The official weather thread

[clackamascoug]

Good update from inside the lines. Probably too soon to ask, but would the stake be involved with rebuilding for the burned out members?

I was in Medford last week and the smoke was hellacious. Over a 100 fires going at the same time in Northern Cali and Southern Ore. Fire fighters are stretched thin...

[bluegoose]

Two weeks ago tomorrow is when all of the real craziness began. Things have calmed down quite a bit over the last 5-6 days. There are still a number of areas in town that are closed down, mainly waiting for the utility companies to cap off and test the gas lines. In many cases entire neighborhoods were completely destroyed. In others the fire was very selective, destroying 4-5 houses on a given street while the rest were untouched. There is a small community on the outskirts of town called Keswick which only had 300-400 people, but the entire community is now gone. I think there was 1-2 buildings total still standing in the whole town.

In all, there were 19 families in our stake that lost their homes completely. Several others sustained significant damage. I think 2-3 families are still housed in friends homes. The last of the evacuees from our home were allowed to return to their homes over the weekend. Most of the LDS families that lost their homes have found rentals in the area. Several left town to be with family in Idaho and may not return. There are 7 people that have died, including 4 residents and 3 firefighters or utility workers.

The recovery effort is going to take a tremendous amount of time. There was a group of several dozen members of the stake that were ready for a work party on Saturday morning, but it had to be cancelled at the last minute, as there was really nothing they could do. The families that lost their homes are still waiting for the insurance companies to complete their inspections, and other areas that have already been inspected by insurance are now waiting for inspection and clearance of any haz mat problems.

Here is some incredible 360 degree aerial view footage of the burn areas. Unbelievable the amount of damage that some of the areas in and around town suffered.
http://redding.maps.arcgis.com/apps/...1b3f1027245c0f

[bluegoose]

I'll try to narrow some of the aerial views for you.

Keswick

Spinnaker

Harlan

Red Bluff Road

Swasey

[BigPiney]

I'll try to narrow some of the aerial views for you.

Keswick

Spinnaker

Harlan

Red Bluff Road

Swasey

I was looking at those the other day. Crazy to see some houses standing in the middle of so many burned out lots.

Glad things are slightly getting back to normal.

[Bo Diddley]

I'll try to narrow some of the aerial views for you.

Keswick

Spinnaker

Harlan

Red Bluff Road

Swasey

You all have been in my prayers. That family that died was just a truly heartbreaking story.

[Northwestcoug]

Those pics are hard to believe. So many houses that seemed untouched, right next to completely burned down ones.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Unreal.

It will take decades for your trees to grow back. That sucks.

[bluegoose]

You all have been in my prayers. That family that died was just a truly heartbreaking story.

Thanks BD. I'm guessing that you saw the interview with the grandpa. It took me almost a week before I could get up the nerve to watch it, knowing what it was going to say. It was even more heart-wrenching than I thought.

Those pics are hard to believe. So many houses that seemed untouched, right next to completely burned down ones.

I was looking at those the other day. Crazy to see some houses standing in the middle of so many burned out lots.

There was absolutely no pattern to its destruction. Some homes that had good defensible space around their property were wiped out, while a house overgrown with pine and oak trees right next door was spared. Not that having defensible space really means much in this case. It jumped the river in a place that it is close to 300 feet wide.

Unreal.

It will take decades for your trees to grow back. That sucks.

Yep. I'm sure its going to be at least 20 years for much of that land to green up again. The natural beauty of the outdoors was one of the main attractions for the area. Now half of it is gone. Whiskeytown Lake was one of the best kept secrets in northern California, with hundreds of miles of biking and hiking trails, several beautiful waterfalls, great beaches and beautiful blue water for boating and fishing. Now its a charred wasteland.

[creekster]

Horrible. It stands as a warning to the rest of us. I hope your ward and area recovers quickly.

[happyone]

I'll try to narrow some of the aerial views for you.

Keswick

Spinnaker

Harlan

Red Bluff Road

Swasey

Wow, just Wow!

You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers.
Stay safe.

[bluegoose]

heard that a tractor operator died in the fire? I wonder how.

I don't know that I ever addressed this.

He was the first casualty of this fire. If the fire itself wasn't bad enough, his death came as a result of one of the firenados that formed in some of the burn areas. Crazy stuff. The intense heat created a tornado of sorts, with sustained winds of up to 143 mph, the equivalent of an Oklahoma F3. Ripped roofs off houses and threw them hundreds of feet away. Pulled huge trees out at the roots. And in this case, lifted the truck about 100 feet off the ground before dropping him to his death.

Here's a video of the firenado: https://twitter.com/ABC10/status/1022862397780852739




Edit: Can't get this last pic to post for some reason, but here is the link : https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismet...by_a_firenado/

[Moliere]

Absolutely insane. Glad you are okay but that rebuilding is going to take a long time.

[Uncle Ted]

That is crazy stuff.

[old_gregg]

pretty sure this is like godzillla where we need something even bigger and more badass to chase off the firenado. sharknado is the only thing that fits the bill.

[bluegoose]

Damn. Here we go again.

Woke up this morning to the wind whipping at 20-30 mph. That, plus no rain in weeks and very dry conditions, were a very bad sign for us. We are fine in Redding, but a nasty fire broke out early this morning about 90 miles away in Paradise. #campfire on Twitter if you want to follow.

Paradise is a town of about 30,000 just up the hill from Chico. It’s a beautiful place, surrounded by huge pine trees. Steelblue has a lot of history with family in the area. The area always made me nervous traveling through there, just due to the fire potential.

It’s looking really, really bad right now. Up to 20,000 or more acres now with 0% containment. Estimating over 1,000 homes destroyed already, with many, many more in great danger. It has been moving so aggressively, there have been several confirmed fatalities, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many more. Lots of elderly in the area, many living in somewhat remote areas.

Several other nearby towns are evacuated or already burned. Evacuation notice issued for portions of Chico. Going to be a long night.




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