The death toll from Northern California's wildfires now stands at 15, officials say, with a total of nine confirmed fatalities in Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said on its Twitter page that the number of dead had increased from seven to nine. Three others are dead in Mendocino County, two more in Napa and one in Yuba, officials say. In Sonoma County, more than 200 people have been reported missing, and 45 of those have since been located, officials said.
The fires have burned 115,000 acres statewide and destroyed at least 2,000 homes and businesses, Cal Fire Ken Pimlott said Tuesday. More than 4,000 emergency workers have been deployed to help battle the fires, including a massive effort at McClellan Air Park, where a record 45 missions were flown Monday that dumped 266,000 acres of retardant on the blazes.
Vice President Mike Pence visited the state's emergency operations center at Mather Air Park Tuesday and announced that President Trump had approved the state's request for federal assistance in the counties of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Sonoma, and Yuba.
Also at CNN, The Washington Post, KQED, LA Times, and NPR.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 11 2017, @12:58AM (5 children)
Lighnting can happen on clear skies conditions - happens quite frequent in Australia on windy dry days (hot air blown from the center desert) - it is called dry thunderstorm [wikipedia.org].
Once started, bush/forest fires create a weather of their own - the so called firestorm - including:
Frequent case in which kilometer-wide fire containment lines were bypassed by amber attacks.
(the family had cleared the forest around their home for some 200m. I've seen the home and cleared area before and after the fire, I liked the area well enough to go have a late Sunday breakfast around there)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:36AM (1 child)
Yeah, but that's Australian bushfires. They're also venomous.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:43AM
Heh, I was conservative in the distance live embers can travel, an this to account for the wimpy Californian conditions.
In Australia, on a good day, embers can start fires at up to 30 km away [abc.net.au] (this, of course, on top of being venomous - grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:33PM (2 children)
You beat me to the punch. I grew up in the Rockies and fires would start every summer through lightning strikes alone. Only rarely would campfires, for example, be to blame because locals are all aware of the forest fire risk and there are signs all over the place that report the forest fire risk. In short, you don't need to impute nefarious motive behind fires starting in dry areas in the summer. They happen all on their own.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @02:06PM (1 child)
So if the fires will happen regardless, what is the fucking point of all the signs and BS?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:53PM
Because who the fuck needs MORE fires?