FIRE!!! EEk

[ManagerJosh]

Well living in southern california has its benefits, but this firestorm we're having here is insane

[merk]

Did you hear about the firestorm Canberra had in January of this year?


400 houses destroyed. 4 People dead. The sky all over canberra was totally black at 3pm

3/4 of our city was under evaquation (sp?), scary stuff :\

[MasterMac]

Well living in southern california has its benefits, but this firestorm we're having here is insane

Indeed. I'm hoping that the fires in San Bernardino don't get too close to where I am (Riverside)

[Wayne Luke]

I can only see the clouds of smoke where I am. No flames on the northern slopes yet. I do understand it is getting close to the crestline though.

Weird thing is I live about 6 miles from Fox Airfield which has a National Forest Service Air Strike unit which normally flies about 20 planes and I haven't seen any taking off from there since these fires started. Usually, they would fly right over my house on the way to the San Angeles and San Gabriel forests.

[Freddie Bingham]

I was in Moorpark/Simi Valley last night .. not fun.

[someuser190826]

What exactly is a firestorm? Droplets of fire from the sky?

[Tolitz]

I had to go to the car wash yesterday ... seems the ashes fell down as far as our neighborhood, and I'm in West LA...

[Wayne Luke]

What exactly is a firestorm? Droplets of fire from the sky?

Actually, if you are in the thick of it that is a good description.

A firestorm moves pretty rapidly and will burn anything to the ground in seconds. We had a brush fire where I live about 10 years ago and my uncle lost his house in 3 minutes (from perfect to foundation and ash). We don't even have trees, this was all mesquite, creosote bush and sage brush.

[someuser190826]

Woa that is dangerous.

[Beorn]

The site that I'm an admin at had a fire burning literally within half of mile of where it's colo'd. Sounds fun, huh? That's why there's a DB backup on both coasts of the US right now

[N9ne]

I have a cousin affected by this fire, he's had to move home and everything . His friend's in hospital .

[Inland Mike]

Yeah I'm in Riverside too, The sky looks like something out of Star Wars when they are on the planet Luke was born on. With the high Santa Ana winds they are forced now to fight it all on the ground too due to choppers being grounded.

[Wayne Luke]

Still wondering why they aren't using the B-29's and the Super Scoopers. The Santa Ana's wouldn't ground them.

[ManagerJosh]

High winds Luke at last check......its too dangerous to fly in high winds.


BTW that fire in Canberra is nothing. Already 600+ homes are lost and quarter of a million acres of land burned.

11 people dead at last check

[Wayne Luke]

That doesn't effect fixed wing aircraft or they would be shutting down LAX, John Wayne and Ontario International airports everytime the Santa Anas blow.

Also the way the Santa Anas work is this... The Winds start as breezes in the Mojave Desert because of higher temperatures and move through the mountain canyons going up the mountains (San Gabriels, San Bernadinos, San Angeles ranges). As they start moving through the cooler air, they pick up speed. Then when they crest they become super fast because of the temperature changes yet still over the Santa Anas. As they come down the mountain they spread out and gain speed.

I live in the Palmdale and Lancaster area. We have winds equivalent to the Santa Anas here every day, except when there are Santa Ana winds because the wind flow pattern turns around 180 degrees and heads to L.A..

When the fires are on our side of the mountain they fly in 30-40 mile an hour winds and higher with no problem.

I am beginning to think they want these to burn. The burns will replenish the forests, thin out underbrush and ultimately save lives since there won't be 40 years of detritus to burn next time. Past fire management is what is responsible for these large firestorms and it could be that possibly they are trying to correct that now.