Something even scarier: in the Murky News today was an article about rebuilding Paradise, since there are a lot of building still standing. Never mentioned once is the the evacuation problem. I’d worry that even if they got more people alerted the traffic backup would be even worse.
I’d say they shouldn’t rebuild until they figure out how to keep the exit road from being a death trap. And they were relatively lucky - the road could have been totally closed sue to power lines or downed trees burning, which would have made the death toll even higher.
It’ll be a very tiny number of people in modern America that haven’t told SOMEONE they’re alive and escaped the fire in Paradise. Communication and transportation are too ubiquitous; a week in America is now an eternity for news cycles.
If it hasn’t occurred to people yet: there are a shitload of people dead from this fire; way more than just 76.
While I agree that the Charvel family story is a personal tragedy for them, they are just one of thousands of tragedies, and at least they have the means to rebuild and carry on with their lives in relative comfort. Not so for a significant percentage of other victims is my guess and so that is where most of my sympathy falls.
That is an issue I think it would probably be wise to withhold judgement on for the time being. As that article noted sending out a WEA alert is not an easy call when you’re not sure of the scope of the disaster you’re facing and this one moved and escalated really fast. Beyond that one article noted:
It’s unclear whether the alert could have saved lives lost in the Camp Fire. Cell phone service near Paradise is notoriously spotty, and many of the town’s elderly residents relied on land lines. A spokeswoman for the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said the fire might also have burned through cell towers.
So at this point anyway I’m not sure there is gross incompetence per se and I’m not sure different alert tactics would have saved many( though even saving one would make it worthwhile ). We may eventually find out there was a gigantic fuck-up that was critical, but they’ll sifting through the post-mortem on this for quite awhile. Ultimately I’m guessing it wasn’t the primary reason for the horrific death toll.
This satellite footage almost looks like that from a volcano.
No home, no money, no insurance, no food, almost no possessions and a horse and 3 dogs to feed and care for…
Even the few folks who managed to save their homes are now battling poor air quality that may cause lasting damage on its own as well as potential looters and just plain being inaccessible.
Some of the people who are camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot are stating that they will not leave, even if we get rain later in the week. I’m guessing that they’re in a place where they feel safe, and have even formed their own support network there, which includes the kids making new friends with other children who are living there.
I was skeptical when I heard this feel-good story, but it’s 100% true. It involves kids from two private Christian schools, but true sportsmanship knows no organized creed.
On a less optimistic note, did anyone else notice that Dumpster kept referring to Paradise as “Pleasure”? :smack:
It’s raining!!! Hallelujah!!
Amen. I was just watching the rain line advance across the bay from SF. Nothing prettier than that wall of grey :). First time I’ve opened my windows( briefly )in two weeks.
Rain is good for the firefighters, but bad for the searchers.
870 still unaccounted for.
We had our ducts cleaned out Monday, and they are backed up for months now as everyone wants to get the soot out. I think our air is finally acceptable after the rain.
Which I take credit for since I went to the car wash yesterday.
If there’s any genuine good news that has come out of here, I heard earlier that 300 names were deleted from the missing persons list, because they were located alive. As was predicted, a lot of them were senior citizens or other people who for whatever reason did not use social media, and had left the immediate area without telling anyone else from the area where they were going.
Rain. Glorious rain.
Wonderful, wet, watery rain.
Rain coming down in buckets.
Drizzly, misty rain.
Air cleaning, dust busting rain.
Ground soaking, tree washing rain.
Rain!!
My wife got a rain gauge for her birthday (she is a weather junkie) and yesterday we had .6 inches here. Hurray!
My rain gauge (on the coast) shows 2.6 inches since the rain started on Wednesday.
They got something like 5" in Felton or Boulder Creek (or somewhere near there). And it looks like there’s more to come next week.
So I’m volunteering up in Chico tomorrow, but I wanted to get their early to check out Paradise. Anyone know if the roads are open?
The Camp Fire is fully contained. 85 people confirmed dead. 249 names still on the list of missing. Nearly 19,000 buildings destroyed, most of them homes. The fire burned for more than 2 weeks but was most deadly in its first few hours.
I don’t know, but don’t you think it would be best to stay out of the way? Good luck on the volunteer work!
Just to be clear, “fully contained” doesn’t mean the fire is out. It just means there’s a firebreak perimeter around the entire affected area.
I would think they would keep anyone from entering the burn area who doesn’t have an official reason to be there. They don’t want anyone in the way, there are safety issues, and they want to prevent looting.
So all that rain has apparently been a bit much:
Some people were evacuated again.