Saturday, July 12 ~ 9am Update

Cal Fire has finally put the update for this morning on the website.

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the endless efforts of firefighters from California, as well as from throughout the nation. Additional firefighting resources from Australia, Canada, Mexico and New Zealand have committed to assisting California in the effort. A Red Flag Warning remains in effect through Sunday at 11 a.m. for gusty northeast winds and poor overnight humidity recovery in western Siskiyou County. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/12 at 9 a.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 801,726

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 55
• Acres Burned: 247,194

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 20,443
• Fire Engines: 1,516
• Hand Crews: 447
• Dozers: 294
• Water Tenders: 423
• Helicopters: 117

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70, and 96. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Monterey, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened : 9,146 residences, 140 commercial, 2,507 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 99 residences, 1 commercial, 127 outbuildings.

CAL FIRE Summary of Fires by County

Butte: The Butte Lightning Complex has burned 49,500 acres and is 55% contained. The Butte Fire Information Number is (530) 538-7826. Click Here for more information.

Mendocino: The Mendocino Lightning Complex has burned 52,700 acres and is 65% contained. The Mendocino Fire Information Number is (707)-467-6426. Click Here for more information.

Shasta & Trinity: The Shasta and Trinity Lightning has burned 72,501 acres and is 45% contained. The Shasta-Trinity Unit Information Number is (530) 225-2510. Click Here for more information.

Humboldt: The Humboldt Complex has burned 1,310 acres and is 90% contained. The fires are burning throughout Humboldt County, with the largest fire, the Paradise Fire, north of Shelter Cove and is 975 acres and 85% contained. The Humboldt-Del Norte Fire Information Number is (707) 726-1225.

Lassen, Modoc: The Corral Fire burned 12,434 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Mariposa: The Oliver Fire burned 2,789 acres and now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Lake: The Walker Fire burned 14,500 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Napa & Solano: The Wild Fire burned 40,000 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Santa Clara: The Whitehurst and Hummingbird Fires burned a combined 994 acres and are both now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Tehama & Glenn: The Tehama-Glenn Lightning Complex burned 22,907 acres and is now 100% contained.

Major Federal and Local Incidents
For information on major federal incidents click here.

Kern County: The Piute Fire has burned 35,076 acres and is 44% contained. Click Here for more information.

Another blog I've been following has an alarming post up about the group of fires near Lake Shasta. It's the Firefighter Blog, and the headline of the blog entry is:

SHU-Lightning Complex Potential "Mega" Fire

"A lack of resources is not allowing offensive tactics to be implemented. This Complex has potential to become a mega fire"

The fires the blog is talking about are the ones in the Shasta-Trinity Lightning Complex. Two different fires within the complex are headed for Shasta City from two different directions. As with all of the fires, the main problem is staffing. There just aren't enough people on the ground, nor in the air, to fight all of these fires at once. The fellows at the top are having to shuffle the firefighters around from one fire to another. Throwing as much as they can at the ones that are endangering life and property the most, and waiting until those are handled before moving the firefighters on to the next "hot" spot. Butte County has the top priority at the moment. But a change in the weather elsewhere could make the priorities change. From what I've read in the briefings here and there, it looks like the Shasta-Trinity Complex could be the next "hot spot". Unless we get a drastic change in the weather. Anyone know how to do a rain dance? And please, if you're doing a rain dance, leave the lighting out of the dance?

News From the Fires Coming in Slow

A burned out vehicle sits near the remains of a residence where the body of a Concow fire victim was found Friday morning. The property is near the Junction of Hogs Ranch and High Winds roads. The victims name has not been released. (Greg Welter/Staff Photo) ~ Oroville Mercury Record

The news coming out of the fires has been slow this morning. We know there's lots of action, but the websites that normally post the updates from the briefings haven't updated yet. I have a scanner site up and am listening to some of the radio traffic from the Butte County fires and a lot of it sounds more like "roll calls" than anything else. A lot of the news media are reporting about the man's body that was found yesterday and not a whole lot else. Very little information has been released about the fatality. I don't foresee any identification of the man until after the autopsy has been performed and any family has been notified.

The weather this morning is much cooler than it has been this past week. There's still a lot of smoke in the air down here in the valley, but it's not as thick as it was the other day. We've even got a nice breeze. Nice for us, but I'm guessing that these breezes down here are not so good up in the canyons where the firefighters are working so hard. A lot of the stories in the news about the fires talk about the exhaustion that the firefighters are suffering from. These fires have been raging for 3 weeks now and there are some who've been on the move from one fire to another for the whole 3 weeks with just a few days off here and there. The governor has called up 2,000 more National Guard troops to help and there are firefighters from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Mexico either already on the fire lines or on their way to help. This is the worst series of fires in California's history.

Since the Cal Fire page hasn't updated since 9pm last night, I guess I'll copy and paste that update here and then update again later when (and if) they post a new one.

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the endless efforts of firefighters from California, as well as from throughout the nation. Additional firefighting resources (personnel and equipment) are expected to arrive shortly from Australia, Canada, Mexico and New Zealand. A Red Flag Warning remains in effect through Sunday at 11:00 a.m. for gusty northeast winds and poor overnight humidity recovery in western Siskiyou County. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/11 at 9 p.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 793,483

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 55
• Acres Burned: 239,418

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 20,274
• Fire Engines: 1,503
• Hand Crews: 467
• Dozers: 291
• Water Tenders: 423
• Helicopters: 142

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70 and 299. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Monterey, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened : 12,924 residences, 135 commercial, 2,460 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 100 residences, 1 commercial, 126 outbuildings.

Now, I'm going to repeat the request I made yesterday. If there is any particular fire you are looking for information on, please leave a comment and let me know which one it is and I will do my best to find something for you. I will try to come back later and give updated information as soon as I can find it.

Bad News on the Camp Fire ~ 2:15pm Update

I had to go into town earlier today and I've just gotten home. Checked with the news sites and found some very bad news that comes from the Camp Fire. Here's a link to the article in the Chico Enterprise Record as well as a copy and paste of the summary:
2:15 p.m. Summary: Day's successes marred by finding of body

Staff reports
Article Launched: 07/11/2008 08:10:17 AM PDT

Firefighters are making good progress today on the Butte Lightning Complex fires, but the discovery of a body in the Concow area has cast a pall over the successes.

The victim was a man who had lived on Hoffman Road — an area under an evacuation order — and it has been confirmed he was killed by fire.

No further details were available.

The most active flame in the Camp Fire appears to be in the vicinity of Andy Mountain Road near Jarbo Gap. Even that fire is reported to be "creeping." Helicopters are working both in the Concow area and near Magalia.

Firefighter's progress allowed the evacuation status of part of Paradise to be reduced from "immediate threat" to an advisory to be prepared, but a strip along both sides of Pentz Road are under the higher level of alert.

In other fires of local interest, there has been little growth on the Friend-Darnell Fire in the Bald Rock area southeast of Berry Creek. Evacuation orders in the area have not been revised. Firelines are being strengthened in the area.

However progress on the Cub Complex, in Deer Creek canyon near Butte Meadows, allowed a downgrading of the immediate threat evacuation status there.

Highways 70 and 32 are still closed due to the fires.

Overnight, additional fire lines were cut on the east side of the West Branch of the Feather River and others were strengthened in the continuing effort to keep the Camp Fire from jumping to the Paradise side of the drainage.

Firefighters and officials who attended a 6 a.m. briefing at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds were told all those lines seem to be holding.

Thursday forecasters were calling for down-canyon winds of up to 40 mph starting about 4 a.m. today, but winds of that intensity did not materialize. There were winds this morning in some of the canyon areas but they were in the 16 to 18 miles per hour range, according to fire officials.

The fire weather forecasters are also predicting that the heavy smoke layer will continue today, with high temperatures in the 90s to 100 range.

Most of the Sacramento TV stations also have articles up about the latest from the briefing this afternoon.

• KCRA3: Body Found In Burned Butte County Home
• News10: Patrols Find Body in Butte County Fire
• CBS13: 1 Dead In Butte Fire; Gov. Calls Up More Troops

The Chico News station, Channel 12, also has a story online about it.

• Friday Afternoon Fire Update
  

I'm going to copy and paste one paragraph from the article from Channel 12:

"The Sheriff's office has confirmed the discovery of human remains in the Concow area. The remains were located in an evacuated area after the fires had destroyed the residence. The Sheriff's office is saddened by the loss of one of their community members but hopes that providing this information it will encourage people in the evacuation areas to heed the warnings so that they and their families will be safe. It is important to keep in mind that evacuation orders are not made lightly and done in the interest of the safety of the people in the area being evacuated."

We've all seen the news coverages of evacuations for disasters. The authorities don't call for evacuations unless its necessary. This person was probably one of the ones that we saw on TV telling the reporters that they could "handle" themselves and had decided to stay put to protect his property. When I see people like them on TV, I keep thinking back to the man who insisted on staying in his home on the side of Mount St. Helens. Remember him? Harry Truman was his name and no one could talk him out of coming down off that mountain when the volcano was getting ready to blow. Now the man is buried along with his 16 cats and his pink Cadillac under Spirit Lake. Because he wouldn't leave "his mountain". Was this man who was found today another of those independent, stubborn people?

We don't know yet. They haven't released his identity nor any information about the man.

Note: If there are any of the fires that you would like me to find information about, please, please leave me a comment and tell me what you'd like me to include in these fire reports.

It's Friday and We Still Have Yucky Air

The sun was still orange when it came up this morning, but the air doesn't seem quite so hazy. Thank goodness we aren't having to deal with the crud in the air that the firefighters see as in the photo above. I can actually see the trees on the next block today! They're not obscured by the smoke haze the way they were yesterday morning. The weather might be improving! I hope! It's not supposed to be quite as hot today either. They're still predicting triple digit temperatures, but this time the weather thingy is saying it'll only get to 101 today instead of the 108 we had the other day. We've actually got a bit of a breeze blowing out of the southwest this morning too.

The Cal Fire website was updated at 9pm last night, nothing new yet this morning on their information page, but some of the news was good on there last night. The total number of active fires has gone down for one part of their report, but for the statewide total, the number is the same. Of course, the lower number for the Cal Fire active fires could be because some of the fires have merged again. Check out the numbers below:

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Firefighters continue to make progress in containing wildfires throughout California. Over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the endless efforts of firefighters from California, as well as from throughout the nation. Red Flag Warnings in northern California remain in effect tonight. Ten California National Guard fire crews began their assignment on the Mendocino Complex today. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/10 at 9 p.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

• Statewide Fire Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 725,421

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

• CAL FIRE Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 815
• Active Fires: 55
• Acres Burned: 239,418

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

• Statewide Resources Committed
• Personnel Committed: 20,018
• Fire Engines: 1,507
• Hand Crews: 429
• Dozers: 282
• Water Tenders: 418
• Helicopters: 108

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70, 96 and 299. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Kern, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened : 13,358 residences, 141 commercial, 2,612 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 100 residences, 1 commercial, 116 outbuildings.

The Chico Record has a good update of what is happening on the Camp Fire (Butte Complex): 8:10 a.m.: Summary: Fire news mostly positive. The firefighters have managed to get more lines cut around the fire and the weather actually cooperated last night/early this morning. They were expecting "down canyon" winds of up to 40 mph, but when the morning winds came up, they weren't as strong as expected, so the fire didn't "take off" on runs as much. The areas that were evacuated the other day are still under mandatory evacuation orders though. Fire officials are still concerned about the areas of the fire that caused the evacuations in the first place.

Another tidbit of news about the fire up there came from Mike, my landlord, last night. He called and asked me to get a hold of some of the TV news organizations that are covering the fire up there. His internet gives him a lot of trouble at times and he knows I've got a good connection and use it all the time. So, I surfed around to some of the news sites and sent off some emails for him with sort of a news tip. He said that he's got some friends that live up near the Camp Fire, not in one of the evacuated areas, so they're still there. Anyway, the woman friend of Mike's called and told a story of a bear that had come into her yard. From what I gathered from Mike, the bear was going after her chickens. When she stepped outside, the bear, who was injured/burned made a move towards her. She had to shoot the thing. So, the emails I sent to the news media was sort of a suggestion that they might put a warning on their newscasts about the wildlife that will be coming out of the burned areas, injured and probably angry and what to do about them. Bears, mountain lions and who knows what. This morning I had a reply from one of the stations asking if they could contact Mike. I called Mike and got his permission to give them his phone number and off went another email to that station. I've heard nothing back from the other 3 stations that I emailed last night. I'll update later if I hear more on this story.

The California Fire News blog hasn't been updated for a couple of days, so I am guessing that the blogger and his co-writers have been out on the fire lines. So, I'm going to copy paste the list of fires into my blog this morning. Here we go:

CAL FIRE Summary of Fires by County

Butte: The Butte Lightning Complex has burned 47,700 acres and is 45% contained. The Butte Fire Information Number is (530) 538-7826. Click Here for more information.

Mendocino: The Mendocino Lightning Complex has burned 52,200 acres and is 65% contained. The Mendocino Fire Information Number is (707)-467-6426. Click Here for more information.

Shasta & Trinity: The Shasta and Trinity Lightning has burned 66,115 acres and is 45% contained. The Shasta-Trinity Unit Information Number is (530) 225-2510. Click Here for more information.

Humboldt: The Humboldt Complex has burned 1,310 acres and is 90% contained. The fires are burning throughout Humboldt County, with the largest fire, the Paradise Fire, north of Shelter Cove and is 925 acres and 85% contained. The Humboldt-Del Norte Fire Information Number is (707) 726-1225.

Kern County: The Piute Fire has burned 34,852 acres and is 32% contained. Click Here for more information.

Lassen, Modoc: The Corral Fire burned 12,434 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Mariposa: The Oliver Fire burned 2,789 acres and now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Lake: The Walker Fire burned 14,500 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Napa & Solano: The Wild Fire burned 40,000 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Santa Clara: The Whitehurst and Hummingbird Fires burned a combined 994 acres and are both now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Tehama & Glenn: The Tehama-Glenn Lightning Complex burned 22,907 acres and is now 100% contained.

Major Federal and Local Incidents
For information on major federal incidents click here or click here for the Inciweb list of fires.

It's nice to see those "100% contained" notes in some of the fires, isn't it?

Other Stuff
Hackers have been an active little bunch since all the mess with the InSessions forums going *poof* in the last few days. InSessions and TruTV weren't the only ones being attacked. Yesterday evening, the Help Find The Missing forums got hacked and taken offline with a page with arabic text put in it's place. They're back up again this morning. Kudos to the admins of that site for working into the night to get things fixed and back online. The Crime Library Forums were also experiencing some strange activity yesterday. But, since they are also run by TruTV, it was probably an offshoot of what happened to the InSessions forums and the TruTV forums. On a few posts on the Crime Library forum there were reports of other boards being attacked at the same time, including a Christion based forum. But we did get some news about the InSessions forums, yesterday evening a message from Coldwater appeared on the TruTV forums:

As much as I know:
I don't have too much info other than our Techs did trace it back to the hacker's original point. From there they then knew how to program and upgrade our security. It was easier to do it on Tru as the message board program is a new one. The difficulty with IS is it still has the old original program and trying to update it is being a problem, they 'think' they can but are not making factual statements at this time. They were hoping to have it up and running today but I see that didn't happen. Don't know if they will work over the weekend or not. But trust me, they have informed they understand how all of you feel and doing the best they can, and appreciate your patience & hopefully you will return when it's in operation again. I think many websites were taken by surprise, all thinking they were too secure to be hacked. At first I thought it was an irate poster also & I still believe it was someone who had been banned that was deleting all the very long informative forums on IS. The reason I believe that after a certain change was made, the deletings stopped. This is a totally different situation and has been confirmed it started in Israel. As soon as I get further word I'll let you know, but at this point they are not talking about closing the IS boards for good. Just have to hope they can update the security. All have a good weekend. Check my "help" thread and give us some of your great ideas.

What makes hackers go after message boards and forums? Is it kids with too much time on their hands who think they're something special because they can get past the security on a forum website? Believe it or not, forums are extremely vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. Forums depend on the input of the people who post there, so there are "holes" that allow the input from the posters. Way back when, before the internet, there were "Bulletin Board Systems" (or as we called them back then; BBS's) that folks put up for people to visit and do things on. I had one of those, and hackers were a constant concern to any of us geeks who allowed people to dial into their home computer to visit those BBS's. In my opinion, the hackers back then were probably the same as they are now. Back then, they were kids with too much time on their hands and most likely it's the same now. If it's a truly destructive hack, like into a government or bank site, there's something malicious about those hackers. But the ones who attack forums.. Nah.. Not malicious. Just stupid.

And, again this morning, I'll end with a bit of humor...


more cat pictures

Quick Update
The Cal Fire website has just updated the statistics for the fires. The numbers haven't changed much, for the most part, the changes are in the resources section. Crews being sent off the lines to rest and the like, probably. But they've got the new fact sheet and map up.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/11 at 9 a.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

More Heat, More Smoke and More YUCK!

The smoke is pretty bad here today. When I walked outside my back door this morning, the haze was thick enough that it partially obscured the trees on the next street over. My sinuses are so messed up from all the smoke over the past few days that I can't smell the smoke, but I'm sure it's there. When it's thick enough down here in the valley that we can't see clearly a block over, it's bad. Yesterday's heat was bad too. The weather gadget that I have on this blog told me that it got to 108 yesterday.. Ugh!

I found an interesting item when I googled the fire news this morning. California has fire fighters on their way here from New Zealand and Australia! According to the news article I found, there will be 40 firefighters here for about 5 weeks or so helping to fight the blazes that were started by lightning back on June 21st. Since it's mid-winter in New Zealand and Australia right now, their need for wildland fire fighters is pretty low. Apparently this is the 5th time that we've had Kiwi and Aussie fire fighters here helping out. I have to wonder if the US has ever sent any of our guys over there to help them out during their fire season. There are teams of firefighters here from all over the country. One news item in the Reno Gazette Journal is about the teams that have been sent in from Nevada. I've seen other articles on other days about teams from Canada and other states here in the US. But, even with all the help that is being sent in, there are just too many fires and not enough fire fighters to contain them. The fires we see and hear on the news are just the "major" ones. The one near Big Sur, the one near Goleta, the one north of me near Paradise and Concow. According to the Cal Fire information page, there are still 322 fires burning all over the state. (As I write this, the latest statistics are from last night at 9pm.)

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Firefighters continue to make progress in containing wildfires throughout California. To date over fourteen hundred fires have been contained due to the diligent and endless work of firefighters from not only California, but throughout the nation. Red Flag Warnings in northern California have expanded eastward up the west slope of the Sierra Nevada north of Yosemite. Record high temperatures and low humidities continue throughout northern California. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/9 at 9 p.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,459
• Total Active Fires: 322
• Total Acres Burned: 688,423

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 59

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 19,474
• Fire Engines: 1,560
• Hand Crews: 408
• Dozers: 253
• Water Tenders: 407
• Helicopters: 102

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70 and 96. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations:Areas of Butte, Kern, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened: 13,489 residences, 162 commercial, 2,766 outbuildings.
Destroyed: 99 residences, 1 commercial, 88 outbuildings.

The latest satellite map of the fires from the Modis Rapid Response System gallery page really shows the smoke and what it's doing. This one was acquired yesterday and you can really see how thick the smoke is and how far it is traveling.

The fire crews on the fire nearest me, the Camp Fire (Butte Complex) got a little help from Mother Nature last night. The winds didn't come up so they've been able to hold the progress of their containment. The communities that had been evacuated in the last couple of days are still under evacuation orders, but they hadn't lost anymore homes according to the briefing at 8:30 this morning. The Chico newspaper articles, "7:45 a.m.: Paradise survives another night" and "8:30 a.m.: Evacuations still in place" detail the progress made on the fires and the evacuation status. From what I've read in all the articles, one of the problems in fighting this fire is the inability to use the air drops at times due to the thick smoke.

Other Stuff
The InSessions forums are still down, but the TruTV forums have come back up. Coldwater, the moderator for both message boards, posted yesterday shortly after the TruTV forums came back up. Here's what she wrote: "I haven't been able to post due to all forums being locked Tru opened today. Yes it was a hacker from Isreal, hitting several other sites also. Tech updated the security on here so there is no worry. The IS have not been updated yet due to the old program currently still there, never having been updated so it's difficult." Who knows when the techs will get the InSessions forums up again.

And to finish up this morning's post, I'm going to add some humor... lol... LOLCats to be precise. I found some cute ones this morning. Enjoy!

more cat pictures

more cat pictures

more cat pictures

Bad News on the Fire Lines

The news from the Camp Fire near Paradise isn't good this morning. The news agencies are reporting that they've lost more homes. ABC reports that they've lost 40 homes near Paradise, but they're not saying for sure whether the homes lost were in Paradise, Magalia, Concow or somewhere else. KCRA3 is reporting 50 homes destroyed. On the Cal Fire page for this fire, with the 10pm update, they said the number of homes lost is 40 plus 10 outbuildings. From what I can gather from the different news sources the evacuation area has expanded even more. But, they're also saying that the winds were calmer last night. The weather isn't improving though. It's supposed to be even hotter today than it was yesterday. Yesterday it was 108 degrees and last night at 10:30pm when I got ready to go to bed, it was still 90 degrees outside. It didn't cool down enough overnight to really help things out. It's already 70 degrees and there is enough smoke in the air that you can look right at the sun, which is a bright orange.

The Cal Fire overall statistics are looking a bit better. The total number of fires active in the state right now have gone down from 330 to 323. That number includes fires being "managed" by both state and federal agencies. Here's the statistics for all the fires:

• Statewide Fire Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,781
• Total Fires Contained: 1,458
• Total Active Fires: 323
• Total Acres Burned: 667,863

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

• CAL FIRE Statistics
• Total Fires at Peak: 1,005
• Fires Contained: 814
• Active Fires: 59

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.
The number of contained and active fires will not equal the total due to some fires merging together.

• Statewide Resources Committed
• Personnel Committed: 18,488
• Fire Engines: 1,481
• Hand Crews: 379
• Dozers: 251
• Water Tenders: 396
• Helicopters: 110

Highway closures: State highways, county and local roads are closed throughout California due to wildfire activities. Closures and delays remain in place for State Highways 1 (Big Sur Area), 32, 70 and 96. Travelers are advised to seek current information from local law enforcement.

Evacuations: Areas of Butte, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Shasta counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Butte, Kern, Mendocino, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Shasta and Plumas counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary.

Structures:
Threatened: 13,323 residences, 288 commercial, 2,025 outbuildings.
Destroyed: 81 residences, 1 commercial, 77 outbuildings.

The Modis Rapid Response System had a new satellite image from yesterday. Again, the red dots indicate active fires.

The California Fire News blog has a link today to a gallery of fire photos (mostly from the fire near Big Sur.) at Boston.com. I agree with the fellow at the blog. These are some very spectacular photos and are highly recommended for viewing.

Other Stuff
The InSessions and TruTV message boards are still down this morning. I've managed to find a few of the people who posted at InSessions over at the Help Find The Missing forums. The moderators there have graciously provided a thread where folks are discussing what happened to the InSessions forums. And most folks posting there are agreeing that the cause of the forums going down was a hacker. The big question now is whether or not TruTV will restore the InSessions forums or leave them closed. If you're reading this and you're an InSessions poster, leave a comment and tell us how you're handling the InSessions withdrawals... lol

Camp Fire - Expanded Evacuations

The fire to the north and east of my location is apparently getting worse. KCRA3 has an update on the fire (This is the one with the mandatory evacuations that I wrote about this morning.) According to the KCRA article, 5 homes have been burned that they know of and the evacuation areas have been expanded to include the eastern portion of the town of Paradise and the town of Magalia. Paradise and Magalia were in danger from another fire about 2 weeks ago, and now those poor people have to go through the anxieties all over again.

Here's the Cal Fire information page on this complex of fires: Butte Lightning Complex

The California Fire News website has someone posting information as well, with the latest update at 11:00am this morning.

The following links are from the Oroville newspaper, the Oroville Mercury Register:
11:30 a.m: Fire Bulletins: Part of Paradise ordered to evacuate
Noon: Fire Bulletins: Paradise evacuations ordered
Noon: Evacuations ordered in Paradise, Concow, Berry Creek
1 p.m.: Fire briefs: Evacuation centers open; animals need help

Needless to say, it sounds pretty bad up there. The weather is hot, triple digit hot. The winds are picking up. I'll be back later if more news develops.

Smoke + Heat = Dangerous Weather

Yesterday was a miserable day. Triple digit temperatures and lots of smoke in the air made it very hard to do anything outside. And today promises more of the same. More heat and more smoke. It's getting hard to breathe at all. My voice sounds like I have a bad cold with the stuffy nose, watery eyes and cough along with it. But it's not a cold. It's the bad air we're breathing.

And up in the mountains to the North apparently has had increased winds as well. At 2am this morning they called for mandatory evacuations of the communities near the Butte Complex Fire. The California Fire News blog posted an update at 3am with more news of the evacuation orders. The fire is dangerously close to homes in that area now and all residents are being ordered out. An evacuation center for the people has been set up in Oroville and facilities have been set up for the evacuated animals. The Sacramento Bee has an article about the dangerous situation on the Butte Complex this morning as well.

As for the smoke in the air, the Sacramento Bee also has an article up this morning about the nasty air we're experiencing and it's apparently nothing new: "Smoke is normal - for 1800s". It's an interesting read.

On a side note, the California Fire News blog hadn't been getting regular updates the way it normally had. On Sunday evening, the fellow who "owns" that blog posted an apology for the lack of news. He's been out on the firelines on water tender duty!

The Modis Rapid Response gallery page had two images that I hadn't posted yet. The first has a time stamp of 7/6 and the 2nd one is time stamped 7/7.

According to Cal Fire, there are still 330 fires burning around the state. With the triple digit temperatures the weatherman is predicting, its going to be hard for those folks out on the fire lines. We need some cooler, wetter weather all over the state. Soon.

Other Stuff
The InSessions message boards have been down for about a day now. Rumor has it that a hacker attacked the InSessions and TruTV boards. At least that is what some are saying on a couple of other message boards. Whether or not the cause for the boards being down is a hacker, we won't know until the boards are put back online.

I guess I'll throw in a bit of humor for a closing note today.... Then maybe I'll go surfing around the net and see if I can find some good news for a change.

more cat pictures

The Sky Isn't Blue This Morning...

I guess the winds have changed again. The sky has that brownish-gray cast to it again and the air has sort of a smoky taste to it this morning. According to the Cal Fire website, the number of active fires has gone down to 331 uncontained fires, which is marvelous considering just last week we had almost 1,400 fires burning. I found the map below on the KCRA3 website this morning. (KCRA3 is a Sacramento TV channel that has done a good job of keeping folks up to date on what is happening on the fires.)

The map is color-coded by acres burned:

• Light blue: Less than 1,000 acres
• Blue: 1,000 to 5,000 acres
• Green: 5,000 to 10,000 acres
• Yellow: 10,000 to 20,000 acres
• Red: 20,000 acres or more

View Larger Map

Crimes against Kids... Why?
In the news lately there have been a number of stories of crimes against kids. The stories are heartbreaking, to say the least, and some of them are absolutely baffling because there is no rhyme or reason to them. One of them was reported back on June 15th in the Modesto Bee, a story about a horrifying event that happened on a dark country road in Stanislaus County. A Modesto police officer shot and killed a Turlock man as he beat, punched and stomped a small child to death in the middle of a dark country road that Saturday night. The man was dead at the scene, and the child was declared dead after they rushed him to the hospital. WHY?

According to a follow-up article in the Modesto Bee says that the autopsy on the poor child revealed the initial cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and face resulting in multiple skull fractures. The autopsy also revealed that the child was the son of the man who beat him to death, Sergio Aguiar. The child's name was Axel and his mother, Frances Lilian Casian, is a teacher at El Capitan Elementary in nearby Delhi. The most recent news in the Modesto Bee about the case say that the toxicology tests on the man have come in and he was not on drugs or drunk. The article also says that man had no criminal history or signs of mental illness, though witnesses on the night of the attack said Aguiar spoke of "demons" within his son. Demons? How can anyone explain what this man did to his child? The articles have guesses from a psychologist as to why Aguiar did what he did to his son, but that is all they are. Guesses. The mother of the poor child has to deal with the inexplicable death of her son and the heinous actions of the husband she recently separated from. The "why's" of the crime will most likely never be known, unfortunately.

Another crime against a child is in the Sacramento Bee this morning. Thankfully, the child is still alive as well as the person who harmed her, Christopher Shirley. Here's a snippet of the news article:

Shasta County sheriff's deputies arrested an Oregon fugitive at a Montgomery Creek campsite Saturday morning – a day and a half after authorities say he shot his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, then kept the girl, her mother and four other children from leaving the couple's camp trailer.

Deputies say the shooting was likely an accident, and that the girl – who was airlifted Saturday to Mercy Medical Center in Redding – is in stable condition.

Shasta County Sheriff's Office Capt. Dave Compomizzo said deputies found five firearms and an undetonated pipe bomb in the trailer where Christopher Shirley, 28, was allegedly holding his girlfriend and the children against their will.

Deputies believe Shirley and his girlfriend argued Thursday and that Shirley fired off several rounds.

They said one of the rounds hit the 3-year-old girl in the abdomen, but it is not clear whether it was a direct shot or a ricochet.

"We don't think he intentionally tried to shoot her, but he did," Compomizzo said.

Ok, this guy had a pipe bomb, a number of weapons and now he's locked up. Thank goodness. The guy had warrants out of Oregon, including one for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Authorities believe he left Oregon and arrived in the area eight months ago. I have to wonder what kind of prosecution he was fleeing from.

There are just too many crimes against children. The children that depend on us for their lives. Too many of them are dying. Like the poor 12 year old girl in Vermont, Brooke Bennett. And it's her uncle who is accused of murdering her after luring her into a sex ring and then killing her! Why on earth did Brooke's mother allow her daughter to be alone with a man that she knew was a sex offender? And the "uncle's" wife, Brooke's mother's sister... Why did she allow her own daughter to be alone with that man? The investigators are saying that Brooke wasn't this man's only victim. Where was the protections that those children needed? WHY was this man able to prey on those children?

Something in our system is broken. Very broken. It needs to be fixed somehow and soon. I wish I had an answer... Hell, I wish anyone had an answer to how it can be fixed so the children can survive.

Happy 4th of July!

I have no plans to go and watch fireworks this year, so I thought I'd share a couple of fireworks photos that I took a while back when I watched the fireworks in Sacramento. Back when I lived in Sacramento, I lived right across the street from CalExpo, the California State Fairgrounds. Going to events at the fairgrounds was as easy as walking across the street. My old digital camera did a pretty good job catching the fireworks....

On the fire news front, the number of active fires has gone down considerably according to the CalFire website. Click here to view the pdf of the fire map from them this morning. The image below is the fire map from the US Forestry Remote Sensing Application website showing the active and non-active fire sites. (I've reduced the size of the image to upload it here, but the full size one is available at the link above.) There are still way too many active fires burning, including the new ones that have started in the last couple of days. At least the weather is holding though, mild temperatures, mild winds... I sure hope it holds for a while longer.
I found another website that has some excellent coverage of the fires here in the state this afternoon... It's a news site called Yubanet.com and it has an excellent summary of all the fires. Sadly, it's not just people who are in danger from all of these fires. Wildlife too is suffering. For instance, the endangered California Condors live in many of the burning or burnt areas. Only 151 wild condors exist worldwide, and 23 live in the Big Sur area where one of the bigger fires is burning.
The image below is one of the more spectacular shots I've seen of the bombers that the firefighters are using to help contain the fires....
Anyway, I wish a happy 4th of July to everyone.. Fly those flags proudly and please stop and give a few thoughts to the men and women out on the firelines.........

Anyone Like Squirrels? lol

more cat pictures

I was told today that I needed to post a few more "cute" pictures... lol.. How's this one?

MODIS Satellite Image 7/2

Just a quick post to show yesterday's satellite image from the MODIS Rapid Response System website... I can actually see the "ground" in the area of the state I'm in! And, yes.. There is blue sky when I go outside and look up this morning... From this image, I can understand why now. The air flow is pushing the smoke out of the valley today...


The red areas in the image above are the areas that are actually burning as of yesterday. Here's a link to today's Cal Fire Wildfire Map for this morning. (The CalFire map is a pdf, so be patient while it downloads.)

We Saw Blue Sky!

There are fewer active fires burning across Northern California and we've had much milder weather for a couple of days, so we had much less smoke in the air this morning. The long range visibility was still a little hazy, but it was so much nicer to actually see blue sky above. This afternoon though, the sky has the gray-brown cast to it again. I guess the wind changed again. If you look at the Satellite image below from the MODIS Rapid Response website (This one is dated 6/29, there are no newer ones yet and there won't be a newer one until the satellite goes over this part of the country again.) you can see a lot fewer red spots that indicate active burning. Thank goodness!


The map below came from the MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program on one of the US Forest Service websites. I've reduced the size of it for posting purposes, but if you click here you can get to the full sized and most recent map. Otherwise, just click on the map below and take a look.

According to Cal Fire, the total number of active fires has gone down, but some of that reduction is due to the merging of some of the smaller fires that had been started by the lightning event over a week ago. Hopefully the firefighters can get containment on the rest of the fires soon (And have no new fires start!) so those poor exhausted people can get some much needed rest.

Mike, my landlord who lives next door, and I took advantage of the clearer air this morning and yesterday morning. We now can walk under the trees! He got his chainsaw out and did some trimming on the low hanging branches of the trees between the houses. He also climbed up on the roofs of both houses and trimmed off the branches that had been brushing against the shingles. What a mess. He did the trimming while his girlfriend Kathy and I piled stuff into his little "truck bed" trailer. Two trailer loads of trimmings gone and most of the rest of the debris all cleaned up and hauled off. It looks much nicer between the two houses now, but we're all pretty wiped out. I think I'll go fix a nice tall glass of iced tea.... And then maybe soak a while in a bathtub full of hot water.. lol

I See Blue in the Sky... But....

The sky is almost blue when I look straight up this morning. The key word there is "almost". Yesterday in the early evening I could actually see a couple fluffy little clouds in the sky above. But there's still an overall gray/brown cast to everything. The bad news is that there are even more fires. The number of fires burning as of 9:00pm last night has risen to 1,395 now. Here's the news according to the CalFire website:

Current Situation: State, local and federal firefighters continue to battle hundreds of wildfires throughout California. Fires are actively burning and continue to spread. Firefighters are prepared for the potential of new fires due to the predicted dry thunderstorm activity through the weekend, with reported numerous lightning downstrikes throughout Siskiyou County and Southern Oregon. The priority of firefighting is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet.
Fire Statistics
Total Fires: 1,345
Total Acres Burned: 333,858

Resources Committed:

• Personnel Committed: 18,039
• Fire Engines: 1,356
• Hand Crews: 466
• Dozers: 310
• Water Tenders: 368
• Helicopters: 92

(These numbers are totals from state, local and federal firefighting agencies. Updated 6/28 at 9:00 p.m.)

I visited the website that has the satellite photos of the smoke (and other phenomena that can be seen from space... The site is called Modis Rapid Response System and I've linked to the image gallery portion of the website.

It's fascinating to look through the satellite images in that gallery. One of the images is a view of fires in Southeastern Russia!


We've had a couple days of "mild" weather so the firefighters have been able to get a handle on some of the fires, but the weather forecast is for a bit more wind, and more thunderstorms in Northern California and Southern Oregon. Which is bad news. The increasing winds will make it harder for the crews to contain the fires and more thunderstorms mean the possibility of more fires. One of the headlines I read this morning in the Sacramento Bee said "Fire season may get worse". I think that's an understatement. There's no "may" about it.

More Fires, But a Little Less Smoke

The DC-10 tanker above is dropping a load of fire retardant on the fire near Green Valley, CA. Which is near Fairfield, CA and that is South and West of where I am. With the direction the "wind" is blowing, alot of what I'm seeing in the sky today is probably from there. Sunrise this morning wasn't as ugly as it has been for the last few days. We have a slightly clearer view of the sky. It's still not blue, but it has a little less "brown" to it. According to the CalFire website, the number of fires has risen.

Current Situation: State and Federal firefighters continue to battle hundreds of wildfires throughout Northern California and are preparing for light to moderate dry thunderstorm activity beginning tonight through the weekend. Fires are activity burning and continuing to spread. New fires are being identified on a regular basis. Priority of firefighting effort is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.

Total Fires: 1,211
Acres: 193,470
Contained Fires: 266
Personnel Committed: 11,322
Resources Committed:

• Fire Engines: 458
• Hand Crews: 225
• Dozers: 224
• Water Tenders: 278
• Helicopters: 68
• Air Tankers: 14

(These numbers are totals from state, local and federal firefighting agencies. Updated 6/27 at 9:00 a.m.)

1,211 fires! Yesterday's tally for the fires was 1,088.... They were (and are!) predicting more thunderstorms, so I'm guessing that some of the new fires were started by more dry lightning strikes. Here's a link to this morning's fire map that was updated at 8:00AM this morning. (It's a pdf file, so it will take a few moments to load.)

Schwarzenegger calls on Bush for aid in California fires

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called on President George W. Bush to declare a federal emergency in the state on Friday, as more than 1,000 wildfires continued to burn.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger said he had written to Bush to request the declaration, which would make federal resources available to firefighters who have been stretched to capacity by the sheer number of fires.

Schwarzenegger said the fires were "of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state," stating that "federal assistance is necessary to save lives."

The firefighters need whatever help they can get. Those men and women out on the fire lines have been working nearly non-stop for the last month now. I hope Bush gives the state what the Governor has asked for. We also need some better weather. Fewer thunder storms, maybe some rain....

The California Fire News blog has an entry up this morning about the Red Flag and Fire Weather warnings that have been issued. It's pretty scary reading through the list. Predictions of bad air due to smoke, more thunder storms... It's bad. And I have a hunch it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Quick Update on Rex Archer

The Appeal Democrat has a "Breaking News" article about the status of Rex Archer's case this morning. Posted at 9:37AM, it states that after watching the taped interviews with the victims in the case, Archer will be held to answer for the charges.

From the article:

Yuba County Superior Court Judge James L. Curry scheduled an arraignment hearing at 9 a.m. July 14 for Archer, who is accused of molesting female foster children under 10 who are not related to Archer.

So, July 14th (or shortly thereafter) is the next date to watch for.

Too Many Fires and Too Much Smoke

The smoke in the air seems to get worse and worse every day. But, there's a good reason for it. The latest count on the number of fires burning in California is up to 1088 now. Summertime in the mountains mean thunder storms. And with the shortage of rainfall the last year or so, that means more fires started by dry lightning strikes. Look at the image below. Click on it and enlarge it. All the red "dots" are active fires. That white/gray stuff you see over land isn't clouds. It's smoke. The white you see offshore is the coastal fog/marine layer.

I've borrowed the image from the Sacramento Bee... Here is the description for the satellite image:

This photo, supplied by NASA, is an Aqua satellite view of the smoke drifting from the wildfires, denoted by red dots, raging Wednesday evening, June 25, 2008, in Northern California. Hundreds of firefighters worked Thursday to protect the scenic community of Big Sur from a lightning-sparked wildfire that inched closer to historic structures after burning 16 homes and threatening another 500 houses. The white area in lower left are clouds.

Even San Francisco is suffering from all of the smoke. Just take a look at the skyline shot below (also "borrowed" from the Sacramento Bee article.) It's not often you see the skyline of the city so obscured by anything other than fog.



The Calfire Wildland Fire information page lists all the fires. It also has information about the current conditions that the firefighters are dealing with. And they are predicting more lightning.

Current Situation: State and Federal firefighters continue to battle hundreds of wildfires throughout Northern California and are preparing for light to moderate dry thunderstorm activity beginning tonight through the weekend. Fires are activity burning and continuing to spread. New fires are being identified on a regular basis. Priority of firefighting effort is for the protection of life, property and natural resources.

Total Fires: 1,088
Acres: 158,818
Contained Fires: 241
Personnel Committed: 12,512
Resources Committed:

• Fire Engines: 933
• Hand Crews: 288
• Dozers: 262
• Water Tenders: 330
• Helicopters: 68
• Air Tankers: 14

I've watched what the fire service has to deal with for many years. I can't remember another fire season like this one. It's scary. I feel so sorry for all those men and women out on the fire lines fighting these fires. I remember what my husband was like when he came home from a big fire. Drained, exhausted and incredibly dirty. He would be torn between taking a shower and falling on the bed to sleep. And it's still just June. "Fire Season" normally runs until November. 5 more months more or less. These people are true heroes in my opinion. They are doing the best they can to save lives and protect property. Heroes. Yep... Definitely heroes.

A Smoky Sunset

Yesterday evening we saw a very smoky sunset. This was taken about an hour before the sun actually set, but you can certainly see how much smoke was in the air to the West of where I live. The sun was a bright, vivid red. To the east it wasn't a whole lot better, the smoke was a bit less obvious, more of a smear across the sky, not like what we saw to the West. I can only guess that the smoke to the west was coming from the fires down towards Napa. The photo was taken from my front yard, looking across the street towards my daughter's home.
Today, the sky doesn't have any big billowing smoke plumes. It's just an overall tan color and the sunshine has an orange cast to it. It's still warm today, but not terribly hot, thank heavens.

As for the fires, there are still a lot of them from the lightning the other day. I'm going to copy/paste what it says from the CalFire incident page.

Summary of Fires by Unit

Siskiyou Unit: All 8 fires have been contained for a total of 10 acres.

Humboldt-Del Norte Unit: 50+ fires for more than 900 acres, with 4 new fires today. The Paradise Fire is Northeast of Shelter Cove and is 600 acres and 5% contained, The Redcrest Fire is 30 acres, the High Fire is in Humboldt Redwood State Park with unknown acreage or containment, the Carson Fire is 40 acres and 50% contained, the Hansen Fire is 2 acres with unknown containment, the Williams Fire is 25 acres and 50% contained, In the BLM Headwaters Forest there are three additional small fires buring.

Mendicino Unit: 90 fires have been reported for a total of more than 7,625 acres. The Orr Fire is 200 acres and has evacuations of the Orr Springs Resort and 50 homes in the area, the Navarro Fire is 1,400 acres and 5% contained, the Cherry fire is 50 acres and 50% contained, the Foster Fire is 50 acres and 50% contained, the Table Mtn. Fire is 1,000 acres and 5% contained, the Mallo Pass Fire is 800 acres, and the Juan Creek fires (2) are at 100 acres each. There are 8 additional fires at 30 acres each.

San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit: 15 fires have been reported. The Quarry Fire is located near the base of San Bruno Mountain is 300 acres and 85% contained. Click Whitehurst/Hummingbird Incident for more information on these fires.

Amador-El Dorado Unit: All fires for a total of 80 acres have been contained.

Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit: 7 fires reported. The fire of concern is the Mosquito Fire which is holding at 75 acres.

Butte Unit: 24 fires for a total of more than 1,397 acres. The Rim Fire has burned 50 acres with unknown containment. Butte County Sheriff’s department is effecting a Precautionary Evacuation Advisory for the Lake Concow Area for a lighting fire in excess of 100 acres burning off of Rim Rd. (Also referred to as Andy Mountain Rd.) in the Concow area. The American Red Cross is setting up an evacuation shelter at the Spring Valley School at 2771 Pentz Rd. off of Hwy 70. There are four road closures in effect: Concow Rd. from Yellow Wood Rd. north to the end of the pavement on Concow Rd, Concow Rd. from Nelson Bar to end of pavement, Rim Rd. (also known as Andy Mtn. Rd) from Hwy 70 to end of Rim Rd., Deadwood from Hwy 70 to Concow Rd.

Tehama-Glen Unit: Over 36 fires for a total of 2,146 acres.

Shasta-Trinity Unit: Over 130 fires for a total of 5,000 acres. Shasta-Trinity Unit Information (530) 225-2510

Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit: 6 fires with 4 contained. Two fires for a total of 7,250 acres. Over 300 homes threatened. The Wild Fire is burning near Napa West of Fairfield. Click on Wild Fire Incident for more information.

Lassen-Modoc Unit: 45 total fires for 500+ acres

Tuolumne-Calavares Unit: 16 fires for a total of 140 acres. Currently the counties of Tuolumne and Calaveras are experiencing heavy smoke in low lying areas due to fires caused by heavy lightning activity yesterday.

Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit: 15 fires reported
The Cunningham Complex (5 fires total) are burning 3,150 acres total, the Stumpfield Fire is burning 2 acres, the Indian Peak Fire is burning 60 acres, and the Oliver Fire is burning in the Sequoia National Forest. The Sequoia National Forest has reported 25 fires.

It's an unbelievable amount of fires that the firefighters are trying to cover, isn't it? I read in one article that the National Guard has also been called out to assist. Too many fires and not enough resources to fight the hundreds of fires that are burning all over the state. The fellow over at California Fire News has a link to a map of all of the fire incidents that are going right now. (The map is a pdf file so it may take a few moments to load.)

The Indians Fire is also still burning more acreage. It's only 58% contained still and it's burned close to 58,000 acres. The Indians Fire has been burning for two weeks now! (I can't get my normal links for the Indians Fire to load today... Server problems? Bandwidth? I don't know. So the link goes to a page that was updated yesterday.)

I am wishing for some cooler, wetter weather to help the firefighters out... How about sending some good wishes for that towards California, folks?