News as surprising as another mass shooting: California ablaze again/still

[Whateverist]

[Seraphina]

Lots of smoke here in the valley, too. A few coworkers have family who live in or near Paradise, CA, which I'm hearing has been completely destroyed. One coworker's brother is a paramedic in the Camp Fire area and it sounds grim at the moment.

-Teresa

[Fireball]

I live north east of the Woolsey fire. The wind is blowing away from us, so we're not getting any smoke. We are far enough from the vegetation (minimum 2 miles in any direction) that our house is incredibly unlikely to catch on fire from this fire. There was a fire several years ago that burned all around us, but only a few homes on the periphery were damaged or destroyed.

And yes, the other fire is burning through Westlake and areas around it, so some of the residents are getting a double-dose of grief.

[Whateverist]

Lots of smoke here in the valley, too. A few coworkers have family who live in or near Paradise, CA, which I'm hearing has been completely destroyed. One coworker's brother is a  paramedic in the Camp Fire area and it sounds grim at the moment.

-Teresa

A handful of people killed, lots of mandatory evacuations and I don't know how many buildings destroyed.  The speed with which that fire started and spread I find mind blowing.  Anyone who delayed getting going may not have gotten a second chance.

[Seraphina]

Just terrible. The stories I've heard through the grapevine today of people in the Camp Fire running for their lives through flames... I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

-Teresa

[Whateverist]

I live north east of the Woolsey fire. The wind is blowing away from us, so we're not getting any smoke. We are far enough from the vegetation (minimum 2 miles in any direction) that our house is incredibly unlikely to catch on fire from this fire. There was a fire several years ago that burned all around us, but only a few homes on the periphery were damaged or destroyed.

And yes, the other fire is burning through Westlake and areas around it, so some of the residents are getting a double-dose of grief.

Two miles in all directions must give you some peace of mind at a time like this.  You're lucky not to be getting the smoke.  I took the dogs to the beach in San Francisco today hoping for less smoke.  Not so good.  But I think I'll stay inside now.

[DodosAreDead]

Saw a few videos taken by people evacuating Paradise... let's just say I've never seen the word paradise used like that before. 

Honestly though, it seems worse this time around than the other recent bout when one of the fires was large enough to break records. These may be smaller, but they've already killed people. Seems like a horrible way to die, too.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

♫I'll never stop hearin' the screams in my dreams.♫

[Fireball]

The internet is finally up for us, after the entire county was without it. A lot of the phone lines also are supported by internet providers, as well as TV. We had none of it for about 24 hours, since we use our internet provider for all of them. To top it off, several of the cell towers around where I live burned down as well, so cell phone connectivity was almost nonexistent. I salute the people who went out and repaired all that infrastructure. The winds have pretty much died down, so the smoke is everywhere, though thankfully quite thin where we are. What a mess! Looks like about 41,000 acres burned between the two fires. The Woolsey fire was hardly news until it roared down into Malibu where  all the beautiful people live. In all, about 200,000 people were forced to evacuate. Many are going back to look at a pile of ashes where they used to live. The drought has done serious damage to California; this is one example of what global warming is going to do, going forward.

[Kitan Etos]

Poor Cali, between the earthquakes and the fires......