Forum Home
PC World Chat
Thread ID: 73622	2006-10-26 15:40:00	Bad Fires Here In San Jacinto Mountains, California	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
494547	2006-10-26 15:40:00	Loma Linda/VA sent me a curve ball and I am home for the weekend . . . but I gotta get back on Tuesday for the actual surgery . . . . . Anyway, I will try to recoop the loss of the rest of what I wrote when it got lost somewhere in the ether-zone . . . . If you like, goto GoogleMaps (http://maps . google . com/) and type in "San Jacinto, California" without the quotes, and turn on the hybrid mode to see where I live in relation to the fires and the local mountains . If you zoom out a few clicks, you will see on the right side what is now all burned . Travel North on Lamb Canyon Road, which is an extension of Sanderson, the N-S corridor from Hemet that goes to the nearest major freeway (Interstate 10), and travel a little to the East to the city of Banning and note Hwy 243 . . . this is about where the fire started on the South side of the freeway . As of this AM, the fire has jumped to the West of Hwy 79, but originally it was burning between the borders of Hwy 243 and Hwy 79 in that range of mountains . The squiggly part of 243 where it has the name "Banning Idyllwild Scenic Highway, is the community of Poppit Flats and Twin Pines, which is totally destroyed . If you follow 243 to the East, a little past Hwy 74, you will eventually find Lake Hemet, where I was fishing while sizzling firebrands started falling into the lake and I got . . . er . . . thrown out by the US Forrestry Dept as they needed the water for their superscooper and helicopter aircraft to fight the fire . :blush: Continuing back West on 74, follow it down to Hemet where I live . The fire is pretty much inside those borders; 243, 74, 79, although this morning, it has jumped West of Lamb Canyon and gone more West into Jack Rabbit Flats . The fire so far: 40,000+ acres 4 confirmed deaths to firefighters; the other one is burned over 90% and is expected to die . Containment 40%, but will change if the winds return again today . We are still under a thick layer of smoke and ash	SurferJoe46 (51)
494548	2006-10-26 15:40:00	Loma Linda/VA sent me a curve ball and I am home for the weekend . . . but I gotta get back on Tuesday for the actual surgery . . . . . Anyway, I will try to recoop the loss of the rest of what I wrote when it got lost somewhere in the ether-zone . . . . If you like, goto GoogleMaps (http://maps . google . com/) and type in "San Jacinto, California" without the quotes, and turn on the hybrid mode to see where I live in relation to the fires and the local mountains . If you zoom out a few clicks, you will see on the right side what is now all burned . Travel North on Lamb Canyon Road, which is an extension of Sanderson, the N-S corridor from Hemet that goes to the nearest major freeway (Interstate 10), and travel a little to the East to the city of Banning and note Hwy 243 . . . this is about where the fire started on the South side of the freeway . As of this AM, the fire has jumped to the West of Hwy 79, but originally it was burning between the borders of Hwy 243 and Hwy 79 in that range of mountains . The squiggly part of 243 where it has the name "Banning Idyllwild Scenic Highway, is the community of Poppit Flats and Twin Pines, which is totally destroyed . If you follow 243 to the East, a little past Hwy 74, you will eventually find Lake Hemet, where I was fishing while sizzling firebrands started falling into the lake and I got . . . er . . . thrown out by the US Forrestry Dept as they needed the water for their superscooper and helicopter aircraft to fight the fire . :blush: Continuing back West on 74, follow it down to Hemet where I live . The fire is pretty much inside those borders; 243, 74, 79, although this morning, it has jumped West of Lamb Canyon and gone more West into Jack Rabbit Flats . The fire so far: 40,000+ acres 4 confirmed deaths to firefighters; the other one is burned over 90% and is expected to die . Containment 40%, but will change if the winds return again today . We are still under a thick layer of smoke and ash	SurferJoe46 (51)
494549	2006-10-26 19:36:00	Surfer, has anyone in your neighbourhood left for safer areas, or is an evacuation planned? Are you in danger?	Strommer (42)
494550	2006-10-26 19:36:00	Surfer, has anyone in your neighbourhood left for safer areas, or is an evacuation planned? Are you in danger?	Strommer (42)
494551	2006-10-26 20:21:00	As I write this, the smoke is so thick I am having trouble breathing . I was SUPPOSED to be fishing for trout in the local mountain lake (Lake Hemet) today, and I left for that destination at about 5:30AM this morning to go 36 miles away . Once I was there and actively fishing, the sky became dark and firebrands . . . flaming pieces of burning stuff started falling all around me . I left and all the way home the smoke got deeper and darker . At one of the lookout points over Hemet/San Jacinto Valley, I saw how bad the smoke was in our valley . Closer to home it became dark again and it was snowing large ash flakes . . . so bad that some piles of the ash were in the corners of the road and collecting on my windshield . So far, with the Santa Ana winds blowing, the fire is moving very rapidly toward where I live . . . although I doubt very seriously if it can get within 5 miles of me . There is just too much open land that is not under crops right now . . so they won't burn . The smoke, however, is very thick and makes it hard to breathe and my eyes are watering . The forecast for the winds is that they are going to get worse in the next day or so, and they will swing to going more Southerly . . . meaning that Idyllwild MAY be threatened and the area of Garner Valley/Anza might be threatened too . There have been a few deaths to both civilians and firefighting personnel . . . . the civilian count is incomplete and not accurate but the Federal Firefighter death count is three, and two more seriously burned . Their fire truck was "burned over" and they perished in the truck . Quite a few home have been lost so far, and the loss of livestock and companion animals is very high . The area under fire right now has no recorded fire history, and the land is rife and ready for a major immolation . This will probably shift from a brush fire to a forest fire very rapidly . Projections have it that 25,000 or more acres will be consumed before the fire is under control . Bark Beetle infestation is rampant in the higher altitudes with most of the coniferous trees having suffered and killed by the tens of thousands of trees, each one an box of dynamite, ready to explode . The winds are going to increase for the next 24-36 hours, keeping aircraft at bay for water drops . We do not expect the fire can get to our city . . . . but all the roads to the North, East and West of us are closed . Visibility here is about 100-150 yards . . about 30 meters or so . . . metrics are not my forte' . More than 500 homes have been destroyed so far . Poppit Flats and Twin Palms communities have sustained serious damage to property and life . This fire has only been burning for 12 hours right now . The winds at this moment are about 30 mph and increasing . Latest acres loss: 4,500+; fire control 0%; homes lost, unknown; lives lost, 20+; humidity 2-6%; temps 75-80 F . --	SurferJoe46 (51)
494552	2006-10-26 21:09:00	Best of luck SurferJoe :) & I Hope you are ready to leave your house if need be. Keep well & keep safe & let us know what happens	stu161204 (123)
494553	2006-10-26 21:16:00	Not a lot I could add to that. 2 to 6 % humidity is way out of my experience.	R2x1 (4628)
494554	2006-10-26 21:32:00	We'll be OK here . . . like I said, there's a lot of fallow farmland around us . . . pretty much on all sides . . . but especially in the direction the fire would have to take to get here . . . we are safe . We may get some of those firebrands, and I have rigged hoses and sprinklers on my roof . . . which is about 1/4 inch deep with ash right now . Here's a local newslink with a streaming video and some still shots ( . com/local" target="_blank">cbs2 . com) . . . . is it thought the white vehicle you see going away in the video is the last picture of one of the firefighters before he died . :xmouth:	SurferJoe46 (51)
494555	2006-10-26 21:36:00	And if that ash gets into the reservoirs and starts clogging filters, life will get real tense. Not a fun situation.	R2x1 (4628)
494556	2006-10-26 22:07:00	The fire has been declared an act of arson . . . . . that's nasty! A fourth firefighter has died . The Santa Ana winds have not been evident here in San Jacinto/Hemet yet today . I felt them gathering speed while I was at Lake Hemet this early AM . . . . Now we are beginning to get a little tree rustling, so I suspect the winds will get going here pretty good in the next few hours . They should get up to about 40 mph with some higher gusts to possibly 65 or 70 mph . There is NO way to control a fire under such circumstances . . We get these Santa Ana, (aka: Santana or "Devil") winds mostly during this season, but they can happen all year long . They are compression offshore winds that drive the temps up to 110F, hopefully not this time . They blow in from the East, going out over the ocean, heating up the valleys to blistering heats with almost 0% humidity . Right now it is very cool outside, no sun at all . . . just deep grey and visability is about 300 feet in all directions . There are over 1,000 people trapped in a mobil-vehicle (RV) park/campground near Palm Springs . I think I know the park they are in . Aircraft with water and retardant foam are all called back to base because of the high winds . . . they are depending on ground creews totally now . It is about 1 1/2 hour until sunset . The fire is 14 hours old right now . 10,000+ acres destroyed so far . 0% containment .	SurferJoe46 (51)
1 2 3 4