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Meteorologist Mark Finan Gives Update Re: Park Fire

4 points by OhMeadhbh 2y ago

OhMeadhbh 2y ago
This may be of interest to readers in Northern California. This fire quite a ways away from the bay area, but popped up in an area near where PG&E lines sparked a deadly fire several years ago (near Oroville and Chico.) We were driving north on I-5 earlier today and saw an amazing / horrific pyroculumulus display.
- OhMeadhbh 2y ago
  People outside the left coast sometimes think earthquakes are California's quintessential natural disaster. It's not. It's fire. In 2009 I was living in Brookdale, California when the Lodge there caught fire. It was a few weeks after the Lockheed fire caused us to evacuate, so tensions were a bit high. Driving up Graham Hill Rd, two fire trucks and an ambulance sped past and turned right at Highway 9... TOWARDS MY HOUSE. I looked over to see a CalFire helicopter dipping a bucket in the river and then flying TOWARDS MY HOUSE. I speed up 9 and the deputies have blocked the road about half a mile from Brookdale. I abandon my vehicle and proceed on foot. A deputy challenges me, but the only thing I can get out of my mouth is "family" and "pets." In 2009 I wasn't in the best shape, but I was able to run the fastest half mile of my life. I run around the corner and see... I don't know how many trucks around the Brookdale Lodge trying to keep the fire from spreading. The lodge is an old-school timber building surrounded by 100+ ft. sequoia. I can see my house in the distance and it's not on fire. About this time I hear something overhead. It's a CalFire tanker dropping red fire retardange ON MY HOUSE. Thank you CalFire. Thank you Santa Cruz Fire. Thank you SLV volunteer fire. Amazingly, most everything was spared except the back of the lodge building itself. Neither pets nor family members perished that day. Am I afraid of earthquakes? No. California has made me afraid of fire.
  - dekhn 2y ago
    I was surprised to learn this (I moved to the Bay Are shortly after the Loma Prieta quake and have lived here ever since). Fires, floods, and drought have all had much more impact to me than quakes. Of course, earthquakes in an area like this are always going to be a stochastic risk, underlining the folly that is California.
OhMeadhbh 2y ago
Incident page from CalFire: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire 125k acres, 3% contained

4 points by OhMeadhbh 2y ago

This may be of interest to readers in Northern California. This fire quite a ways away from the bay area, but popped up in an area near where PG&E lines sparked a deadly fire several years ago (near Oroville and Chico.) We were driving north on I-5 earlier today and saw an amazing / horrific pyroculumulus display.

OhMeadhbh 2y ago
People outside the left coast sometimes think earthquakes are California's quintessential natural disaster. It's not. It's fire. In 2009 I was living in Brookdale, California when the Lodge there caught fire. It was a few weeks after the Lockheed fire caused us to evacuate, so tensions were a bit high. Driving up Graham Hill Rd, two fire trucks and an ambulance sped past and turned right at Highway 9... TOWARDS MY HOUSE. I looked over to see a CalFire helicopter dipping a bucket in the river and then flying TOWARDS MY HOUSE. I speed up 9 and the deputies have blocked the road about half a mile from Brookdale. I abandon my vehicle and proceed on foot. A deputy challenges me, but the only thing I can get out of my mouth is "family" and "pets." In 2009 I wasn't in the best shape, but I was able to run the fastest half mile of my life. I run around the corner and see... I don't know how many trucks around the Brookdale Lodge trying to keep the fire from spreading. The lodge is an old-school timber building surrounded by 100+ ft. sequoia. I can see my house in the distance and it's not on fire. About this time I hear something overhead. It's a CalFire tanker dropping red fire retardange ON MY HOUSE. Thank you CalFire. Thank you Santa Cruz Fire. Thank you SLV volunteer fire. Amazingly, most everything was spared except the back of the lodge building itself. Neither pets nor family members perished that day. Am I afraid of earthquakes? No. California has made me afraid of fire.
- dekhn 2y ago
  I was surprised to learn this (I moved to the Bay Are shortly after the Loma Prieta quake and have lived here ever since). Fires, floods, and drought have all had much more impact to me than quakes. Of course, earthquakes in an area like this are always going to be a stochastic risk, underlining the folly that is California.

OhMeadhbh 2y ago

Incident page from CalFire: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire 125k acres, 3% contained