was totally destroyed by this fire. Does anyone know how this fire got started?
You meant “doesn’t”, I hope?
My sister lives in San Diego, and even fires that far away affect air quality. I’ve visited her, and if the place where she lived was ever in danger of catching fire, we’d REALLY have problems.
Remember a couple years ago when the city of Fort MacMurray, Alberta was evacuated due to a forest fire, and Oroville, CA more recently because of a possible dam break? In both cases, these were cities of about 80,000, and both towns were left largely intact, so that was a good thing.
The air quality here in the Bay Area is really bad. The smoke is so thick that it looks like we’re fogged in. My eyes burn, my throat is scratchy, and taking a deep breath causes coughing. It smells like smoke inside buildings.
We almost need an omnibus thread for California wildfires. 