I just heard from hubby's cousins in So Cal that had to evacuate ahead of the disastrous fires occurring now. One cousin has been forced to evacuate twice, after the first "safe" place was threatened. The other cousin drove away from her home while homes on her street burned.

I hope our western members and their loved ones come through this Sant Anna conflagration safely.

"like" may be inappropriate, but I do wish them all well. Heard where some people escaped danger in a large parking lot. Hard to imagine.

There is a really bad one (The Camp WildFire...70,000 acres+ and 5% contained) North of Sacramento along the Western Sierras that rolled over a town named Paradise...they evacuated something like 30,000 people. They’ve found at least 5 people burned alive in their cars.

Another one of 6,000+ acres between Camarillo and Thousand Oaks (Hill WildFire 0% Contained).

A few others but those two are really bad.

A tip of the Halligan to the brave firefighters battling the firenadoes.

How the Halligan tool changed the firefighting game

We have one or two members that live in Paradise. Hope they’re okay.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

As an old Callie I blame the fires on not cutting the trees down enough. Our forests or over grown with brush & the US Forestry have closed the logging roads so when the firefights get there the roads are washed out. Thanks to Bill Clinton we live with this carp. California was rich coming from the timber industry once but not now. The tree huggers stopped that a while back. They the Forestry when good timber is burned to stop the recovery. Does this make sense? I rest my case.

My future Brother-in-Law lives in Paradise, CA, but was in Wisconsin when his company notified him that his city was on fire. He flew back last night and is staying at a friend's house until he is allowed to return. Most likely lost everything. Crazy to see how fast and devastating the fire spread.

The news people had video of the town that used to be Paradise on the TV. From watching the video just about every structure is gone as in nothing left standing. My heart goes out to all the people. Frank

So many fires out there that it seems there should be some preventative measures that could be taken in the high risk areas. The costs of these must be huge not even considering the danger to the people that live in the areas.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

The Woolsey WildFire is up to 35,000 acres and 0% contained. This is the one bearing down on Malibu, so lots of celebrities homes in the path. Dry winds from the East feeding the fire as it heads to the coast.

Saw a news report where a homeowner paid workers to stay behind with a garden hose on his roof while he fled. Hope they made it out & were VERY well paid. PERHAPS they saw a way to make $ & volunteered, IDK.

For the life of me I don't understand why anyone still lives in California. The fires, the draughts, the Santa Anna winds, the taxes, the building inspectors, and the politics. They probably wonder why we stay where there are hurricanes.

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Foster Positivity.

It's exactly the same. We mostly get tired of people who live 3,000 miles away bashing us when they only know what they hear in the news or from movies.

CA is a beautiful state with landscapes and wildlife not found anywhere else in the world:







People want to live here because of the great weather and landscapes. Alas, it's those same people that seem to ruin it for all of us.

I wish all those in the areas affected by the fires the best.

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Freedom isn't free.

Those fires are terrible and I wouldn't wish them on anybody. Heaven help those poor people.

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Foster Positivity.

I believe there were three different fires going at the same time. Twenty mph winds sent the fires quickly burning vast acreage. Many people barely got off their street before the fires took their homes.
I wonder how much is fire insurance in CA? It has got to be high for all the fires they have.

Mrs. Houston (A conspiracy buff of the first order going back to Dealy plaza) has told me that the Californians are setting the fires to get federal aid. OK, if it keeps her entertained,

Looks like a real hard way to make a living.

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Just a shooter

A friend of mine of over 50 years lives in paradise and has lost his home and his business. Thankfully, his family are all ok. A stark reminder of all we have to be grateful for..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

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I used to be disgusted..

I don't intend this to be funny, but Paradise is lost. Nearly all structures, residential, commercial and industrial, are gutted or gone.

The Camp fire is now the biggest in California history.

If you are a praying person, please pray for everyone affected by the three fires.

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Oh well, what the hell.

This is not funny and I hope she doesn't really believe it.

There has been more than one fire set by part time firemen trying to get more work. That was the case in the Arizona fire several years ago and one California fire earlier this year or last (I don't remember exactly). But these were isolated incidents.

I don't know how these recent fires started, but I can't believe that even the most desperate would intentionally do this.

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Freedom isn't free.

At least some of the fires in California are not in forested areas, but in grass and chaparral. My son is a wildland firefighter. In the off season, he tries to work with the people who have built in fire prone areas. His crew will remove trees and underbrush to create a defensible space around homes. Many homeowners reject the offer because they want to keep the trees. Same ones scream for assistance when their residence is threatened by fire and firefighters put their lives at risk to provide that assistance.

One of the aforementioned cousins was allowed by police to make a short visit back to his home, and it was still there. The Devil Wind returns later today for another swipe at the area.

At least 25 burned alive as they tried to escape a camp forest fire today in Cali. Knee mail needed on this one guys!

California is indeed a beautiful place, run by idiots. Believe me, during dry season Florida has 10X as much "fuel" for wildfires. Except they tear out underbrush with dozers, burn off zillions of tons of dead leftovers from summer rains and generally manage forestry in an aggressive manner. Something California would never do, might enlarge the "carbon footprint" dont'cha know. Like the present fires ain't doing that in a bigger way. Joe

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Behavior Creates Destiny

Except they do that where I live.

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Freedom isn't free.

Late wife#1 was raised in Simi Valley and they dreaded this time of year with the Santa Ana winds. They had plenty of fires back then, but there was less development to burn, no internet, no drones and no 24/7 coverage. She said the big worry back then was that the fires would cut off the only decent road out of the place.

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Release the Kraken

I spent a lot of time in Paradise growing up. We have a few members from there and I pray they are okay. I have several friends down south that have been evacuated or have family members that have been evacuated. Besides prayers, all I have are tears... it is horrific.

I'm unfamiliar with that town and looked on Google maps to familiarize myself. I saw this aerial photo showing seemingly every structure in the town of Paradise on fire. It must be horrific.

They’re not firefighters, they’re arsonists.

Reminds me of an infamous WWII night bombing picture taken over Germany.

Attached Images

WWIIFirestorm.JPG (55.0 KB, 40 views)

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Release the Kraken

Nothing funny about it at all. I joke about California politics, but it is a beautiful state and I hate these fires no matter how a part of nature they may be, and pray for the minimum impact on everyone. It does show how extreme that at least some of our fringe media has become. Could be terrorism, rogue firefighter, but I do not believe it was set to get federal aid. I miss Walter Cronkite. God bless all here.

It’s not only the fringe media,but the incredible gullibility of an audience that buys what they are selling

Satellite image of Paradise CA:

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Freedom isn't free.

Maybe less gullibility than an eagerness to accept any negative accusation made against those on the other end of the political spectrum.

My friend in CA called last night and on top of everything, there was a small earthquake yesterday. It was only a 3.5 but still an earthquake.

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Bill

Watched a film on the YouTube where a man whom was nearly killed backtracked and filmed the burned out cars in the site he escaped from. Many charred alive and barely unrecognizable.

God help them all.

I won how much of this problem is due to MJ cultivation ?

We're 88 miles south of the Camp Fire in NorCal. Of all places to move, my B-I-Law moved next to the now destroyed town of Paradise and his town is half gone. We saw a reporter next street over from him and there was no damage. But he's a Loner who hides from everyone on purpose. So don't know what's going on. We'd help him if he'd contact us but he always changes phone numbers and doesn't answer email even before all this happened.

Donald Trump usually gives his critics reason to ignore him, even when he has a valid point. Trump tweeted his scorn for California government's bad management of its forest resources and the resultant worsening of the fire problem. Turns out that California's Legislative Analyst Office agrees, citing bureaucratic obstacles to clearing hazardous accumulation of dead, dry fuel and normal logging. There is some good news. The federal government owns approximately 57% of California's forested land and has accelerated the pace of revenue producing logging operations. This year's harvest will be the largest in decades. Accelerated logging and clearing of fuel saves more endangered species than the bureaucratic obstructions that aggravate fires. The bad news is that 33% of forest land is under California state control. Governor Moonbeam and his acolytes can think up many reasons to not allow logging or burning of accumulated fuel on private land. SF 49ers fans at the Monday night game were wearing masks to filter out smoke particulates. Wonder if anybody fought the state bureaucracy for an air permit for all that smoke spread over millions of people.

The first lawsuit is in against PG&E for a sparking line.

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Release the Kraken

PG&E (and their investors) are in a deep hole. CA rules makes them liable for all fires, whether their equipment had anything to do with it or not. In essence, if a power line runs through an area that has a fire, they are automatically held responsible regardless of the facts.

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Common sense isn't so common.

Problem though with PG&E is that they have a history of doing things on the cheap. They've been know to do things like use the wrong pipe on gas lines. When the gs main blew in San Bruno some years back, it took their people over 30min to figure out they had a problem and figure out how to shut down the line.

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Peace was my Profession

You’re right that utility companies are responsible for fires traced to their equipment wether they are correctly following regulations or not, but if there’s a fire where a PG&E power line just happens to be, that doesn’t mean they are automatically responsible. Like if a camper caused a fire in the vicinity of a power line then they are to blame.
A side note, If PG&E utility caused this, rates will skyrocket for everyone including the victims if they find a new home.

Reportedly, CalFire has said the of 21 major fires last year at least 17 were caused by PG&E lines, poles, and other equipment. Also, They've said if they are at fault, a bankruptcy filing will follow.

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Peace was my Profession

Well ya gotta live somewhere

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Cling Peaches in Heavy Syrup

The Legion Lake fire that started in Custer State Park last December was over 50,000 acres and was started by a tree falling into a power line in high winds. A legal action has been started against the power company for under mining the tree creating a hazard.
The park superintendent said that as bad as the fire was (no loss of life and no buildings burned!) the fire cost was much cheaper than what clearing underbrush would have been.
They do log actively here, and have prescribed fires to clear underbrush to minimize wildfires.
Lightning appears to be the major cause but there are a lot of fires started by "human caused". Very aggressive responses by multiple agencies including volunteer fire departments really helps! Finding ways into the small fires starting is often a problem though.

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Wherever my mind isn't
Jim

The Camp fire {Paradise} now is over 125,000 acres & has claimed over 50 lives. The Sheriff is still counting the remaining homes & burned out places for more bodies. Worst fire disaster in Calif. history. And it's still burning. Supposed to rain next week.

The BBC are saying that the death toll from the Camp Fire is up to 63 and the list of missing has spiked to over 600. An ugly quote from the piece:

California wildfires: Number of missing leaps to 600 - BBC News

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Release the Kraken

There are already a large number of deaths associated with these fires. 600 missing??????
Man that is really bad.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I fear it might take weeks to find all the deceased. People were trapped and running on foot anywhere they could. Many of the stories out of there are pure horror but there are many miracles as well of people being saved by others. There are a lot of wonderful volunteers going in every day to rescue injured animals and feeding/watering others that are okay. Some of these animals have been reunited with their owners who have been ecstatic because in many cases their pet is all they have left. My thanks and prayers to all the firefighters, crews, and volunteers that are helping there! These people are amazing!!!!