Experiences with the Thomas Fire and subsequent Debris flow

[twinfin]

Thank you Toro1 for your write up. There is nothing better than a well written first hand account after something like this. I remember you original posts (Dec. 2017) following the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and have made some adjustments in my own fire-disaster contingency planning based on your experiences.

Did you upgrade your backup generator like you mentioned doing previously? Have you added any other firefighting tools or infrastructure based on what you experienced? Any other changes made around the property to better resist fire or flood?

Thanks again for the great write up.

[toro1]

Thank you Toro1 for your write up. There is nothing better than a well written first hand account after something like this. I remember you original posts (Dec. 2017) following the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and have made some adjustments in my own fire-disaster contingency planning based on your experiences.

Did you upgrade your backup generator like you mentioned doing previously? Have you added any other firefighting tools or infrastructure based on what you experienced? Any other changes made around the property to better resist fire or flood?

Thanks again for the great write up.

A lot has changed since I did the original write up after the fire. The debris flow came through and created a major mess that has taken most of our energy and money for the past year and has stalled a lot of the fire work I wanted to do. We also moved to Az in the spring and only come back to work on things. Since this is no longer the main house, I have scaled back some things that I had planned to do.

I did not buy a bigger generator, but would if we were still living in the Cal. As of now I decided between using the 3KW portable and the 2.8KW in the RV we could meet most demands when at the house in Cal.
One of the things I wanted to do was to replace the burned water tanks with metal ones (the old ones were wood and plastic) but the cheapest metal tank I could find was over $45K. That was cost prohibitive as the mud cleanup has eaten up most of our reserves. I went with 2 5000 gallon plastic tanks and can probably build a fireproof structure around them for ~1/3 of what the metal tank would cost. However, that is not the current plan.

Fire hardening I have been doing-
I have started rebuilding some of the retaining walls and instead of wood I am using the rocks/boulders left by the debris flow. There are plenty of rocks so far but I may need to find additional ones as time goes on. I have redone 3 of the 9 walls so far.

The previous owner had routed water and electrical lines together and after the fire this led to water getting into the electrical conduit and being dumped into the wall at the house. This was due to the close proximity of the 2 lines where they daylighted. I have worked to ensure the lines are now separated by 20' where they daylight. I have also worked to ensure as much as possible is underground as possible through out what is left of the orchard. I also added a drain to one of my below ground electrical boxes to ensure there is no water buildup in it.

Flood hardening-
Most of my drain collection points were made from pressure treated wood and no longer exist. I have been clearing the area around the exit pipes (they were OK) to keep water flowing, but will use concrete to rebuild the basins. I have also added T posts at the entrance points for the big drains. The NRCS personnel explained the best way to do this so debris does not clog the intakes an they have worked great. During each storm I need to remove tree limbs and brush, but the drains have for the most part run clear during the storms.

[twinfin]

Thanks for updating. Your experience underscores how important it is to plan for something bad to happen so its impact will be minimized or be managed. Its too bad local government was so unresponsive to the needs of you and your neighbors.

Local government should have been your strongest ally. What a shame they distinguished themselves by being the most obstructive to your efforts to return to normalcy.

[pacifico23]

I was involved as a QC and APM for the Mud Slides following the Thomas Fire for two different basins...I've never realized the power of Nature till then.

Nothing can prepare you for that damage. Not even a moat that's 40 ft deep. If your in the hills after a fire and they say evacuate...you evacuate.

[toro1]

I was involved as a QC and APM for the Mud Slides following the Thomas Fire for two different basins...I've never realized the power of Nature till then.

Nothing can prepare you for that damage. Not even a moat that's 40 ft deep. If your in the hills after a fire and they say evacuate...you evacuate.

While I agree with your sentiment I do not agree with using an Evac order as your decision making criteria. The evac orders come from a person with no knowledge of anyone's personal situation. For the debris flow that killed 23 people in Montecito, there was no evac order for many of the people in harms way. After the initial debris flow, large swaths of people were told to evacuate that could not have been in danger because they were clearly above danger zones. Each person needs to take responsibility for themselves and their situation and make a decision based on that. I'm not finding fault with the people sending out the evac order, but trying to drive home the point don't rely on them because they cannot know everything.

That being said here are a couple of pics taken ~1.5 miles downstream from our house showing debris that was tossed around. They drive home Pacifico's point as they were taken ~.5 miles below a large debris dam that filled up and then allowed debris to go further downstream.

The rock in the center of the pic was ~3X the size of a VW Beetle. We are not sure where it came from, but it was not there before.

[IMG][/IMG]

This picture shows a bridge that stopped rocks and other debris from going further downstream. You cannot tell it is a bridge but if you look the sides of the roadway you can see the remnants of the railing. The 3 rocks in the picture are about 2X the size of a VW Beetle and the riverbed used to be ~25' below the bridge and was ~50' wide. When the water was flowing the water was hitting the rocks and going over the power lines in the picture. As can be seen from the size of the rocks, people and people in cars do not stand a chance if they are in the way.

[IMG][/IMG]

[toro1]

Pacifico, thanks to you and all of your co workers for all that you did as it was a very bad situation. What is QC and APM? I'm not familiar with those acronyms.

[Californio]

Nuevo's don't remember the winter of 1968/69.

http://www.gendisasters.com/california/11952/ojai-ca-destructive-flooding-jan-1969

No fire beforehand but the Pineapple Connection ran for 3 months and we were soaked. The Santa Clara River/101 bridge, the old one, had water flowing over the roadway and the Santa Clara River log jammed at Harbor Blvd, causing the river to make a knew path which destroyed the Ventura Marina, hundreds of boats and damaged the Ventura Sewer Plant that dumped raw sewage into the ocean for months afterwards. All the beaches of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, debris were 10' high and filled with rattlesnakes, they were burned in place and then the Santa Barbara Oil Spill happened.

The Sespe River floated that Seabee tractor like it was a toy.

[ColdDeadHands1]

Thanks for the write up. Living in the Santa Cruz Mountains, it is very relevant to my own situation!