[Bumped up from 11:30 this morning.]
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I took the time to grab the mapping of the "firebreaks" that now supposedly address my concerns for unimpeded wildfire to burn down my corner of California. Pfeh. Billy and I were talkin' last night of how idiotic these puny firebreaks are. No dozer break or hand break, let alone dirt road break will stop a nice strong crown run... neither will rivers or freeways.
Also, last night at the store a kid was telling me the National Guard had brought in two Chinooks to help dump water, but they were grounded all day because of the smoke conditions making them too dangerous to operate.
Virtually nothing has been done for days, perimeter unchanged on the map, but, maybe, if they're not lying again, working the dozers to impede it when it gets through decimating the Winchuck drainage [zoom in].
This is much more accurate, but also, I think 24 hours old, 24 hours of no firefighting... and already burning over some of the dozer breaks on the image link screen shot.
They are relying on the weather to keep the devastating crown runs from getting to us. The notion that tonight real fog will overtake the perfect storm dryness. A crown run, in case you are uncertain, is when the fire flies through the forest canopy in whatever direction the wind happens to blow, and their length is mostly determined by the length of the gusts, but can just merrily spread out in every direction if the wind isn't encouraging a particular heading. When they subside, it's actual subsidence, meaning the burning tree tops burn down to the trunks of the trees, down where firemen can piss on them with hoses or chopper bucket steam or shovel dirt on them to keep the flames from advancing at ground level.
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OH SHIT.
Seven hours later and compare this, from this morning, and this from right now... and here's your little reference from yesterday for now all three major river drainages on fire.
I'm hoping this was just the update 24 hours and not that this page updates in real time, but I'm going to have to look and see what's what about the updating of the ArcGIS CalFireData maps... because it very well could be way even worse than this now.
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BURNING NOW.
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BTW
If you check the ArcGIS maps against the screen shot of today's Forest Service map at the image link, you can see that all those firebreaks have been jumped. Didn't stop diddly squat... and a formerly listed as "contained" spot on the perimeter behind Brookings has broken through too.
I am very not subtly telling you the feds are not posting actuality for public consumption... which probably means they're not doing it for their in house records either.
You cannot imagine the bashing my upbringing is taking right now, notwithstanding the fact that I got wise to the problem forty years ago. STILL, my upbringing is in there, purple-faced, screaming her head off.
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pipe up any time....
