Another Big Fire in NorCal - Mendo, Sonoma & Napa

[therevverend]

Been talking to friends from the area. Sounds like a nightmare. Heart of ganja growing land, so many people live off the grid, don't realize what's happening.
One guy went out for supplies, came back and the road was blocked off. Got all pissed off, ranted and raved with the sheriff. Not realizing it's for his own good, you can build a new house but not a new life.
Another guy took the back roads the cops hadn't blocked off yet. Had at least a 100 lbs hanging. Got out to the property, it was so smokey he couldn't breathe, couldn't see anything. He could see the fire maybe a mile or two down the road. Don't know how much of the crop he was able to salvage. A lot of smoke flavored ganja this year..

 

[hazyfontazy]

subcools house and growrooms destroyed

 

[therevverend]

Heard from grower buddies in Mendocino, sounds like they lost everything. Crop, house, at least their two cats survived somehow..

 

[aridbud]

Such devastation with lingering effect for months/years to come. Saddens me. Be safe everyone.

 

[Cannabologist]

how do the trees survive the temps that melted metal?

Its called evolution .... Many trees and many other plants have adapted for literally millions of years, to actually NEED fire to propagate... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotiny

You get these fires because you are meant to get these fires.. These are all acts of nature, not man, not "global warming".. This has been going on forever.

What makes it so "bad" is now you have people everywhere you would normally have just more land and trees.. ie., WE only notice because we the people are now where this shit happens.

 

[iBogart]

Trees hold moisture. Duh. This site is dedicated to growing trees. We don't need Jorge Cervantes to tell us this.

Housing materials can burn at much higher temperatures than a tree filled with water.

 

[Payaso]

Now let's not get all conspiracy theorizing here...

Fire damage is real and does occur this way.

I worked the Yellowstone Fires in 1988, saw a million acres burn in what was then called the 'firestorm of the century.'

We saw trees on fire, explode and fly through the air a mile and land on top of houses, exploding in yet more flames. Our fire camp itself was surrounded by flames at one point.

Fires melting aluminum and glass and porcelain is not abnormal, it happens all the time in these explosive wildfires.

Remember how a blast furnace works? Force air across flames and they burn faster and higher and way hotter than flames will burn without wind. It will vaporize you entirely down to bones and your tooth fillings if you are foolish enough to cross it's path.

It's just Mother Nature, and you and we have all fucked her royally and now she is very very pissed off.

The few lyrics at the beginning of the song attached (Maggot Brain by the Funkadelics) sums this all up neatly, and for a bonus includes the most hauntingly beautiful guitar solor I have ever heard.

George Clinton notes that when recording this he asked the guitarist to play like his mother had just died... and you can feel it in the music.

[youtubeif]https://youtu.be/JOKn33-q4Ao[/youtubeif]

 

[Skip]

Fake news removed from thread, as will all others.
Glass and porcelain will melt at 1400 degrees.
Witness the melted wine bottles they show on TV.

An average surface fire on the forest floor might have flames reaching 1 metre in height and can reach temperatures of 800°C (1,472°F) or more. Under extreme conditions a fire can give off 10,000 kilowatts or more per metre of fire front. This would mean flame heights of 50 metres or more and flame temperatures exceeding 1200°C (2,192°F). Source: https://wildfiretoday.com/2011/02/26/at-what-temperature-does-a-forest-fire-burn/

95% of fires are due to the intrusion of humans into natural environments.
If there were no humans in these counties there would've been no fires this month.

Most apparently were started by PG&E equipment failing (transformers, power poles, etc.)
The first reports to police and fire depts were about transformers sparking causing surrounding vegetation to catch fire.

With maintenance cutbacks, and the EXTRA RAIN early this year, vegetation surrounded electric lines.
Add high winds that reached 80mph at hilltops (where many of the fires began, and power lines run) and you have a "perfect storm".

The fact that strong winds continued for a few days, making containment nearly impossible, and you get a fire catastrophe.

Those who would come here with fake news about conspiracies, can go elsewhere with their b.s.
We who live thru these fires know how they start.

The past few years in my area it was arsonists. To me it was obvious.
They didn't conspire with anyone, that's the nature of psychologically disturbed ppl.
They caught the last arsonist who'd been doing it for years.
Truth wins out, conspiracy mongerers lose all credibility.

 

[oldchuck]

Reason message was deleted: stupid. I love that.

 

[Skip]

Update: Good news! The containment lines were extended on the biggest fires in most counties. Winds have slowed down, while the wind direction changed, blowing most of the smoke out to sea.

We are waiting for rain which may come Wednesday or Thursday, which may finally put the fires and smoke down.

It seems the worst is over for the moment, but things can change...

 

[therevverend]

Don't know if it's appropriate to do the 'humans not in harmony with nature' crap, too much tragedy. But I'll do it anyway.
I've spent time in Mendocino, seen a lot of Redwoods. All the old trees have burn scars, the old stumps are burnt out. You can tell the trees have survived hundreds of years of fires, they've evolved to need fires to reproduce and spread. The fire destroys the undergrowth, clears the land for new trees. Redwoods are ancient, these adaptations go back to before man or even the age of mammals. Dinosaurs had forest fires.
At Mt Rainier there's a place called 'the Grove of the Patriarchs'. Biggest trees in the area, huge beyond belief. They're on an island in the Ohanapecosh River, the reason they've gotten so big because the water has shielded them from the fires that burn through.
Everywhere in the west the pine and sage country has always burned. It's part of the cycle of life, death and renewal. Because the forest service, foresters, and caretakers of the land attempt to suppress fire instead of building and living with it, these fires are much much worse then they should be.
One example, the small fires that burn through every few years are extinguished causing the tinder and brush to build up to create conditions for huge catastrophic fires.
This being said, not it's no consolation to anyone who's lost property or loved ones. Not sure if land management practices will change or how much people will learn from this.

 

[poolplayer]

I'm right here in Sonoma county and this is no joke.

Scarier than all the earthquakes combined.

The smoke is brutal...ashes cover your car, almost everyone is wearing masks, and the amount of damage is incredible.

A mile from where I live is a fairground with hundreds of people who have been evacuated or lost everything camping out in cars, RV's, or tents.

My work is in a mandatory evac zone and we haven't been able to take care of our wine for almost a week. The last place I worked at was burned and the neighbors entire winery melted down.

The support has been incredible though. Always some assholes, but overall people have really been trying to help.

The fires are slowly getting contained and we might actually get rain on Thursday.

It's going to take a loooong time to rebuild from this. Thousands of homes lost and house prices here start at 500k for a three bedroom in most places.

 

[oldchuck]

I hear it might rain on Wednesday. Pray for rain.

 

[iBogart]

Rain dance anyone?