California Wildfires

[Cormanus]

Best wishes to any Californian forum member and their family who may be affected by the wildfires ravaging parts of your state. Stay safe.

[peterbaron]

Keep my fingers crossed for you/family safety.

[the Ferret]

yep those are some pretty bad fires. Surely with all the Cali members we have, someone is affected

[GoldOxide_imp]

The loss is quite dramatic. It is yet another reminder that our "stuff" is never really protected, and often you cannot "take it with you".

Optimistically, most times one can only grab their family and the clothes on the back and go.

[the Ferret]

I actually thought of that while watching the news last night. if I had 2 hours notice to pack up and get out, knowing that what I left behind would be destroyed, what would I take? Interesting to think about and hope to never have to make that decision.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Indeed. Fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes ... and earthquakes. At least with the first three you have some margin of warning. I reckon most would take: Photo albums NOT yet in the cloud, wallets, phones, kid(s), pet(s). And the partner, ... the bike, ... the partner, ... the bike, ... the partner, ... the bike, ... the partner riding the bike, ah, the partner taking the family and you riding the bike. (glad that is determined ahead of time).

[VLJ_imp]

I took a ride on the CB1100 a few weeks ago up there, where another recent fire had devastated the entire region. The main road out of Bucks Lake down to Oroville was closed due to fire damage, forcing me to take my decidedly not-designed-for-offroading, chromed-out ballroom dancer of a motorcycle onto a seemingly never-ending dirt trail. Rutted, rocky, uneven, with deep ditches everywhere, it was a rather perilous run. I was white-knuckling it the entire way. It's a good thing the CB's 15 mph 1st-gear fueling and throttle response is so amazingly excellent, otherwise that ride would have been a much more harrowing experience.

Anyway, one of the towns that I ended up riding through that day, the aptly named Paradise, is now...gone. As in, completely vanished. A thriving, medium-sized town with a population of over twenty-six thousand that was there only a month ago is burnt to the ground.

[peterbaron]

Latest wildfires death-toll: 25 people, very tragic.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Heart-wrenching. Fire looks fierce, and some forget the smoke creeps silently up on you too.

[LongRanger_imp]

I have a good friend on the F800Riders forum who lives in Paradise, CA. I've e-mailed him several times and... nothing. Truly hope he and his family escaped.