Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by takyon on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:02PM   Printer-friendly
Live updates: 15 dead from fires in Wine Country, Northern California

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.

2017 Statewide Fire Map.

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 11 2017, @12:58AM (5 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 11 2017, @12:58AM (#580193) Journal

    That might explain one fire. Maybe two. Maybe three if embers blow a loooooong way (which they typically don't).

    But more than 14 fires ravaged eight counties all started simultaneously in countryside that is relatively dry all summer around (and could have caught fire long before the winds).

    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:

    • thunderstorm clouds - which can lit other fires at hundred kilometer distances. [abc.net.au]
    • embers hot enough to advance the fire front can (and will) travel by hundred of meters in windy days - the so-called ember attack [fireandbiodiversity.org.au] (PDF with study case and modelling).
      Frequent case in which kilometer-wide fire containment lines were bypassed by amber attacks.
    • radiation heat from intense fires can advance the fire-front by itself to distances of 100m - here's an example [smh.com.au] "We prayed and we worked bloody hard. Our house was lit up eight times by the fire as the front passed," Mr Sheahan said. "The elements off our TV antenna melted. We lost a Land Rover, two Subarus, a truck and trailer and two sheds.
      (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
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:36AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:36AM (#580210)

    Yeah, but that's Australian bushfires. They're also venomous.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:43AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:43AM (#580216) Journal

      Yeah, but that's Australian bushfires. They're also venomous.

      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)

      The key fuel element that does that in a forest like this is the bark on the trees… they can ignite at one end and be lofted by the convection column and actually travel many many kilometres, up to 30 kilometres downwind of the main fire, and start another fire.

      --
      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)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday October 11 2017, @01:33PM (#580451) Journal

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @02:06PM (#580470)

      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

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @07:53PM (#580744)

        Because who the fuck needs MORE fires?