Thread: California wildfires: Ten dead, tens of thousands flee as fires rip through Napa

Is such a house construction suitable for a country ravaged by wild fires and hurricanes?



Perhaps it has something to do with the affordability?

I just googled to see what kind of insurance people have and how many are not covered.

I didn't find anything.

The fire is still growing and still spreading. The city of Napa is now being warned. Far from over.


New evacuations ordered as Napa County wildfires grow

3,500 homes, business destroyed by in wine county

New evacuations ordered as Napa County wildfires grow

The insurance companies will be crapping themselves...There will most likely be a huge battle for fair compensation with that many buildings and homes destroyed...I seem to recall problems here in BC when much fewer structures were in question...Want to take a guess how much money is involved?...Maybe they will all go bankrupt...Even with state and federal emergency support...

My best guess about 5.5 billion.

How and why for those unfamiliar:

How did Northern California fires become so devastating? - CNN

Sounds like insurance to me...

California Wildfires Are 'All Combining into One'



Wildfires raging in California's wine country are "all combining into one," Napa County's fire chief said Friday as firefighters faced more dry, windy conditions.


Fire Chief Barry Biermann said he's teaming up with the state's fire protection agency to set up containment lines in "priority spots" in order to keep the fires from spreading.


He said firefighters gained some ground Friday, but could face challenging conditions in the coming days as low humidity and high winds are expected to return.


"Today, the weather is cooperating, but we are going to go back into red flag again," he said. "And that's going to be an issue that we will have to keep a close eye with low humidities and potentially wind for the next couple of days."


Rescue workers in northern California are using cadaver-sniffing dogs to search for bodies in the ruins of homes burned to the ground by wildfires.



The fires north of San Francisco have killed 31 people since Sunday, while no one has yet heard from nearly half of the 900 people officially listed as missing.


Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano said identifying fire victims is going to be hard.


"We have found bodies that are almost completely intact and we have found bodies that are nothing more than ash and bones. One of the ways we make IDs in those cases is through medical devices... where there is a piece of metal left from somebody's surgery, like a hip replacement with an ID number on it."


Twenty-two fires were burning Thursday with firefighters partially containing just one. More than 75,000 hectares have burned so far, including some of northern California's world famous vineyards and wineries. At least 3,500 homes and businesses are destroyed.


By Friday morning, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean said the fires burning in Sonoma and Napa counties are about 22 percent contained.

All that remains of some neighborhoods are a few blackened chimneys, and charred trees, and burned-out cars.


About 8,000 firefighters from California and as far away as Canada and Australia are hard at work. The strong dry Santa Ana winds that blow down from the mountains every late summer and early fall are creating conditions that make their job extremely hard.


Authorities do not have an exact cause of the fires, but say anything from a downed power line to a thoughtlessly tossed cigarette could have started them.


Police blocked off many roads and prevented people from going into the destroyed neighborhoods, where some people said they no longer recognize streets and surroundings.


But Dave Larson, of Glen Ellen sneaked into his destroyed neighborhood to look for his cats and to see if any of his neighbors' homes still stood. He knew his was gone.


"This to me is like a nuclear bomb went off," Larson said near his home. "I've woken up the last two mornings, thinking it was maybe a dream but then I realized I have nothing. I have someone else's clothes now. It's bizarre having nothing."


As he surveyed the damage, he marveled how some of his neighbors' homes survived. He said he regretted that he hadn't stayed, like his neighbors, standing on the roof with his hose and fighting the fire himself.


Larson's classic car collection was a smoldering heap of metal. And his antiques were gone.


But he found something of sentimental value propped up against his melted flat screen TV— his grandfather's 100 year-old rifle, a memento from World War Two. The gun, covered in soot and ash, looked like a burnt stick, although its bayonet was still intact. Larson said he wished he had grabbed the gun as he left.


https://www.voanews.com/a/california...e/4069708.html

Yes, more high winds this weekend. This story will keep burning (no pun intended).

Damage Mounts From California Wildfires



Wildfires in California's famed wine country are spreading after a week of the worst blazes the state has ever seen.


The death toll rose to at least 35 on Saturday, with at least 16 fires burning. One side of the fire zone stretched for 160 square kilometers (62 square miles), destroying 5,700 homes and businesses. About 100,000 people have evacuated their homes.


But some have stayed behind. News reports related stories of people taking shelter in swimming pools while watching their homes burn to the ground.


Friday night into Saturday, the flames crept into the town of Sonoma, a name synonymous with the California wine industry, forcing 400 households in the city of 11,000 to evacuate. The nearby town of Santa Rosa also saw mass evacuations.




The strong, dry Santa Ana winds that blow down from the mountains every late summer and early fall are creating conditions that make the fires spread easily. Some gust to 64 kilometers per hour (40 mph), pushing the flames over firebreaks dug by firefighters.


On Friday, Napa County's fire chief said the wildfires that started October 8 were "all combining into one," after days of dry, windy conditions.


Fire Chief Barry Biermann said he had teamed up with the state's fire protection agency to set up containment lines in "priority spots" to try to keep the fires from spreading.


Officials' inspection


Officials said that Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris were scheduled to tour the destruction in Sonoma County on Saturday.

More than 9,000 people were fighting the California wildfires, both local fire personnel and thousands of volunteers, who have poured into the area over the last few days.


The firefighters have come from other parts of California and as far away as Canada and Australia.


Sonoma County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Dave Thompson said officers recovered bone fragments Friday from one person at a mobile home park that was destroyed by fire in Santa Rosa. He said there was a "high probability" they would find more.


Californians have been using social networks to identify supply shortages and fill them. Sonoma Valley Middle School Principal Will Deeths, who has been supervising an evacuation shelter at a local school, told The Associated Press that the community response had been heartwarming.


"Two days ago we were in need of ... diapers," he said. "Someone put it on Facebook and within an hour, four or five cars pulled up, two or three boxes. Boom, boom, boom, here you go."


A hairdresser also showed up to help people clean up once they were out of danger, and a local musician took in a guitar to help ease the long hours of waiting.


https://www.voanews.com/a/damage-mou...s/4070587.html

The Santa Anas will continue and now fires are growing more in the south.

Not even near over.

Dazed Californians brace for more 'extreme fire behavior' as death toll rises to 35 - ABC News

Just checked in with my kid brother in Mill Valley, thinking he was well away from it. He said it's only 35 miles away, and they are totally enveloped in thick, dark smoke - can't go outside.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Just checked in with my kid brother in Mill Valley, thinking he was well away from it. He said it's only 35 miles away, and they are totally enveloped in thick, dark smoke - can't go outside.

He better not sleep. Those fires move rapidly.

I assume he's packed up Important items and is ready to Evac if need be.

Some great pics, bobo...I remember the stunning evenings in BC with a "blood-burning" moon...

Firefighters Shifting Into Recovery Phase in Northern California

Marcos Morales, co-founder of pot company Legion of Bloom, stands on the ruins of a state-of-the-art drying shed in Glen Ellen, Calif., where 1,600 pounds of ready-to-ship bud were destroyed in a fire, Oct. 15, 2017.


NORTHERN CALIFORNIA —
The fires in Northern California improved this week, with fire officials saying they have the upper hand on the widespread blazes.


But for firefighters, there is still the daily work of containing the fire and shifting into recovery and clean up. For Ryan Estes, the fight against the widespread, complex fire in Northern California is personal. Estes has worked as a firefighter outside of Santa Rosa, California since 2000.


“This is home and we’ve been here since day one,” said Ryan Estes, captain of the Rincon Valley Fire Department. “We’re still working because this is home. We don’t want to leave.”


Estes’s family and home are fine. His wife is home 15 minutes away with their two children, packed if they need to evacuate.


Firefighters here say this is what they call “a career fire,” something they have trained for all of their lives. But even with that training, the fire’s power has been too much at times. They have needed downtime and a place to refuel—for themselves and their vehicles.


Estes worked three days straight when the fire first erupted. Help arrived quickly – firefighters from all over California, Oregon, Nevada, the East Coast and even Australia. Equipment came too – fire retardant, helicopters, engines, bulldozers.


“It can be a roller coaster obviously,” said Jay Smith, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.


“As most fire fighters have a can-do attitude. You want to go in, very task oriented, just do our job and get people back in their homes. Make it safe for everyone who lives here.”


Firefighters here have lost their homes and one firefighter lost his life.


The extra help has given Estes a chance to go home for 12 hours to see his family, and begin to take in what has happened to his community.


For firefighters, the fight is shifting into the recovery phase, putting out every smoking log or ember they see, discussing what went well and what didn’t in the fire fight.


And with the recovery, there will be the emotional toll.


“Once everyone has gone, the dust has settled, you get the deeper emotions out,” Estes said. “Right now it’s a somber feeling.”


https://www.voanews.com/a/firefighte...a/4073678.html