CAdreaming

Hope everyone is ok. I can't find any threads but I've probably missed them. I'm simply heartbroken at the devastation the fires have cause. Whole communities gone! I know the Santa Rosa area reasonably well. Beautiful area. Here in East Bay we have smoky skies and poor air quality which I've not experienced before. We also had a hill fire in the Dublin Hills. Scary. I pray for all the people affected and thank the first responders for their bravery and service. 💓

dc koop

Was very sad especially to hear that beautiful little Calastoga was burned down

Giantaxe

Calistoga wasn't burned. Good (i.e. horrific) fire map here:

NorCal Fires | Google Crisis Map

N1cky

It's very sad, such a beautiful area. There are so many people who have lost their homes, and potentially their jobs too, the region is so reliant on tourism.

We know quite a few people who live in the region, luckily everyone we know got away with it, but every one of them knows someone who didn't.

When I moved to California, I remember thinking how ridiculous the term 'fire season' was, how can you have a season that is fire? Then you realize that it is a real weather condition, it's so scary. Heartwarming to see the way people are pulling together, and the donations and time people are volunteering.

scrubbedexpat091

Its been a bad fire season out west this year.

The California fires are horrible. Lived through the great fires of 2003 in San Diego and its really scary.

Steerpike

I just looked at the map now, and there are still huge red splotches. There is a drop down for 'Active Wildfires' which suggests active now - but I presume that's no longer the case? (I'm in AZ right now so don't smell / see the smoke any longer). I've never understood how these 'map overlays' work ... if someone stops updating it then I guess they are frozen in time in some arbitrary state.

Did downtown Sonoma get hit? I saw a map a week or two ago that showed Sonoma town square being within a fire zone, but can't find any info now.

PS - there were several fires, geographically spread out and distant from each other. Has anyone determined yet why so many different areas got burned? Was it floating embers that spread the fire? It seems rather illogical to me that so many different areas would burn concurrently unless someone was out there starting them intentionally (which has happened before).

N1cky

There are plenty of rumors around that PG&E are responsible. Suggestions are they failed to keep vegetation cut back around equipment, with trees growing on to overhead wires... I've heard from people who live in the area that a power surge is being investigated, with equipment sparking in several areas, at the same time, causing the fires.

The local news stories seem to be very tight lipped about it all, with nothing more than comments of 'investigations are ongoing'

Steerpike

To put things in perspective, a colleague of mine went to a wedding last weekend in the wine country. I asked her what it was like ....

"We stayed in Calistoga where the rehearsal dinner was and the wedding was in St. Helena. You really had to look for the fire damage at least in the areas where we were. The firemen did a great job of keeping it away from homes. Everyone we talked to said they have been hit hard without tourists and unfortunately, the media dramatizes everything so much that we thought it would look like a war zone and it doesn’t at all. "

Not surprised really. Media do everything they can to make it seem like the entire world is coming to an end so you'll keep watching and give them their ratings.

scrubbedexpat091

Clicking on the fire symbol for those fires they are all listed as 99% contained, so they appear to be mostly out now.

N1cky

That's true, the wineries, restaurants, hotels, are mainly functioning normally, and the area desperately needs the tourists to continue going. Plenty of people have lost their homes, they can't afford to lose their jobs as well.

However, the flipside of that is the devastating stories that everyone who lives there has. Last week I was at a competition in Rancho Cordova, it's the first time since the fires that the Santa Rosa team have made it to a competition. They're only a small team, maybe 15 kids, their gym is in within half a mile of the Hilton hotel that burnt to the ground (the gym was undamaged but still closed). From the team, 5 families had been evacuated, 1 family had lost their home, out of those 2 of them had notice to evacuate, the others left in the middle of the night in their nightclothes. 3 other families were all packed ready to evacuate once the order came.

One story I heard that day was about a family who were woken up by their dogs around 1am, at that time the house was surrounded by fire, they managed to get to the car, by the time they got in the car her hair was on fire. Driving down their driveway to the main road, the tarmac had melted so much they got stuck next to their propane tank. They finally made it to the main road and were momentarily shocked that there was no activity, she said she was really angry for a moment that all the neighbors had fled and left them. Then realization dawned that they were the only ones getting out.

Can you imagine how terrifying that must be. If you stop and try wake up your neighbors, it could potentially cost you your life. They have to live with driving away and not trying, for the rest of their lives.

dc koop

Reports said that the fire was at one time in space of three seconds covering the length of a football field. Incredible !

Steerpike

Amazing story.

One website showed the ages of the people who died; it was a heck of a lot of people over 80 - people presumably simply too old and frail to evacuate in time.

Fire is a very scary thing. A friend just bought a house up in Tahoe and I was up there visiting. He has a wood shingle roof, is surrounded by big trees, and he has a big propane tank outside.

ETA - can a moderator PLEASE fix the subject - it's Napa, not Nappa

Norcal

A couple of my cousins have a cousin on their dad's side, he got married & moved into her house, then rented his out, both homes were lost in the SR fire.