Fires all over the place!!

“The whole damn town seems like its on fire. This is getting scarey....

They just got the Bear fire contained (67 homes lost, over 7500 acres) and now fires are breaking out all over town...

As crews tried to battle the French and Bear fire, a fire broke out about 5 p.m. near Lake Boulevard and Flanagan Road, in the middle of town.
French Gulch is burning and the evacuees are being moved for a second time to another evacuation shelter. The French Fire is up to 2,000 and is still threatening 75 homes in the town of French Gulch.
Meanwhile, The Lake Fire at Lake Boulevard and Flanagan Road is 100 acres with mandatory evacuations of Flanagan Road, Nellie Bell Road, Foursquare Court, and volunteer evacuations of West Flanagan Road and Lake Boulevard
In addition, the Cascade Fire is burning in heavy brush near Cascade Boulevard and Deer Creek Avenue near Grand Coulee Road. The fire is growing from three acres and is starting spot fire. No evacuations have been ordered.

It doesn't look too good right now........”

“that sucks..”

“It looks like the Town of French Gulch is gone.”

“Oh, man! Are you safe, steve? Your family? Friends?”

“We're OK, I have several friends that live in French Gulch and the latest picture they showed on the news was of the main street as a wall of flames.

One poor guy had lost two homes to fire in the last 5 years, he lived only a half mile down from the Hotel and Restaurant that was in flames.

They just updated the Bear fire to 80 homes lost.”

“ABOUT FRENCH GULCH ,CA --Pictures

French Gulch, California, ELEVATION 1355', POPULATION: 'Bout 350 -- Pictures

Good luck, mtnsteve.”

“Update on French Gulch

2500 acres, 20 structures lost so far.”

“It looks like they may have saved the Hotel after all, as well as the school.”

“Hang in!!!

Good thoughts heading yer way!”

“If only we would have cut down all the trees surrounding the town we could have prevented this tragedy.

I'm terribly sorry!”

“FRENCH GULCH - The French Fire has destroyed 20 buildings, including two commercial structures, on its relentless march through the historic town of French Gulch, fire officials said about 8:15 p.m. tonight.

The blaze was said to be 2,500 acres and was being pushed by a southwest wind to the northeast, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

Highway 299 remained open, and downtown French Gulch - including the historic French Gulch Hotel - appeared to have been saved from the flames.

Evacuees were being welcomed at Trinity High School or Shasta College, where Bear Fire victims are receiving aid.
About 440 firefighters were on the French Fire, which broke out about 2:30 p.m. along Trinity Mountain Road a little more than a mile south of town. The cause remained under investigation.”

“Unfortunately forest fires are part of nature (unless started accidentally, on purpose or by an idiot).

Hope you're safe.”

“Sparked by a man mowing dry weeds at a time when the temperature was 105 degrees and humidity was 12 percent, the fire raced too fast to contain and began incinerating houses in its path. The alleged culprit was cited for violating a law prohibiting mowing during hot, dry weather. Fire officials, who would not release his identity, said he could be billed for fire control costs and they were considering criminal charges for the fire that forced hundreds to evacuate.”

“I hear you! I'm working behind the scenes down here on the Deep Fire on the Sequoia NF... I've put in two 12+ hour days and am headed in for a 3rd!

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/incident/2004/deep/”

“Jeeze! I was up there briefly on Tuesday and Wednesday (sorry Steve, less time than I anticipated due to car problems so hopefully I'll be bale to stop by next itme I'm up in Redding, maybe a month from now). I went on a walk with the grandparents to check out the Sundial Bridge (pretty cool) and saw the smoke column pouring out whcih made for a nice sunset. It wasn't until the next day I heard about the cause -- a friggin' lawnmower? Sure is dry up there.

Man, that really blows about French Gulch. I love that town.”

“Mtnsteve, we've been thinking about you. We kept hearing about the fires on the news while driving back from Wind-o-Rama. I'm glad you and your family are safe.”

“Thanks for the concern. When I came home the other day there was a fire less then a half mile from my house, but they got a handle on it real fast...the bomber circling overhead didn't even have to drop its load. Thats kinds scary to come home to though.

The French fire is up to 9000 acres and expected to get to 17000 acres before they get it contained. They have lost 22 homes and a couple commercial buildings in French Gulch...that's about 1/4 of the total number of homes in the area.

Hope to catch ya next time Rosey.

BearCrossing...incase haven't heard it yet...thanks.”

“I'm sorry to hear about that situation. It must be heartbreaking to see a whole neighborhood disappear. I'm praying for some rain your way right now.”

“last night while driving home from work from Brooklyn to Staten Island, i saw a HUGE brush fire. I saw the flames and it scared the crap out of me. the road was pretty empty, considering it was still rush hour. smoke everywhere.

there have been so many brush fires latley. we have had 3 on the Island in the last two months, but they did get the guy who was starting them.

it is so scary to be near one :(

I worry because of the lose of animals and flowers. no people have died thank goodness”

“Maple, most of the times critters can get out (depending on the speed of the fire) flowers regrow...the big problem we have is the idiots who "DONE BEEN BURNIN MY WHOLE LIFE" and screw up.”

“yeah I was getting worried because there is a gas station there. but the fire would have to jump over a 3 lane highway. odd thing it is not in the paper this morning. some silly thing about the Tram hanging in mid air for 11 hours!”

“Mapes, I frequently go to a major fire and it is totally missed by the media (LOL). One real problem is that many CITY departments are not well experienced in Wildland Urban interface fires...”

“"some silly thing about the Tram hanging in mid air for 11 hours"

I'd hope its still hanging there, or there's going to be an even bigger story in the papers tonight!

< joke >”

“LOL..we finally got some rain, thank GOD! That drops the fire threat down a bit.”

“Well, no fire here, but we're havin' a fire drill in about 10 minutes! I think I'll do "Jump, Scream, and Run!" Or was that "Stop, Drop, and Roll"? Or maybe I can toss a chair through one of the special rescue windows and claim I thought it was a real fire....”

“or you can pull a george castanza and push all the kids and women out of the way and yell "everyone for themselves"”

“Whew, I'm back. It was pretty orderly, not too much screaming. They just put in a new speaker system, and they have a recorded voice that tells us there is an "emergency on an adjacent floor," etc. The voice is a little over dramatic - maybe they think it'll get people moving a little faster....”

“LOL...years ago I was asked to put out an evacuation guideline. I printed one...then made one that was more in line with what would probably happen.

Fire Evacuation Guidelines

IN CASE FIRE ALARM SOUNDS:

1. Immediately begin to panic

2. Take a large object from your office area to use to fend off any other “Escapees”.

3. Take a client or co-worker to use as a shield if you encounter heavy fire.

4. Step on the upper chest or back region of victims, it will provide firmer footing.

5. When you exit the building, begin crying and waving your hands while yelling,”The Humanity,oh God the humanity”.

6. When the Media shows up it is advisable to knock down another survivor and be seen “dragging” them from the scene.

7. The more pitiful your experience the better chance you have to have a major star playing you in a made for TV series.

The Meeting Place for this Building is: Location of the Largest Concentration of Television Cameras.”

“DEC reports New York state at risk of ‘high fire danger’
May 04, 2007

Albany - The state has warned that conditions are right for out-of-control burning. The entire state is in “high fire danger,” according to a release yesterday from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. That means fine, dead fuel will catch fire easily and unattended brush fires and camp fires are likely to get out of hand.
With the nice weather on tap for the weekend, people should be alert outdoors, especially when picnicking or barbecuing. Carefully monitor backyard grills and be ready to extinguish any errant sparks. Make sure all coals are completely cold before you throw them out.
Fire danger could shift to “very high” if the humidity turns out to be less than expected, the state said. The forecast call for rain toward the end of next week.”

“We're pretty much experiencing the same thing. There's been no real rain since the snow melted. Ponds are already drying up.”

“I wonder if a fire started in the Adirondacks it would finally melt the snow?”

“http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fire/mreport.shtml

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/activefiremaps.php”

““I wonder if a fire started in the Adirondacks it would finally melt the snow?”
lumberzac
7:41:06 AM
5/04/07

Now I fell really bad about my earlier post.

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S77986.shtml?cat=300”

“Ya jerk!”

“Guys this is a GREAT bail out for the libbies...think about it...if we have a cooler year or even a smidgen of less hurricanes/non global warmining Religion based stuff they can...BLAME THE SMOKE FROM THE FIRES!!!

WHEW...marky mark, Vile....go ahead and put the Koolaid away looks like good ole Mother Nature Bailed you out!!!”

“Total jerk!

Are you mixin' booze with your pain killers, again?”

“Not funny, Dan.”

“we had a littlun' yesterday, 15 acres on a hillside about 3 miles from us. they put it out quickly.”

“I finally found a decent map of the fires near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (it's like a 6 MB PDF, tho).

http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/Okefiremap.pdf

It looks like over half of the Big Turnaround Fire has burned into the Refuge past the North Entrance. If the estimate of acres burned is 46,522 and over half of that appears to be within the refuge, that's 25,000 acres [a swath about 9 miles long and 2 miles wide(?)]. According to the National Incident Information Center it's only 45% contained and it continues to burn southward... into the Okefenokee.

http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fire/mreport.shtml”

“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270932,00.html

Yikes”

“It's against my religion to click on Fogs Newz, LOL”

“There's a helicopter dipping water from the pond right behind my house and dropping it a few thousand feet away in the woods. I live right next to a state forest. Not good. The water is falling on my house as he flies over.
last edited: 5/13/07 4:56:55 PM”

“The bad news....the fire is terribly close.

The good news....the chopper pilot knows your house is there.

Have they asked for evacuation in your area? Which way is the fire traveling?

I wish you the best! Let us know whats happening.”

“crap!!”

“No worries. The fire was put out. I guess it was just a brush fire in the state forest. It’s been very dry here with sunny days and very low humidity and yesterday there was a steady breeze blowing and tourist season is ramping up. The good thing was the fire was just to the east of me and the wind was out of the west. I could watch the copter make it’s entire run from getting the water to dropping it. He had a nice short loop to make, which I’m sure helped to quickly get a lot of water to where it was needed.
last edited: 5/14/07 1:44:43 PM”

“Check that area for hot spots, areas under the duff that can very easily rekindle a full fledged fire. Been there, reported that, the stupid f**ks didn't so anything about it a bigger fire than the original flared up the day after we reported it and did a bunch of structural damage in that particular park.”

“So I've been monitoring the fires in Florida, Georgia and NJ. This morning the smoke kicked up around here, thick, heavy and very aromatic. It smells sweet and wonderful, and looks like heavy fog. No news of fires around here, so what is it? It's Florida and Georgia, sharing the love, so to speak.”

“Good news Conk.

I was near a small brushfire on a windy day years ago, and when the fire is coming at you faster than you can run, BOY does it get your attention! I thought a lot about that when I heard the circumstance of the guys on Storm King ---- running up a mountainside with the fire coming after them.


I've been thinking about that, TB. We haven't seen or smelled any trace of smoke and we're much closer. The wind just hasn't blown it our way (yet!).”