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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 8:51:58 GMT -5
If you have ever been through a fire you know it is probably the worst thing that can ever happen to you and the things you loved about life on Earth. 20,000-acre wildfire all but destroys Paradise, California"The whole lower side of Paradise is totally engulfed in flames right now ... Not one home will be left standing. I'm devastated."
Nov. 8, 2018 / 11:41 AM MST / Updated Nov. 9, 2018 / 12:44 AM MST
By David K. Li and Alex Johnson
A wildfire fueled by strong winds raced across communities in the Sierra foothills in Northern California on Thursday, devastating the city of Paradise and sending thousands of residents fleeing for their lives, authorities said.
The fire, which was dubbed the Camp Fire, started at 6:30 a.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) near Camp Creek Road in Butte County, north of Sacramento, and spread rapidly, fueled by strong winds, fire officials said.
"Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed — it's that kind of devastation," Capt. Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, told The Associated Press on Thursday night.
"The wind that was predicted came" and pummeled the city of 27,000 residents in the Sierra Nevada foothills, he said.
Massive wildfire forces evacuations in Northern California
NOV. 8, 201801:19
The fire had more than doubled in size to 20,000 acres and was at 0 percent containment, Cal Fire reported Thursday night.
At a news conference, Chief Darren Read, commander of Cal Fire's Butte County Unit, described "significant" losses of structures and multiple injuries, including injuries to two firefighters.
Residents in Pulga and Paradise, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, were told to evacuate on Thursday morning.
By the afternoon, residents of Magalia, Concow, Butte Creek Canyon and Butte Valley had also been told to leave — more than 20,000 people in all, including all patients at Adventist Health Feather River Hospital, the hospital confirmed.
Image: Camp Fire The Camp Fire rages through Paradise, California, on Thursday.Noah Berger / AP
By Thursday night, more than 29,000 customers in Butte and Plumas counties were without power, utility agencies reported. The California Highway Patrol reversed northbound traffic on State Highway 99, diverting all vehicles southward from Skyway.
Kevin Winstead of Paradise fled town Thursday with his family — who had been set to move into a new home in nearby Magalia on Friday.
"We're just hoping that our brand new home that we were hoping to move into tomorrow is not burned to the ground," Winstead told KIEM. "We're kind of all shaking right now."
"The whole lower side of Paradise is totally engulfed in flames right now," he said. "All of it is engulfed in flames right now. Not one home will be left standing. I'm devastated."
Brian Wilson of Magalia was at work when the fire erupted and spent much of Thursday frantically trying to reach his wife, who was at home with their two young children.
"There's no way to get ahold of anybody up there. The lines are all down," Wilson told NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento, his voice cracking. "She's at home with two kids by herself. I can't do anything."
After the Ashes: When the fires came (Part 1)
OCT. 15, 201805:23
Wilson's wife later called to say that she and the children had managed to escape safely, KCRA reported.
Meanwhile, in Southern California, a brushfire that ignited Thursday afternoon quickly grew to encompass 10,000 acres only a few miles from the scene of the shooting at a bar where a gunman killed 12 people in Ventura County.
The Hill Fire sparked in the Santa Rosa Valley jumped U.S. Highway 101 at about 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) and in less than an hour was nearing the boundary of Thousand Oaks, fire officials said. It jumped U.S. Highway 101 within 12 minutes, Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said.
Its progress slowed as it reached areas stripped of fuel by previous fires and was assessed to be burning 5,000 to 7,000 acres by Thursday night, he said.
Image: Hill FireA police officer directs traffic at a checkpoint in front of an advancing wildfire near Newbury Park, California, on Thursday.Richard Vogel / AP
Ventura County emergency officials ordered mandatory evacuations for the communities of Camarillo Springs and Dos Vientes and parts of Bell Canyon — about 8,000 people — along with California State University-Channel Islands and its 7,500 students, faculty and staff. The commander of Point Mugu, part of Naval Base Ventura County, separately declared a mandatory evacuation.
Assistant Fire Chief Chad Cook, the incident commander, said Thursday night no cause had been determined and that firefighters were being hampered by Santa Ana winds — the strong, dry inland winds that often bedevil coastal Southern California. One firefighter suffered a minor injury, he said.
"The Santa Ana winds quickly outstripped our resources," and they're expected to strengthen overnight, Cook said. "It's a recipe for fire."
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 8:56:28 GMT -5
Fire official in Northern California says "everything is destroyed"
Residents flee 'catastrophic' wildfire in Northern California
Raw footage of Camp Fire evacuees, devastation in Paradise and abandoned Feather River hospital
Sights and sounds from Camp Fire in Paradise
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 8:57:29 GMT -5
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 9:01:15 GMT -5
Paradise is NO stranger to devastation by fire.
Paradise, California 4 years after fire
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 9:06:34 GMT -5
Couple in RV rescues California fire victims as they flee flamesUSA TODAY NETWORKDamon Arthur, Redding Record Searchlight Published 11:50 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2018 | Updated 11:50 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2018
Vanderlinden
(Photo: Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight)
REDDING, Calif. – One couple's escape from the flames in Northern California became a "happy band of vagrants" as their motor home became a rescue vehicle for several people caught up in the chaos as hundreds of residents fled the town of Paradise.
Jane Latham and Ed Van Der Linden found themselves rescuing people off the road Thursday morning as they tried to get away from the blaze.
Van Der Linden said he was getting ready to make a plate of eggs for breakfast when they got the call to evacuate from their home at an RV park in Paradise.
They grabbed their cat, Babou, and a few supplies and Van Der Linden got behind the wheel of their motor home. Jane Latham followed him in her car.
The Camp Fire initially started out as a report of a 15-acre fire, but quickly grew to several thousand acres as it churned through dry brush and trees, pushed by high winds. By Thursday night, the wildfire had grown to 20,000 acres and was still spreading.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the fire had likely destroyed up to a thousand homes or more and fatalities were likely.
Smoke from Camp Fire blankets sky over Paradise Redding Police Department, Redding Record Searchlight
'There was major gridlock'
Residents fleeing the fire described panic and chaos as the few roads out of Paradise were jammed with cars and trucks.
"There was major gridlock. What would normally take 25 minutes took 2½ hours," Latham said.
As they drove in bumper-to-bumper traffic, they saw a man walking along the road with his dog and carrying luggage.
A woman directing traffic ran up to the motor home and asked Van Der Linden if he could give the man and his dog a ride out of town.
"So everybody piled in and we headed on down the road," Van Der Linden said.
They stopped at the VFW hall in town thinking they were safe, but someone told them they needed to keep moving because the fire was still coming. As they were leaving, another man ran up to them and asked if they could take two more elderly residents, he said.
The two had recently been rescued from their home, which was surrounded by flames, Van Der Linden said.
"He actually had to walk through the flames to carry them out," Van Der Linden said.
More: 'God help us!' A pair of California wildfires have scorched 30,000 acres
More: 'Volatile,' 'incredibly dangerous': Images of raging flames as wildfires burn
The couple had trouble walking, so Van Der Linden and the other man carried them into the motor home, he said.
Latham said she only got their first names – Boris, who was 102 years old, and Jackie, who was 92, she said.
"Once I had the happy band of vagrants in the RV, the young man who was their savior stopped traffic so we could get back out," Van Der Linden said.
On their way down the hill out of Paradise to Chico, they saw destruction and fire all around them, Latham said. They had to drive around utility poles that had burned and fallen into the roadway.
"As we were coming down the hill I could not believe it. Everything on both sides of the road was on fire," Latham said.
Eventually the whole troupe made it to Chico and camped Thursday afternoon in the Chico Mall parking lot with numerous others who had fled.
View of the Camp Fire burning in Paradise from Thorntree Drive near Chico Airport (Photo: Courtesy of Elaine Byrd-Irwin, Chico)
The evacuees milled around their vehicles, which were filled with what they could grab before leaving their homes behind. Some said they felt sure their homes were lost in the flames. But they grabbed photos, clothes and a few other supplies before joining the rush of residents leaving town.
Latham and Van Der Linden said they had been through emergencies before, but nothing like the Camp Fire evacuation.
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 9:18:42 GMT -5
California fires death toll set to riseDONALD Trump has pointed the finger at those who he believes are to blame for the California wildfires, as nine people died and firefighters battle the flames.Staff writers, AFP and AAP
News Corp Australia NetworkNOVEMBER 10, 20189:03PM
www.news.com.au/world/california-fires-death-toll-set-to-rise/news-story/17a8a9ac2ddad80227c1781b26ac0098
US President Donald Trump has said that “gross mismanagement of forests” is to blame for two unchecked wildfires burning in California, where nine people have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced to evacuate.
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” he wrote in a Twitter post early on Saturday.
“Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!,” he added.
His reposne to the fires drew criticism across social media and celebrities like popstar kathy Perry, who described his tweet as an “absolutely heartless response”.
She added: “There aren’t even politics involved. Just good American families losing their homes as you tweet, evacuating into shelters.”
Others questioned if he knew the difference between wildfires and forest fires. They also attacked him for issuing a tweet which was all about money, with no sympathy or thought for those whose lives were affected by the tragedy.
President Donald Trump has spoken about the wildfires in California. Picture: APSource:AP
KATY PERRY
✔
@katyperry
This is an absolutely heartless response. There aren’t even politics involved. Just good American families losing their homes as you tweet, evacuating into shelters.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realdonaldtrump
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
As people perished in the fires, hundreds of thousands ordered to evacuate across California, with one rapidly spreading blaze threatening the resort of Malibu, home to Hollywood stars.
The fatalities were reported in a massive late-season inferno in the town of Paradise, in Butte County north of the state capital Sacramento, where some 6,700 structures went up in flames - officially becoming California’s most destructive fire on record.
The fast-moving blaze, which authorities have named the “Camp Fire”, broke out Thursday morning. Fanned by strong winds, it has scorched 36,400 hectares and is only five percent contained, the California Fire Department (Cal Fire) said late Friday.    
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 9:25:42 GMT -5
At least 9 dead in wildfire that destroyed Paradise, California: 'There wasn't anywhere to go'By Dakin Andone and Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN
Updated 9:58 PM ET, Fri November 9, 2018
California's Camp Fire spreads
(CNN)As the wildfire raged nearby, Whitney Vaughan and her husband had just enough time to grab a laundry basket of dirty clothes and some pictures before fleeing their home in Paradise, California.
Vaughan could hear screams and explosions nearby Thursday as she and her husband got in their car and drove away. But they soon found themselves trapped with other evacuees in standstill traffic.
The Camp Fire was closing in.
"The flames were whipping and spreading so fast," Vaughan told CNN. "It began to jump the road. There wasn't anywhere to go."
www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/paradise-california-camp-fire/index.htmlEven Linda's former subdivision is having problems:
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 10, 2018 9:32:54 GMT -5
What Causes Santa Ana Winds?
The Science Behind Santa Ana Winds
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Post by erik on Nov 10, 2018 12:30:16 GMT -5
It is a horrible thing to see any town virtually incinerated from the map by a wildfire--but Trump, the mother***er, with his usual style, poured gasoline on it by blaming this on "poor forestry management", which is pure, unadulterated horses***.
The huge firestorm we have burning in the area along the Ventura/Los Angeles county border is truly horrifying in and of itself, having chewed up an area of almost 110 square miles as of this morning, fueled by brush that, in some cases, hasn't burned since the 1970s, the basic topography of the region, and, of course, the dry Santa Ana winds. So much so that when firestorms like these erupt even many miles inland, it is no longer unusual to see them spread all the way down across the Santa Monica Mountains, jumping both US 101 and Pacific Coast Highway (CA 1), right to the beach.
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 11, 2018 4:36:27 GMT -5
Trump is such a right wing shill and moron. He spouts the same bullshit we hear from Hannity, FOX and all of their pseudo idiot experts that will say anything if it makes the government look bad. One has to wonder WHO and WHAT is feeding those idiots their information? Or is it just a group conservativecluster f*ck? The very very sad thing is these people have gerrymandered and rigged the system so that they will almost assuredly remain in power to dictate to the majority.Firefighters Fight Trump's Threats As California's Deadly Wildfires ContinueHuffPost Carla Herreria,HuffPost 6 hours ago
California’s largest firefighter organization said President Donald Trump was “dangerously wrong” on Saturday after Trump blamed California’s mismanagement for the deadly wildfires and threatened to withhold federal money.
The International Association of Fire Fighters, a labor union, also criticized Trump, calling his remarks “irresponsible, reckless and insulting.”
Since Thursday, hundreds of thousands of residents have fled multiple fires spreading through Northern and Southern California. The fast-moving fires have engulfed an entire town and killed at least 11 people
On Friday, Trump blamed California’s forest management for the disaster, calling the state’s services “so poor.”
“Billions of dollars are given each year with so many lives lost, all because of gross management of the forests,” Trump tweeted late Friday, the same day the fires’ death toll grew to nine. “Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
Brian K. Rice, president of the California Professional Firefighters organization, which represents more than 30,000 first responders, rejected Trump’s accusations and criticized the president for using the fires for political gain.
“The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines,” Rice said in a statement issued Saturday.
Firefighters work in dangerous conditions to fight the fast-moving fires in northern and southern California. (Justin Sullivan via Getty Images)
Rice called Trump’s assertion “an uninformed political threat aimed squarely at the innocent victims of these cataclysmic fires.”
“The president’s assertion that California’s forest management policies are to blame for catastrophic wildfire is dangerously wrong,” Rice said, noting that wildfires can be fueled by dry conditions, high winds and geography.
Rice also said that “nearly 60 percent of California forests are under federal management, and another two-thirds under private control.”
According to the University of California’s records, federal agencies manage 57 percent of the state’s forests while local and state agencies, including CalFire, manage only 3 percent of forest areas. About 40 percent of forests are privately owned by families, Native American tribes or companies.
“It is the federal government that has chosen to divert resources away from forest management, not California,” Rice said.
Rice reminded Trump that, “at this moment,” firefighters are risking their lives by responding to the fire, “even as their own homes lay in ruins.”
“In my view, this shameful attack on California is an attack on all our courageous men and women on the front lines,” he said.
In a similar renunciation, the International Association of Fire Fighters chided the president for threatening to take away money as firefighters risk their lives to save others.
“To minimize the crucial, life-saving work being done and to make crass suggestions such as cutting off funding during a time of crisis shows a troubling lack of real comprehension about the disaster at hand and the dangerous job our firefighters do,” said Harold Schaitberger, general president of the union.
“His comments are reckless and insulting to the firefighters and people being affected.”
Without addressing the threats he made to strip money from California, Trump shifted his tone on Saturday afternoon and tweeted praise for the firefighters responding to the disaster.
“Our hearts are with those fighting the fires, the 52,000 who have evacuated, and the families of the 11 who have died,” Trump wrote.
www.yahoo.com/news/firefighters-fight-trump-apos-threats-023512758.html
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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Post by erik on Nov 11, 2018 13:15:12 GMT -5
Quote by ronstadtfanaz:
First of all, let's be real here, Der Trumpster has had it in for the state of California ever since November 8, 2016. He lost the popular vote here in California by a good five million; Hillary literally crushed the little prick to smithereens here. He doesn't need FOX, or Breitbart, or the Drudge Report helping him out on this aspect. California doesn't mean anything to him, nor does the loss of property, of land, or of human lives (which may end up going over 200 when all is said and done). The man doesn't have a conscience, period, and you don't need someone like a David Icke or Maria Heller to tell you that.
But the real problem is that we are continuing to build residences in woodland and forest areas (which is known as Urban Interface) where fire is a natural occurrence to begin with, especially during the autumn when the Santa Ana winds are the most prevalent. It also doesn't help that we have had almost eight years of drought, which, without a doubt in my mind, has been caused by climate change. All of these things have combined to make fire season in California, and indeed most of the western third of the United States, a virtual non-stop thing; and that's how it's going to be unless radical changes in human activity are instituted (IMHO).
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Post by the Scribe on Nov 11, 2018 21:49:56 GMT -5
Things will only get worse with global warming/climate change. The mango menace party's denial and efforts to worsen the conditions will amplify things even more. The areas threatened now will only expand to wider territory. One would think that given the fact of the last fire there someone or everyone would have taken measures to protect themselves like a safe room in their homes or neighborhoods that could withstand fires. I would not rebuild in an area like that. I hear lots of Australians expats lived there. We are facing our own problems here in the Sonoran Desert. Water supplies are drying up and the temperatures are rising as are the number of days of HOT. By the end of this century (I hope to be dead by then) the scientists project a late-21st century with 91 days at or above 110 degrees in Phoenix, 42 of them eclipsing 115. I had 4 months each of $900 AC caused energy bills. These power companies think nothing of turning off power if you are late paying. This will cause a crisis as people begin to die because of it. www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2017/10/18/deadly-heat-phoenix-getting-hotter-so-danger/694283001/I am thinking we need to explode a volcano to cool things down for a bit. |
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