We've got a wildfire again

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 Last week we had the start of another giant wildfire, which is why I haven't been posting.  It started with a guy, already a double felon, who seems to have set his mother's car on fire and then shoved it into a gully in the park, right in front of witnesses and while there were lots of people there.  He was 'heavily intoxicated' and wanted the insurance money or something.  None of it makes any sense.  Firefighters got right on it, but the blaze quickly got way out of control, ripping through miles of hot, dry foothills to the north.  It moved even faster than the Camp Fire, and within a few days was over twice the size.

The first night, fire all along the ridge above Chico

The scale of this fire is just unimaginably huge.  It stretches for miles, right up to Lassen Park.  Most of this area is not inhabited by humans, so there hasn't been the loss of life and structures that the Camp Fire entailed, but some of the tiny places up there have been hit.  Most of Cohasset is gone.  But the fire moved through underbrush so fast that it didn't necessarily get all the houses, or even all the trees.   It's all still ongoing -- current containment is at 14% -- and we don't know when people will be able to go up and see what's left of their homes.  The main thing has been to keep the eastern front out of the really mountainous area, where it will be impossible to fight, and the southern front away from towns.  That side has gotten right up to the Camp Fire burn scar and some people in Paradise had to evacuate, again.

A few days in, view from my porch

It's been surreal to see the giant plume of smoke build up every day, even as nearly all the smoke goes north, leaving us with clear skies and almost-fresh air.  Times like this, there's nothing to do except look at your phone for news, but it's only been ten minutes so there isn't any.  Nobody needs to worry about me; I'm totally unaffected except by smoke and seeing this yet again.  It's all the other folks, who are reliving the Camp Fire, or are evacuated out of their homes, or who now know that their homes are gone and they have a million problems to solve.

I just wanted to get this down to remember.  It's been almost a week, and today is actually the smokiest it's been, even though the bulk of the fire is now miles to the north.  I have a lot of friends to check on but not much else to do directly.

Current status of the fire, on 7/30.  

Comments

  1. reeseJuly 30, 2024 at 5:35 PM

    Glad to hear you're alright. Scary stuff. My brother's been fine, but he knows people who've had to evacuate on the far north side.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JeanJuly 30, 2024 at 7:36 PM

      Oh dear. In Manton and Shingletown, someplace like that? The scope of the evacuations up there is just huge -- it keeps getting wider. I hope those places will be saved, but it's not looking good.

      Delete

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