Seasonal fires

[LynnDel]

We have high winds, low humidity, and several large fires started just overnight. Also a ig fire in the Napa valley. Near me, 7 barns and one farmhouse burned in the wildfire about a mile away, control expected in about six hours. I am safe but have frequent short power outages and cannot use my computer, so am picking away on this handheld gizmo. Now I need to rest from that tedious labor!

LD

[Stan]

yikes... please keep your friends here informed... I would have put this in the THIS WEEK this week, but saw it too late...

[Dr. Shane]

I have often wondered why they don't build more buildings out of masonry and concrete in these fire-pron areas. It is onl marginally more expensive.

[Naomi]

The fires are so sad and not much can withstand a fire out of control. Glad you are safe and will pray for those in harms way; and ofcourse, your safety.

[LynnDel]

The danger of most of the fires in this area is gone for now - due mainly to all the tilled agricultural land. I understand the fire in Napa County is still burning. From the news reports, it is burning on the ridge west of highway 29. St. Helena Hospital is east of that higheay.

[Naomi]

Oh how frightful for St.Helena Hospital and it's patients and staff. Let's pray that the fire can be contained and not cross the road.

If memory serves me correctly, in recent years, a lot of homes have been built in the area. So sad!

[Dr. Shane]

Texas has some areas that are very prone to fire. Our church's summer camp "Nameless Valley Ranch" is one of them. Although they may have sold that now. There are products that are sold to retard fire for those that build in such areas and insurance companies reduce premiums for people that use them so building materials do make a difference.

[CyberGuy]

This week I went north through the grapevine on the I 5 corridor and saw a huge column of smoke. I saw blackened burned area from pyramid lake to as far as the eye could see to the west. I could see a huge columne of smoke to the west. It is called the Day fire and it is out of countrol. It has burned over 160 sqaure miles and if they do not have it contained by the time the Santa Anna winds start up again tomorrow it will threaten many mountian communities in Ventura county. It may very well burn all the way to Santa Barbara county very quickly.

90 minutes before sunset yesterday one could look directly at the sun through the smoke and see an orange ball up there in the sky.

[CyberGuy]

The danger of most of the fires in this area is gone for now - due mainly to all the tilled agricultural land. I understand the fire in Napa County is still burning. From the news reports, it is burning on the ridge west of highway 29. St. Helena Hospital is east of that higheay.

I know that area. The hospital would be in no danger. It would have to burn all the way across the valley and all those vineyards to reach the eastern edge of the valley and burn up that ridge to the hospital. Not likely to happen as the town of Saint Helena would be between the fire and the Hospital.

[CyberGuy]

Day Fire Threatens Endangered Species

(CBS 13) VENTURA COUNTY Ventura County has declared a state of emergency as the Day fire grows to more than 98,000 acres. A big concern is the endangered species threatened by the flames.

One of the species is the red-legged frog, made famous in the writings of Mark Twain. Also in danger is the habitat of the California Condor.

19 of the state's 61 birds live in the Los Padres National Forest, wildlife experts are doing what they can to protect these animals.

"We gave the forest service the GPS locations of where the birds commonly sleep at night... that way they can let the air operations team know where not to drop retardant," said Christopher Barr.

Despite the danger, officials are optimistic these animals will survive.

[Dr. Shane]

Animals are smarter than people sometimes.

[Kountzer]

The danger of most of the fires in this area is gone for now - due mainly to all the tilled agricultural land. I understand the fire in Napa County is still burning. From the news reports, it is burning on the ridge west of highway 29. St. Helena Hospital is east of that higheay.

Do you live in Napa county or Sonoma?

[Aliensanctuary]

Back in 1992 my wife and 3 of our 4 daughters and I escaped through the flames of a firestorm, driving to the highway down a back road through an Indian reservation. Some fire retardant from the overhead bombers landed on our vehicle as we drove past the flames, about 100 feet away.

Earlier in the day we saw the smoke across the valley and periodically I climbed the hill to monitor the situation. We loaded up the essentials into the pickup just in case...

Sure enough, the fire was apparently out of control, and we decided to evacuate, hoping our pets would make it on their own. The time of day was early evening, just as the strong winds began to die down. That's what saved our place, the lack of wind, because the flames then just crept up to the dirt roads surrounding our place and went out.

Later, after evading road closures, we started driving up our 3-mile dirt road, surrounded by a grey wilderness of ash, expecting the worst. When our property came into view, everything was just as we left it, green and golden and intact.

But the California Department of Forestry arrived with several fire trucks to protect houses, then proceeded to set backfires on our land. Of course, these fires were less destructive than the firestorm, but we did lose about 12 acres of good trees.

If a person wants to build where there is a potential fire danger, I think they should avoid having any exposed wood or other flammable materials. If I ever build another house, it will either be cement block or stucco, with a metal roof. Hopefully the blowing burning debris won't penetrate and destroy the house.

Ultimately, the 1992 fire destroyed about 63,000 acres. We had a number of friends who lost everything they owned in that fire. We thought it odd that although many houses were completely destroyed, sometimes the house next door was spared.