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Here in Dayton we are surrounded by orchards and feel quite safe, though the fire burned southwest from the foothills in our direction. As you know, Paradise was destroyed as well as several smaller mountain towns and scattered residences, displacing 35 to 50k people. Everyone around here knows someone who is directly affected.
My little hour long loop up through Paradise will not be the same.
A good reminder to live, love, laugh while we can, and try to be prepared for the unexpected. I know, if it's unexpected, how can you be prepared for it?
Hope your friend turns up unscathed, LR!
Ben
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I'm sort of in the middle away from the fires, but the smoke around here is so thick you can cut it with a chainsaw.
I was thinking yesterday what I would do if there were a fire about take out San Jose, what would I grab...
If I had a couple of hours I could get quite a lot. The only real issue I would have is that I would have to leave motorcycle behind. I can pack my truck with the important stuff, clothes, money, my fire safe ( I know...removing a fire safe from a fire area...ironic), computers and what radio equipment I can grab. I'm a HAM and CBer and I have a ton of stuff. What can I say...priorities.
It wouldn't take me that long to grab and go, so if I had even an hours warning, I think I could get out all that I want to.
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Read a report that bodies were found inside or directly beside burned out cars. Apparently the windswept flames were moving so fast that people tried and failed to outrun them, some even abandoning their vehicles in an attempt to flee on foot down an alternate road.
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That was so sad. The roads in the area are narrow and winding, and you don't know what's around the corner or if it's blocked a mile down Sometimes when there is so much dry vegetation as fuel, and the fire is so intense, oxygen is just sucked out of the air, toward the fire, out of the engine and out of the passenger compartment.
These are bad fires, going to get a lot worse before they're controlled.
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Oh man
Please stay safe!!!
#crossfingers#
Prayers send from Europe!
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I live in the foothills about 70 miles south of Paradise....no danger of being in the fire's path, but the smoke is another story. People I know had smoke in their homes for a good chunk of Saturday. Sunday was better, but still hazy. The cities of San Francisco and Sacramento are both being choked out by the smoke. It sucks, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for myself when thinking about where the smoke is coming from.
The Camp fire has grown to either tie, or surpass another fire as the states most destructive. I believe from the standpoint of structures and lives lost. We've had larger fires but rarely does one take out an entire town. Californians have had a lot of practice at battling wildfires...I dare say we're good at it...but all that practice can't prepare you for the sudden and tragic loss of life and home that these most recent fires have wrought.
The good news is that even here in the Sacramento region, 100 miles away, you can literally see communities rallying to provide support for the people and pets displaced by the fire.
