Another Big Fire in NorCal - Mendo, Sonoma & Napa

[St. Phatty]

I have been following since Monday morning.

Basically Napa had perfectly terrible fire conditions Sunday night. 60+ mile per hour winds, the NorCal version of what SoCal calls "Santa Ana's". Basically winds that blow from the mountains towards the Pacific Ocean.

The old Hewlett Packard plant on FountainGrove, a place that feels like 'home' to me although I never worked there. I used to walk up Fountaingrove for exercise when I lived there. That's where the fire is in Santa Rosa !

All the homes around the HP plant - TORCHED.

The Condo's next to the Home Depot I used to buy grow supplies at - torched.

Sonoma Patient Group, a Med Dispensary that I think is the one of the best in California, is in the Evacuation Zone but not the "Burned Down" zone - so they're SAFE - so that's GOOD NEWS !!!

Also, Snoopy's Ice Rink, part of Charles Schulz (Peanuts Cartoon) legacy, is Safe, and also in the Evacuation Zone.

Links -

Good Pics at SF Gate
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...ns-in-Napa-County-12262945.php#photo-14317545

general article at FoxNews
https://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/...0-reported-missing-in-wine-country-fires.html

List of SHELTERS at WaccoBB -
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showthread.php?124556-Fire-Updates-from-City-of-Santa-Rosa

Press Democrat is the home paper.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/


There's more details, about the start of the fire, about the situation at the fire-line, where they are expecting more high winds on Wednesday.

Basically the fires are from Mendo to Sonoma (North to South) and Napa (to the East).

The winds are blowing West.

1/2 the town of Santa Rosa, a town of 175,000 where I used to live, is burned or under evacuation.

Last time I looked all the fires were described as 0% contained.


If any ICMag members are affected, in the shelter department, I think the Finley Park rec center on College in Santa Rosa is a good option. They have showers, big parking lot, a heated swimming pool, a Motel 6 worth of meeting rooms and acres of what used to be green lawn.

 

[oldchuck]

Fire

Fire

I would like to hear from you California folks about the fires raging in Napa, etc. Who is there? How much damage is there? What is happening with all those grows just about to be harvested?

 

[Chappi]

Wouldn’t be surprised if the fires were started by the feds.

 

[Raho]

Story - https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/09/maps-napa-wildfire-santa-rosa-evacuation-area/


2017 Statewide Fire Map - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1TOEFA857tOVxtewW1DH6neG1Sm0&hl=en&usp=sharing

 

[Cadfael]

Can anyone confirm that Subcool lost everything in the fire?

 

[calaveras]

The fire line basically goes across 8 counties from sonoma to mendocino. Winds for today are predicted to be high. Most containment listed is 0 to 1%. These fires are really bad and getting worse. You can bet that for every 100 acres burnt a pot farm or 2 went up in smoke. Acreage is well over 100,000 acres and 1500 structures gone.It is not looking good for the 2017 vintage in Napa wineries unless you like smoked cabernet. Norcal can use a few prayers from everyone.

 

[HHILL]

Can anyone confirm that Subcool lost everything in the fire?

From their IG account, I'd say yes. I'd think he kept clones of most plants at another location though, most breeders do.

 

[aridbud]

Really sorry to hear.

 

[Betterhaff]

Saw this, I’m sure there are many more. Didn’t think about the licensing fees and the insurance situation. That’s a shame. Hopefully everybody is OK.

California wildfires destroying pot farms just before legal sales begin in state

The Northern California wildfires this week have destroyed at least seven marijuana farms just months before the state begins licensing legal sales of cannabis, making it the “worst year on record” for loss of crops, an industry leader said Tuesday.

Many growers lost their homes and farms in the Redwood Complex fire in Mendocino County, the Atlas fire in Napa County and the Stubbs and Nuns fires in Sonoma County, according to Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Assn.

“The October 2017 firestorm is having an extremely severe impact on our communities,” Allen said. “It is the worst year on record, and the worst year I can remember, in terms of farms lost. We have been able to confirm seven farms lost, but we expect the number to be much higher as more information comes in.”

The loss is especially severe this year because many growers had spent their life savings getting local permits and preparing crops for state licensure and sales scheduled to begin Jan. 2, Allen said.

In addition, he said, marijuana growers do not qualify for crop insurance or federal emergency relief funds.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/es...ires-destroying-pot-1507673043-htmlstory.html

 

[therevverend]

They say 7 pot farms have been burned. I'm guessing for every one they know about there's ten more they don't know about..

 

[Payaso]

Right in the thick of it I feel terrible for those who have lost everything.

Here is a link to a constantly updated fire map:
National Fire Situational Awareness

You'll have to zoom into NorCal closely to see the details.

 

[Payaso]

BTW the SMOKE is AWFUL and making everyone sick.... highest recorded dirty air, EVER in recorded history.

 

[stoned-trout]

Best wishes...yeehaw..I don't watch news much...

 

[St. Phatty]

I am surprised by the passiveness of the response.

Lots of screaming and praying, nobody organizing neighborhoods to stay up all night with buckets of water to fight the tiny fires from flaming embers falling.

I was a witness to the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. I coincidentally chose that day to walk from the West Oakland BART station up to Berkeley, which is maybe a 3 hour walk.

When I started, the plume of smoke was this tiny thing in the distance.

By the time I got to Berkeley, the sky was black. Standing on Telegraph, you could see the fraternity and sorority houses burning 3 blocks up. The fire had gone to the suburban version of "canopy fire" status.

Canopy fire is when the fire moves to the tops of live trees. But the fire doesn't care if the wood has been re-packaged into a box shape. It goes from tree-top to tree-top like a monkey swinging from vines in a cartoon.

I am surprised that California did not apply the lessons learned from Berkeley, in Sonoma & Napa.

Now the wind has swung so it's basically blowing due South, with little East and West jogs. If it follows the current path, the fire will be East of Petaluma in a day or 2, and then East of Novato.

At this point, rain isn't forecast till Thursday the 19th.

There is nothing stopping the fire from continuing on to Marin and Mount Tamalpais.


Finding lodging will be very dicey at the Emerald Cup this year. If there is one.

 

[BombBudPuffa]

This is tragic.

 

[St. Phatty]

If you want to look at a map, "Novato Calif" are good search words.


Map with dots that show active fires.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia/7516058-181/live-map-of-wildfires-burning

 

[CosmicGiggle]

I can't imagine alla the dreams that have gone up in smoke, so very sad.

Will this situation put a large dent in the pot economy or the availability of weed in the near future?

 

[St. Phatty]

Will this situation put a large dent in the pot economy or the availability of weed in the near future?

I would want some pot if I lived there ! Sounds like about 50,000 people could use a Double shot of Whiskey.

One dispensary I know of is in the "mandatory evac" zone.

There is another med dispensary that is further south in Santa Rosa, Organicann, business as usual (except for the smoke in the sky).

There is at least one dispensary in Sebastopol, still open.

The fire probably burned a dispensary in Napa. That town got hit hard.

There's boatloads of supply. Harvests in Humboldt were un-interrupted.

The fire happened right during the harvest in Mendocino. I'm reading there may be some tragic losses of a small number of grow-people there.

Most of Mendo is not burning/burnt, knock on wood.


Cell phone service is totally fvcked up in the area. Makes it hard to get info but a lot of the missing people are turning up living once they can get to a phone.

 

[redlaser]

Terrible situation for the people that died and lost their homes so far. Those fires started late Sunday-early Monday morning and moved fast with the winds. We are close to one of the Monday fires, on the edge of an evacuation zone.
It's not moving our way luckily, just smoky.

I'd be shocked if it wasn't a record year for production, just because most scale up and I thought prop 64 was more lenient on higher plant counts, not 100% sure about that though

 

[Gypsy Nirvana]

They are saying on the news that this is the absolute worst fire season in Cali for 85 years!

I lived in Cali for 5 years many moons ago and remember alot of the beautiful places there like Mount Tamalpias, and Novato in Marin County. I hope that those caught up in it get out and get safe, although there are many reports of deaths and missing people already.

It must be awful to have your house burn down, and at this time of year where many are trying to get their harvests in.