I’m in the San Diego area, it’s not nearly as bad here as other places in California.
Ours is the Valley Fire.
I took a couple of pictures this week, the first one is sunset last Saturday, the other one was taken on Monday, a little before six pm, but the smoke that turns everything orange is pretty much diffused at this point. The nights are “clear”, but you can hardly see the stars with all of the crap in the air.
@Kidsandliz I’m in an urban area, so the odds are much slimmer.
Back when I was house hunting, there was one property that was off the beaten path a bit. Price was right, but nestled into the bottom of a hillside in a heavily wooded area, I decided to pass on it for the sole reason of “what if in an emergency …”.
What Narfy said
Ugly sky, ashes, gloom and doom.
Live closest to the El Dorado fire - the DA is considering pressing charges and they should. Some people are just plain stupid. Yep, this one was people caused.
Have a friend near Portland where it is bad bad bad
I am reading that most smart phone cameras won’t image the orange properly it looks more gray if you take an image with a smart phone or something but I don’t know any details
@f00l@lisaviolet true, my iPhone couldn’t get a decent picture of orange Wednesday - the cameras in those things are too smart in a dumb way, just don’t know how to deal with an orange sky so they keep color correcting it to something more grayish.
Tl;dr - we’re okay. It’s been a weird 4 weeks …
Early Sunday, August 16th, The SF Bay Area and Central California experienced a lightning storm for the ages - I’m from the Midwest and I know lightning, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It hit its peak about 3-5 am Sunday, and we had no choice but to stay up and watch it.
Slept late Sunday morning, having been up most of the night, and immediately smelled smoke. Power was out. Got up, checked inside the house, then outside immediate area, then drove up to ridge above the house and saw this:
This first small fire was above two miles up the canyon and our house is under that stream of smoke. Luckily the wind shifted quickly and it seemed like the local fire dept had that one under control. Set up the generator to keep the fridge running.
But by late afternoon we spotted this over the ridge to the south:
Power remained out - by Monday night we could see actual flames on our side of the ridge:
Tuesday the fire on the ridge looked like this:
We were still upwind, but the fire was moving towards us anyway. Power came back on about 5 pm, but by evening the wind shifted and some very angry red and black smoke started blowing our way. At 11:30 pm we got the text telling us to evacuate.
We had a few days to prep, so got out fairly quickly. Hardest part was convincing Dusty to get in the cat carrier. We headed down the hill with the yowling cats, stopped at the local FD station and checked in so they knew we had gotten out, then headed to the evac center at the high school to the south where we received hotel vouchers (no group shelters because of COVID), got there about 2 and the Red Cross volunteer helped us sneak the cats into the room for the night.
Next day moved the cats to the feline boarding house, and then spent the next 10 days anxiously following the reports, checking the fire maps, helping out at the evac centers, trying to keep the business running and social-distanced huddling with fellow evacuees to trade news, notes and comfort. Local Calfire managers were very good in keeping everyone informed, with morning and evening update pressers and an active twitter feed. An encouraging report that thanks to some quick work by Calfire, local park rangers and local construction crews they were able to clear an old lumber haul road at the bottom of the canyon as a fire break between the fire and our houses, stopping it less than 1.5 miles away. Our place is where the arrow is:
Late afternoon on the 27th we got the okay to return home. Power was on but smoke was horrible the first weekend, with AQI 350-450. You had to get full N95 masked just to run out to the car 20 feet out the door. Luckily we had good filters inside the house.
Following weekend we had the heat wave, 110 degrees at the ranch and no wind, fire still burning to the south an west of us, so hot and dry you didn’t want to talk to loudly for fear of starting something burning. And then of course we had Apocalypse Wednesday this week - these shots are not just of early morning or late evening - it was like this ALL DAY!
So, lots to do - many of our friends lost their homes, especially at the south end of the fire, and bigger and more deadly fires are starting up throughout the west, and this is just the start of fire season. We’ve had our taste of what things might be like in the case of extreme wildfires, climate change, meteor strikes, volcanic eruptions, or nuclear winter - so many disastrous futures we need to not let happen. Scary thing is we’ll right on the tipping point for a number of them.
@stolicat Oh my gosh that sounds like it was way too close for comfort. Glad you, your family and pets are all safe for now. I sure hope nothing comes that close again and that all your friends around there got lucky as well.
@stolicat Wow, wow and wow. Prayers out to you and everyone else being impacted by this. I hope you all continue to be safe during the upcoming fire season. Huge props out for the firefighters!!
Ironic that the meh face that you did get was wearing a mask.
This is from my friend in southern Oregon. This was 9-8.
She said “Just took these, have a bunch more just like them. It is very creepy out at the moment. It has been so dark today from the smoke that peoples solar lights are lit up. Their dusk to dawn lights are on, cars are driving with headlights on. We’ve had lights on in the house since noon. It is extremely windy. Today is creepy, very, very creepy.”
Also in Southern Oregon. Tuesday’s Almeda fire has really devastated a lot of the Rogue Valley. Poor Phoenix and Talent were hit the hardest. Many, many homes just gone. Thousands displaced. Haven’t gone outside to take pictures because it is unbelievably smoky, but here’s a picture from an I-5 road cam. This is when our AQI reading was about 425. Today it was about 600.
This picture, taken in Talent the day after the fire and before the smoke returned, shows the arbitrary nature of the fire’s spread.
The good news is the incredible amount of support in our community. Several thousand folks spent Tuesday night evacuated to the local county fairgrounds. Within two days officials announced they were no longer in need of donations. The same with the local SPCA and county animal shelter. All animals have been safely relocated, many in foster homes.
We have another red flag advisory for tomorrow as the high winds are predicted to return. Hopefully nothing comes of that. Cooler temperatures the last two days have helped responders a lot in getting a handle on things.
@lordbowen Stay safe yourself, if you’re anywhere near the Oregon fires. Look like the big hot spots now are in Oregon and northern California.
It’s been amazing how the local organizations, especially volunteers, Red Cross and other NGOs have mobilized to organize and help. They’ve been critical in helping communities hold it together when all hell breaks loose.
While I’m not currently in danger from any of the fires, there are some burning in pretty much every direction and the smoke is rolling in pretty bad. Earlier today a hazardous air quality alert issued for the rest of the weekend. Here’s what it looked like this afternoon, that little dot in the middle there is the sun.
@lisaviolet I’m in Eastern Washington. All of the close fires are pretty small so I think most of the smoke is blowing in from the Central Washington and Oregon fires.
I live in southeastern WA myself, and we’ve been warned to stay inside unless it’s an emergency. Last time I saw the sun was Tuesday or Wednesday, I think. They say it might clear for a while on Monday afternoon or evening.
I’m fine. My nearby neighbors are fine. We’re just mostly hunkering down, and feeling terribly sad for all those places that the smoke is coming from. There are so very many small communities that are just gone. In a week or two, I’m sure I’ll be crying myself to sleep, from all the sadness I know is coming.
I’m in the San Diego area, it’s not nearly as bad here as other places in California.
Ours is the Valley Fire.
I took a couple of pictures this week, the first one is sunset last Saturday, the other one was taken on Monday, a little before six pm, but the smoke that turns everything orange is pretty much diffused at this point. The nights are “clear”, but you can hardly see the stars with all of the crap in the air.
@lisaviolet that last photo makes it look like the moon is on fire.
@Kidsandliz I know, but it’s the sun. That’s how thick the smoke was.
I have some friends on Facebook who posted pictures of their areas. One is in southern Oregon. The other in Northern California.
The sky was a scary red orange color in the middle of the day. Horrible. Just horrible.
@lisaviolet Yikes!
I’m about 20 miles out from the nearest fires, but even then, there’s a lot of ash in the air.
All the windows are closed in my car with vents set to recirculation, which does make it uncomfortable since the A/C is dead on it too.
@narfcake I hope those fires stay 20 miles away. That is too close for comfort in more ways than one.
@Kidsandliz I’m in an urban area, so the odds are much slimmer.
Back when I was house hunting, there was one property that was off the beaten path a bit. Price was right, but nestled into the bottom of a hillside in a heavily wooded area, I decided to pass on it for the sole reason of “what if in an emergency …”.
What Narfy said
Ugly sky, ashes, gloom and doom.
Live closest to the El Dorado fire - the DA is considering pressing charges and they should. Some people are just plain stupid. Yep, this one was people caused.
Have a friend near Portland where it is bad bad bad
SF and Golden Gate on Wed
I am reading that most smart phone cameras won’t image the orange properly it looks more gray if you take an image with a smart phone or something but I don’t know any details
@f00l I’m checking with the fb friends to see if I can share their photos.
@f00l @lisaviolet true, my iPhone couldn’t get a decent picture of orange Wednesday - the cameras in those things are too smart in a dumb way, just don’t know how to deal with an orange sky so they keep color correcting it to something more grayish.
Taken at 10:30 am September 9th. Please don’t share, that was the condition for posting it here.
California Bay area. She said that where they live, they’re safe, not in any danger at this time.
@lisaviolet The sky looks like a clip from a horror movie.
Tl;dr - we’re okay. It’s been a weird 4 weeks …
Early Sunday, August 16th, The SF Bay Area and Central California experienced a lightning storm for the ages - I’m from the Midwest and I know lightning, and I’ve never seen anything like it. It hit its peak about 3-5 am Sunday, and we had no choice but to stay up and watch it.
Slept late Sunday morning, having been up most of the night, and immediately smelled smoke. Power was out. Got up, checked inside the house, then outside immediate area, then drove up to ridge above the house and saw this:
This first small fire was above two miles up the canyon and our house is under that stream of smoke. Luckily the wind shifted quickly and it seemed like the local fire dept had that one under control. Set up the generator to keep the fridge running.
But by late afternoon we spotted this over the ridge to the south:
Power remained out - by Monday night we could see actual flames on our side of the ridge:
Tuesday the fire on the ridge looked like this:
We were still upwind, but the fire was moving towards us anyway. Power came back on about 5 pm, but by evening the wind shifted and some very angry red and black smoke started blowing our way. At 11:30 pm we got the text telling us to evacuate.
We had a few days to prep, so got out fairly quickly. Hardest part was convincing Dusty to get in the cat carrier. We headed down the hill with the yowling cats, stopped at the local FD station and checked in so they knew we had gotten out, then headed to the evac center at the high school to the south where we received hotel vouchers (no group shelters because of COVID), got there about 2 and the Red Cross volunteer helped us sneak the cats into the room for the night.
Next day moved the cats to the feline boarding house, and then spent the next 10 days anxiously following the reports, checking the fire maps, helping out at the evac centers, trying to keep the business running and social-distanced huddling with fellow evacuees to trade news, notes and comfort. Local Calfire managers were very good in keeping everyone informed, with morning and evening update pressers and an active twitter feed. An encouraging report that thanks to some quick work by Calfire, local park rangers and local construction crews they were able to clear an old lumber haul road at the bottom of the canyon as a fire break between the fire and our houses, stopping it less than 1.5 miles away. Our place is where the arrow is:
Late afternoon on the 27th we got the okay to return home. Power was on but smoke was horrible the first weekend, with AQI 350-450. You had to get full N95 masked just to run out to the car 20 feet out the door. Luckily we had good filters inside the house.
Following weekend we had the heat wave, 110 degrees at the ranch and no wind, fire still burning to the south an west of us, so hot and dry you didn’t want to talk to loudly for fear of starting something burning. And then of course we had Apocalypse Wednesday this week - these shots are not just of early morning or late evening - it was like this ALL DAY!
So, lots to do - many of our friends lost their homes, especially at the south end of the fire, and bigger and more deadly fires are starting up throughout the west, and this is just the start of fire season. We’ve had our taste of what things might be like in the case of extreme wildfires, climate change, meteor strikes, volcanic eruptions, or nuclear winter - so many disastrous futures we need to not let happen. Scary thing is we’ll right on the tipping point for a number of them.
@stolicat damn. I’m glad you made it out safely.
@lisaviolet thanks. and in all the hubbub I missed two meh click-faces - FWP
@stolicat glad you guys are ok!
@stolicat
Wow.
@stolicat Oh my gosh that sounds like it was way too close for comfort. Glad you, your family and pets are all safe for now. I sure hope nothing comes that close again and that all your friends around there got lucky as well.
@stolicat Wow, wow and wow. Prayers out to you and everyone else being impacted by this. I hope you all continue to be safe during the upcoming fire season. Huge props out for the firefighters!!
Ironic that the meh face that you did get was wearing a mask.
/giphy holy shit!
I hope you continue to stay safe!
This is from my friend in southern Oregon. This was 9-8.
She said “Just took these, have a bunch more just like them. It is very creepy out at the moment. It has been so dark today from the smoke that peoples solar lights are lit up. Their dusk to dawn lights are on, cars are driving with headlights on. We’ve had lights on in the house since noon. It is extremely windy. Today is creepy, very, very creepy.”
@lisaviolet That’s terrifying - it looks like the end of the world!
@lisaviolet it looks like you are living in hell!
@tinamarie1974 That’s not at my house, that’s a friend in southern Oregon.
We’ve had fires here, but none in my memory look as bad as the fires north of us (we’re in the San Diego area). Those are awful scary.
Makes me think of apocalypse movies and nuclear winters. When the dinosaurs were killed off.
@lisaviolet Well I hope your friends are doing ok. The entire situation is just horrible.
Also in Southern Oregon. Tuesday’s Almeda fire has really devastated a lot of the Rogue Valley. Poor Phoenix and Talent were hit the hardest. Many, many homes just gone. Thousands displaced. Haven’t gone outside to take pictures because it is unbelievably smoky, but here’s a picture from an I-5 road cam. This is when our AQI reading was about 425. Today it was about 600.
This picture, taken in Talent the day after the fire and before the smoke returned, shows the arbitrary nature of the fire’s spread.
The good news is the incredible amount of support in our community. Several thousand folks spent Tuesday night evacuated to the local county fairgrounds. Within two days officials announced they were no longer in need of donations. The same with the local SPCA and county animal shelter. All animals have been safely relocated, many in foster homes.
We have another red flag advisory for tomorrow as the high winds are predicted to return. Hopefully nothing comes of that. Cooler temperatures the last two days have helped responders a lot in getting a handle on things.
Stay safe everyone, and have an evacuation plan!
@lordbowen Stay safe yourself, if you’re anywhere near the Oregon fires. Look like the big hot spots now are in Oregon and northern California.
It’s been amazing how the local organizations, especially volunteers, Red Cross and other NGOs have mobilized to organize and help. They’ve been critical in helping communities hold it together when all hell breaks loose.
While I’m not currently in danger from any of the fires, there are some burning in pretty much every direction and the smoke is rolling in pretty bad. Earlier today a hazardous air quality alert issued for the rest of the weekend. Here’s what it looked like this afternoon, that little dot in the middle there is the sun.
@metaphore Looks like here in San Diego. Where are you?
@lisaviolet I’m in Eastern Washington. All of the close fires are pretty small so I think most of the smoke is blowing in from the Central Washington and Oregon fires.
I live in southeastern WA myself, and we’ve been warned to stay inside unless it’s an emergency. Last time I saw the sun was Tuesday or Wednesday, I think. They say it might clear for a while on Monday afternoon or evening.
I’m fine. My nearby neighbors are fine. We’re just mostly hunkering down, and feeling terribly sad for all those places that the smoke is coming from. There are so very many small communities that are just gone. In a week or two, I’m sure I’ll be crying myself to sleep, from all the sadness I know is coming.
Stay safe. Stay well.
@Shrdlu
I am counting on your local communities and social bonds being strong, and that this disaster is bringing out the best in people.
Such a horror. And on top of the pandemic and resulting economic mess
2020 … damn.
Hey, all you near the fire areas, or with family/friends way too close:
Please check in again.
Please be well and safe. I hope you all have the same places to live that you had before the fires.
I hope your communities are intact.
@f00l Less smokey, but still ash in the air. Good thing wearing masks is a norm for many here.