Modern Vespa

Any MV'rs from Paradise, California?

What a catastrophe. Hope anyone from that area is safe.

Paradise Gone! Great book title if it wasn't said in tragedy.

Its 287 miles NE of me and it was pretty smoky yesterday and this morning. I was in San Francisco the last two days and it was quite smokey there as well as in Marin County (north of SF across the Golden Gate Bridge) and all the way thru Silicon Valley on the way home.

Here's the air quality index in Santa Cruz a few minutes ago. It was 170 an hour ago.

Best
Miguel

My nephew's house in Paradise.

Holy crap ..... the poor guy and family obviously. .... id be totally lost if that happened. .... hope they're ok


Is that a fire engine?

How horrible, I feel so sorry for everyone going through this - I can't imagine losing everything...

Looks like a trailer.

My sympathies to all the residents of Paradise and California.

It is sad and my full sympathies as well for all touched by this. Forest fires are a part of nature and to some extend need to happen as it is a cycle. I had a great talk to a forester that worked for the Canadian gov't up in the Northern Bruce earlier this year about it. He has recently (last year) been out west to fight the fires and long story short yes it is very sad for those that are affected. They do do their damndest to save all property and ensure everyone is safe. Not sure there is a solution to this problem much beyond what Smokey the Bear was preaching years ago. Better fire fighting and spotting techniques I suppose.

Hope no one in our little community has had this affect them.

My daughter couldn't go to work in Malibu. She doesn't know if the facility is still there.

I live in the San Fernando Valley - east of the Thousand Oaks/Malibu fires - the "Woolsey fire". Even though we are upwind, the air is quite smokey. The sky to the West is apocalyptic.

Los Angeles Times: https://goo.gl/DiBhdV

They need to start doing controlled burns again,, which they stopped doing years ago, that is why these fires get so bad, years of old stuff on the forest floor waiting for a spark.

6,700 houses destroyed. 23 deaths. I kept thinking I must have heard wrong.

Godawful.

It's 130 miles north of us, but the strong winds pushed the smoke to us. We've had days of ash falling on everything.

I have no connection to there except one of my groomsmen's family helped settle it when they immigrated from Russia. And, my wife went to Chico State.

A good friend of ours knows a single mom of 5 kids who evacuated and has lost everything. The least we could do is donate unused gift cards to her.

Last years fire in Napa was scary. I could imagine if it moved 1 mile more and put me out of a job. It's a sad thing for those affected.

I have good friends in Paradise who made it big in IT about 30 years ago and built their dream house (16,000 sf) there. Burned to the ground. Their house was featured in a video that I'll link here if I can find it.

Very sad.

Here is a great video shot in their house. All gone.

From L.A. Times:


"The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims," the Pasadena Firefighters Assn. said on Twitter.

Experts have also said forest management was not a factor in California's two most destructive fires: the Camp, which burned more than 6,000 structures this week in Paradise, and the Tubbs fire last year in wine country.

Forest thinning would not have stopped the Camp or the Tubbs. Fueled by dry grass growing amid scattered pine and oak trees, the Camp tore across land thinned by flames just 10 years ago. The Tubbs burned grassy oak woodlands, not timber land."

Would love to be out there helping, But we are in Fl now. That is a collective "WE", I am at work in Ashburn Va.
https://operationbbqrelief.org/

And Donate Please.

The Red Cross arrives and charges rescue workers for a cold sandwich.

Operation BBQ Relief arrives and feeds anyone FREE BBQ sandwiches. They go find business like Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Costco to donate or provide at a big discount the meat they BBQ.

What would you want to eat? A cold baloney sandwich or a HOT FRESH Brisket or Pulled Pork Sandwich?

Just for the record...he was responding to POTUS's criticism, so it was a personal invite....though I'm sure we're all welcome.

Horrible stuff. My brother lived in Paradise after he graduated from Chico. St.

Awful way to die.

And the Feds need to get on that. Those forests are mostly controlled by the federal gov't.

It's just another example of our government ignoring infrastructure for continued growth.

Right now in Oakland we have temperatures in the high 60's, 35 mph winds and humidity is about 30%. There has been no rain at all yet even though it's officially rain season, which means we haven't have real rain since maybe April or May. Any fire just burns everything and races very fast. The neighborhood where I live was completely burned in 1991 - 3500 houses and 28 dead. I was told by someone who saw it that the whole neighborhood, 40 townhouses, burst into flames at once..

Anyone who thinks that there's an easy solution to this, and that he knows more than Cal Fire, is completely wrong.

There is no easy solution and my thoughts are with all the people out there. Has there been a state of emergency called by the Feds? You guys need help and quick.

My thoughts are with the people who lost loved ones and property.

While on a much smaller scale, South Africa had a similar devastating fires in Knysna last year and in Cape St Francis some five years ago.
Security cam footage showed just how fast a fire can spread when fanned by the winds that the fire itself generates. I saw how a scene of peaceful indigenous bush became a raging fire in under four minutes...! Burning embers were driven by the winds and get caught in flammable nooks and crannies, fueling further fires.

South Africa builds homes mostly in bricks and mortar, which are less likely to burn, but grass thatching is popular roofing material in places.

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So much loss of life and an entire city gone.

There are no words, it's just so sad.

God speed to those families.

SDG

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Hey Dave. God speed indeed.

On a lighter note I rode a Yama 350 Kenny Roberts 2-smoke the other day.

100 mph all day...slipped one time and slowed down. Love that bike.

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Not really any different than rebuilding houses on the beach after every hurricane.
People are not naturally good at risk management when it comes to the things we want.

Which also needs to be stopped, or at least they are on the own, no insurance or FEMA support.

Every time I read or see about disasters like these I am more than glad I live where I do.

People will talk about the taxes and snow in New York State but very seldom do we have things like this here. Sure snow melt can cause some localized flooding and a wind storm may knock down a tree now and then but noting to compare with California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and so on!

You have to look at the big picture. While you don't have catastrophic fires or earthquakes or hurricanes, you do have weather that gets extreme in the Winter and countless people die or are injured dealing with it, in car accidents and house fires and injuries and deaths associated with snow shoveling. Your cars and trucks rust out and become junk much faster than ours in California, and your climate won't allow you to grow enough food to sustain your population, so you import it from us. We are a very big country, third largest population in the world, with an enormous economy, and we're all in this together. We each benefit from the other and we all have to sustain the place together.

Best wishes for the survivors. I do not know if I would stay in an area
that has the potential of burning down again in the next five or ten years.

It is tough to leave an area you are connected to with history, family and
friends.

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

+1
Well said. Every place has its drawback. Too hot, too cold, to dry, too wet.
To those who say 'move to where it isn't any of the above' I say, OK find it.
Then tell me how it will support 350 million people.

Anyway, thanks for the veggies.

Bugs!! Don't for get bugs!! We don't have any for the most part. I've had one mosquito in 5 years. It's too dry. No rain Apr-Nov. I've heard that some places have mosquitos the size of house finches.

BTW, we've had hazardous air quality here since Thurs, Over 100 and as high as 190 for PM2.5. Safe levels of PM2.5 are 0-50. PM2.5 are the most hazardous particles because they are small, get into your lungs and possibly into bloodstream where they create all sorts of health issues. I REALLY feel bad for those people that are close and downwind of the fires.They are really suffering.

I've never considered getting a whole-house air filter but we are this week.

Best
Miguel

Yeah, one advantage of winter. Pardon the, um, well it accurately depicts my emotional state.
Oh, and, Winter is Coming.

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. We have controlled burns hete and what is burned off is dry grass and shrubs, not tree thinning. Burning off the dry grass and shrubs helps greatly.

If some of you insist on discussing the causes or what-ifs and want to throw in political jabs this is your notice that not only will this thread be locked but there may be vacations for some.

While he's not on here, a former bandmate who rides a VIntage. Lives in Chico, last I checked they were evacuated out of the city or they chose to leave.

I know I offered to set them and their toddler up at our house down here in Sacramento if needed. As of yet, they haven't called or texted but it is crazy up there!

My Neighbor is an EMT and was about to be dispatched up there. He got stand down orders (for now). So I think it's "better".

I know the smoke is affecting me and my asthma down here. But nothing compared to what the families have had to deal with and the firefighters/emergency responders.