This is tragic. But I am wondering how people get trapped in this kind of fire. Are they not evacuating these towns?
It’s a tragedy, but I remember a few years ago people were saying that it was California’s environmental regs that were to blame in many cases for these out of control fires.
Are those insane laws still in place or is this totally unrelated?
People woke up to raging fires already consuming either their homes, or their neighbor’s home. I have read many stories from sfgate.com about folks diving into pools to save themselves, people fleeing and not making it. Folks stuck in wheelchairs. Ultimately, very sad. Then there was our friend Morford a columnist for the SF Chronicle. He didn’t disappoint and somehow turned it all around to bash Trump somehow. Jeez, what a maroon.
Our fire is currently 45 percent contained and holding at 6100 acres and moving away from us. That is good. The second time received mandatory evacuations this summer. Well October isn’t exactly summer, but you get the idea.
The devastation in the Northbay is immense. Go to sfgate and check out the collection of photos to get a grip on what is happening and still happening. The town of Calistoga (?) the entire town is evacuation. Still no end in sight at the moment.
The fronts in these fires move faster than alcohol and only a bit slower than gasoline ignites if poured out on a surface.
Before a source of ignition arrives at some point, that point, given these winds, has been heated and dried and the air is hot. If the item is flammable, it is probably by that point emitting flammable or at least flammable vapors. When the spark hits, whatever can be burned literally bursts into flames.
My brother’s house in Ukiah burned to the ground. The neighbor said it took less than 5 minutes from the time the guilty ember landing on the roof for the house to be fully engulfed.
There’s no outrunning these kinds of fires, they can easily advance at 30+ mph.
Embers blowing at 30-40 mph (or more) started fires well ahead of the main fire. Fires broke out way ahead of the warnings.
Dead end streets, neighborhoods and large scale developments in BOX CANYONS..................
The fires erupted in the middle of the night. 70 mph winds spread them. People woke up to find everything they could see on fire.