Todd,
Good to hear you are safe! The fires seem to be worse this year.I suppose some of that is due to the ever growing amount of dead trees. Our air was just getting better here in the valley after several large fires in the mountains above us and now we are seeing the smoke from the Santa Rosa fire. It’s disheartening as you know the devastation that smoke is coming from.
Hoping this fire season ends soon. My thoughts are with all who are still in danger.
Steve
well done!
looks to me like an instant lecture, where not to leave ones car…
volunteer firefighter’s motto: My time and my gas… just to save your ass!
With respect to people trying to save their own homes and the additional burden this puts on fire fighting crew. Let me relate a true story regarding this fire.
Ron Nelson, a former member of OCGRS with a huge collection of vintage tin tipes, O-scale, and standard gauge stuff lives in the very last house on our street, Overhill. His house is the one you see in the video. Ron is now 82.
I visited Ron today, after driving by his house yesterday to see that it was OK. Linda and I were standing in the same spot as the reporter. The flames took out an outbuilding and the heat took out the skylight across street.
Ron’s house is surrounded by tall pine and eucalyptus trees and he has a composite shingle roof that has sprinklers on it. He can soak the roof in a matter of minutes at the turn of a valve, something the firemen may not catch in their assessment of the situation. Ron evacuated about 4:30 because he could no longer take the heat and smoke and the fire burned to within ~50 feet of his home. The firemen assessed the situation and decided to let Ron’s house burn because of the trees. You’ve gotta draw the line somewhere.
When Ron’s son heard that, he took it as a personal challenge. He stayed behind all day/night and using a 3/4" hose (we have tremendous water pressure and flow), and standing on the roof continually soaked the trees and saved the house. Plus, when eucalyptus trees go up, they don’t just burn, they explode sending flames everywhere because of the internal oils!
In the case of a large brush fire, the neighborhood is often better off if those residents who can, stay behind. The embers can, and did, come down up to three miles away from the main blaze causing spot fires, and luckily in many cases there were residents there to extinguish them. There was several noted cases like this on the news. And the fire was ~3 miles from us when they decided to evacuate the area.
I’m glad you guys made it through ok and didn’t lose your home!