Fire in California

[syscom3]

Heres a pic I took from my street, of the "Silverado Canyon" fire, In Orange county.

Its about 6 - 8 miles from me. Its burning to the SW, so I am not in its path.

The fire was only 15 minutes old when i snapped the pic.

Sustained winds of 15 - 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph are occuring right now (8:31pm). Note the palm tree thats being blown.

The fire is still out of control, and expanding rapidly, although it hasnt hit any housing developements as of yet.

 

[syscom3]

UPDATE....

The fire front is moving into a community in Irvine.

The fire depts have said they're going to make a stand on this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The flame front is at least 1/4 to 1/2 mile long with flames up to 20 feet!!!!!

GOOD LUCK AND STAY SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Erich]

move your butt out in a moments notice sys. I know what that crap can do in the wind and the wind can take a different direction any time and engulf everything in moments. My brother wrote me earlier from San Marcos and said the winds are really drying and bad at over 50 mph at times, 80-90F temps to add to the problem.............

E ~

 

[syscom3]

We are getting some strong gusts right now.

50 mph would not be an understatement.

For those that have never experienced these "devil winds"... They are hot and very very dry. Like standing under a giant hair dryer.

The biggest and most dangerous aspect of the winds, is they can carry burning embers for thousands of yards and start fires in a haphazard pattern.

 

[Lucky13]

Get your ass out of there and stay safe whenever you have to mate....!

 

[Screaming Eagle]

I'm with lucky, stay safe sys.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Good luck Sys - another memory I have of California, the good ole Santa Anas...

 

[evangilder]

I've been living in the smoke from thePiru fire for the last 2 days. Smoke, thick and heavy with raining ash. It's been like living in a campfire these last 2 days. High 80s-90s for temp, plus single digit humidity and winds have gusted as high as 83! This has been the worst fire season I have seen in my 20 years here.

 

[pbfoot]

Do they have any Cl215 or 415 purpose built water bombers there ?

 

[syscom3]

Do they have any Cl215 or 415 purpose built water bombers there ?

Yes they do!

 

[pbfoot]

I checked and they are leasing them from Quebec but the Airtanker guys are lobbying against them as they are foreign
CL-415s IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

 

[Aussie1001]

Jesus mate we saw the headlines on the news, apparantly Oliva Newton John as well as some other celebrities have been moved from their mansions to safety. Stay safe mate better to be safe than sorrry....
reguards Aussie

 

[Wildcat]

Good luck buddy.

 

[evangilder]

The celebs live in Malibu, one of 16 fires currently burning across the southland. It is one of the worst fire periods I have seen in 20 years. The Piru fire is the closest to me now that the Lexington Ranch fire is out. The ones in Canyon Country and Arrowhead are the real bad ones right now.

Over 250,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Southern California and the air is full of acrid smoke. Never a dull moment here...

 

[Erich]

my brothers area is surrounded by 9 fires from east moving towards the west and the coast. they evacuated his business today, his daughter is not attending school for health reasons and they can see the fires to the south of them starting up a new 1500 home sub-division from a call I received this morn.

He lives over a dry grassy meadow and is already packed ready to go, a fake evac notice at 3am came by them at 5am and then shut down when the wind shifted....................

if you guys remember the huge 500,000 acre bisquet fire we had in south Oregon some years back the largest fire in the states................yes I know about this B. ****

 

[syscom3]

Erich..... hope everything works out for your bro!

 

[Maharg]

Stay safe Fellas. If you are anywhere upwind of the fire, block your down pipes and fill your roof gutters with water, this helps to stop buring embers from getting into the roof cavity.

All the Best
Graham

 

[evangilder]

Here is a shot I took with the camera in my phone on Sunday from the office in Camarillo. It was better yesterday, but still pretty smoky. I have more on the phone I haven't downloaded yet.

 

[evangilder]

Yesterday, I pulled a "kamikaze kamera" and got these. (kamikaze kamera is pointing the SLR in a general direction and shooting, without looking through the viewfinder). It was smoky at home and at work. In between was an oasis of blue, but it still smelled like smoke.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Damn guys, hope you all make it out safe. Good luck