Northern California wildfire now 2nd-largest ever as total blazes scorch nearly 1M acres

[sl8]

From https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/northern-california-wildfire-now-2nd-largest-ever-total-blazes-scorch-n1237778

Northern California wildfire now 2nd-largest ever as total blazes scorch nearly 1M acres

President Donald Trump declared Saturday that a major disaster has impacted the state, making federal relief funds available to victims.



Firefighters make a stand in the backyard of a home in front of the advancing CZU Lightning Complex Fire, on Friday in in Boulder Creek, California.Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Aug. 22, 2020, 4:25 PM EDT / Updated Aug. 22, 2020, 7:10 PM EDT
By Minyvonne Burke and Dennis Romero
A massive wildfire in Northern California has grown to become the second-largest in state history as it and hundreds of other blazes have now scorched nearly one million acres.

The LNU Lightning Complex Fire that is burning across five counties — Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Yolo and Stanislaus — has spread to more than 314,000 acres, officials said Saturday. It was 15 percent contained.

"This entire LNU Complex is now the second-largest wildland fire in state history," said Sean Kavanaugh, incident commander with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The largest wildfire was the Mendocino Complex that burned more than 459,000 acres in 2018.

[...]

[Laelth]

1. Well, at least Trump did the right thing and declared a national disaster. n/t

-Laelth

[underpants]

2. Image from Santa Cruz. Sent to me yesterday

[msongs]

3. natural phenomena inconveniencing humans. been that way for eons nt

[Hekate]

6. "Inconveniencing"? How far away are you?

[NickB79]

13. There's nothing natural here

Carbon emissions from 200 yr of fossil fuel use has pushed the Western US into a megadrought and a new ecosystem. We're seeing the climate catastrophe unfold as predicted.

This won't end until vast expanses of forest are converted to savanna and prairie through fire and drought. All our firefighting will only slow it down.

[mr_lebowski]

4. Wow ... Jesus ...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. ....

[2naSalit]

7. No fires near me but...

it's so smokey here that I feel like I've become a two pack a day smoker. You can see the haze in a twenty ft stretch between tow objects.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. CBS news report saying there is danger the air could become toxic in Cal.

This is 3-4 year in a row my BIL has had to evacuate from the Clear Lake area.

All thru the western states, including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, people have pushed further and further into
the forest areas, but other services have not, so you face trying to evacuate on a narrow 2 lane road, fire and hospital services are miles away, and evacuating from a fire can be life threatening. Sometimes the road out is a winding switchback that leads right back into the fire area.

[2naSalit]

9. It's amazing how...

packed in it is in California. It's getting bad around here, mountainous part of Montana. It's beautiful but people don't know how to behave in this environment and so we end up with water and fire and habitat problems.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. I lived in forest/mountain areas as a kid

In the 40's/50's/60's in Wash. state it was generally known you had to be responsible if you were in the woods.
Legally you had to carry a shovel in the trunk, I believe,, much like being required to have chains in the winter for going into the mountains/over the passes.
Smokey the Bear was on signs, on tv announcements, the adults talked about fire danger/awareness, one grew up just knowing about it.

Freeways came in mid-60's, and as you say, people moving into the state had no clue how to behave.

[2naSalit]

11. In this area...

Last edited Sun Aug 23, 2020, 09:44 PM - Edit history (1)

You have to have a shovel and a bucket.

I remember being taught how to survive in the woods at a young age. I lived in rural parts of New England, lots of forest and shoreline, I spent a lot of my free time in both... back in the 50s/60s.

Now, you can go on a hike only to find ATVs whizzing past you and/or running you off the trail, even where they aren't allowed. There are BudLight cans along every forest road and trail, city folk bring their dogs into wolf habitat and if they bag up the dog shit, they leave it on the side of the trail as if there's some paid clean up squad who go through the forest sweeping the floor and disposing of the bags of shit which attract bears and other animals. I wish everyone would just stay home for a year and let the natural world have a break from human encroachment on every level.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. I knew it was totally "over" a few months ago

When I read that there is now a bus that will drive all day hikers out to the trail heads, so they could go walking around the
paths/trails in one large group.
With a set return time to catch the bus back to Seattle.

Haven't been back to the Coast for 15 years now. Donna wanna see more evidence of my memories trashed.