Caldor Fire explodes

[Sierra57]

Great...there will be more smoke in Utah because of this. Get your **** together California.

You're welcome!!

[LTC-J]

The 2am sheriff knock is a real thing and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It is even worse when you throw in a PGE power outage. Things were okay before power outage then you get the knock.

Trying to figure out your list of "grab this ish" while you are half awake isn't a good feeling.

Hell of a day yesterday... We got evacuated. Managed to get all of the guns out, plus the first dang thing I grabbed was all of my primers and powder.

We're expecting to lose the Freedom Bunker... This one is a bad one and going crazy. With God's will and some luck, maybe not... We'll just have to see what happens.

Glad to see you got out. Hopefully your house makes it out.

I went the opposite approach since I don't have collectible guns: grabbed two Glock 30s and a dozen mags plus an old 22 and sks.

I was grabbing NUCs, laptops, and hard drives

[twinfin]

Hell of a day yesterday... We got evacuated. Managed to get all of the guns out, plus the first dang thing I grabbed was all of my primers and powder.

We're expecting to lose the Freedom Bunker... This one is a bad one and going crazy. With God's will and some luck, maybe not... We'll just have to see what happens.

Dang, that's rough news to hear. Me and Mrs. Twinfin will have you and Mrs. 2111 in our morning prayers.

Does the construction material of the freedom bunker or clearance around the compound offer any hope that you'll be spared? Clearance is one thing I've been constantly trying to improve each year since with my location, I don't expect any outside help.

God speed.

[SnipTheDog]

The bark beetle has killed about 30% of the forest. That's like having a 5 gallon gasoline can at the base of 30% of the trees in the forest. The forestry service could have gone in and logged out the trees, but they didn't. They're just waiting for a major fire to go through and do their job for them.
In last years Camp fire, there were no air assets to assist with drops until a full week into the fire. They just let it burn.

[SanDiego619]

Hell of a day yesterday... We got evacuated. Managed to get all of the guns out, plus the first dang thing I grabbed was all of my primers and powder.

We're expecting to lose the Freedom Bunker... This one is a bad one and going crazy. With God's will and some luck, maybe not... We'll just have to see what happens.

Oh no. I thought you lived in or near San Diego for some reason. I hope you come out of this unscathed. Terrible.

[Sierra57]

The bark beetle has killed about 30% of the forest. That's like having a 5 gallon gasoline can at the base of 30% of the trees in the forest. The forestry service could have gone in and logged out the trees, but they didn't. They're just waiting for a major fire to go through and do their job for them.
In last years Camp fire, there were no air assets to assist with drops until a full week into the fire. They just let it burn.

The USFS, BLM, etc. are now infested with environmentalist types.

[Fear58]

Was this a PG&E power pole spark event? Lightning? Hard to watch the coverage on this... looks like a Volcano erupting....

[user120312]

Looks like air assets are on the fire this morning. IMO, much could've been saved had a similar early attack occurred before the fire exploded, as it was there was zippo over the fire until late yesterday and the cameras and helo footage showed plenty of maneuvering room, yet not even a assessment aircraft. Weird.

I saw an early interview with a resident who'd lived there for 45 years and had worked as a volunteer firefighter in the area and his initial assessment since he was near the head of the fire was campers started the original fire, which was small for a day or more. The news reporter quickly changed the subject though. I don't know whether that footage is still out there or not.

[Tango_Down]

I've never understood why they don't hit these fires hard and fast with air tankers in the beginning. Might seem overkill at the time but now that same amount is a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to get this under control because fires grow exponentially.

[dozer wright]

The bark beetle has killed about 30% of the forest. That's like having a 5 gallon gasoline can at the base of 30% of the trees in the forest. The forestry service could have gone in and logged out the trees, but they didn't. They're just waiting for a major fire to go through and do their job for them.
In last years Camp fire, there were no air assets to assist with drops until a full week into the fire. They just let it burn.

A person losing thier house or whole city dosnt come out of the State Budget.

[user120312]

I've never understood why they don't hit these fires hard and fast with air tankers in the beginning. Might seem overkill at the time but now that same amount is a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to get this under control because fires grow exponentially.

A similarly distanced fire, close to Sacramento and the McClellan air attack base, but near the 80 corridor instead of the 50, started a week or so ago near Colfax, called the River Fire, and there were air assets on it almost immediately and it was knocked down quick. That's what doesn't make sense, they're right on top of it and the weather was conducive to attack.

[LTC-J]

I've never understood why they don't hit these fires hard and fast with air tankers in the beginning. Might seem overkill at the time but now that same amount is a drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to get this under control because fires grow exponentially.

Not speaking from any intimate knowledge beyond Monday morning QBing but...

There are enough fires going that air support and ground personnel is overly taxed. You've got the Camp fire a hair NW. I forget the name of the one kind of south.

Also things change very quick especially in the foothills. With Caldor, it went from "mild" at 6500 acres to ~40k in twelve hours I'm not hugely nearby it but my location was badly windy during that time.

[Misterclick]

The difference between the start of this fire and the river fire (as I understand it) is smoke and flight conditions. The wind was blowing with the river fire allowing the smoke to dissipate but with the Caldor wind was calm early causing heavy smoke and grounding the tankers from dropping a retardant box on it.

[iropem]

There has been a lot of home building all up and down the Sierras over the last 50 years. I have heard people (usually coastal urbanistas) say that others should not be allowed to live in the mountains in outlying areas. My reply is that people should not be allowed to live in areas where there is the potential for a major earthquake, which leaves them like " Uuuuuuhhh....."

Going further with that mindset, we should not allow building in areas that are prone to hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, landslides, etc. That eliminates about 99% of the US.

[Defy Concealment]

The difference between the start of this fire and the river fire (as I understand it) is smoke and flight conditions. The wind was blowing with the river fire allowing the smoke to dissipate but with the Caldor wind was calm early causing heavy smoke and grounding the tankers from dropping a retardant box on it.

This is my understanding. At least its what Ive been hearing from the media and my fire fighter friends.

There was so much smoke that the tankers couldnt get anywhere near it untill it calmed down. And they couldn't get much boots on the ground because of the terrain so they have been concentrating on evacuation rather than fighting.

Conditions have since changed and they have a few planes in the air, and more coming in from Sac. Hope everyone stays safe.