Mt. Baldy threatened by fire

The Grand Prix fire burning near Rancho Cucamonga has spread east and
threatens the access road to Mt. Baldy area. Mt. Baldy residents are being
evacuated. If the Santa Ana winds continue, the fire should stay away from
the ski area proper. However, fire protection assets are stretched kind of
thin (I can see clouds of smoke and hear firetruck sirens down here in San
Diego county from a new fire that started last night), so fires that burn up
into wilderness mountain areas may be ignored for a while.

Bev, are you downwind?

http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grandprix/index.html

Richard Henry wrote:

The Grand Prix fire burning near Rancho Cucamonga has spread east and
threatens the access road to Mt. Baldy area. Mt. Baldy residents are being
evacuated. If the Santa Ana winds continue, the fire should stay away from
the ski area proper. However, fire protection assets are stretched kind of
thin (I can see clouds of smoke and hear firetruck sirens down here in San
Diego county from a new fire that started last night), so fires that burn up
into wilderness mountain areas may be ignored for a while.

Bev, are you downwind?

Possibly, but the smoke is too high for us to smell by the time it gets
here. Yesterday morning it was clear here, but you could see the cloud
of smoke to the east blowing to the south.

Update (I just went outside for the first time today): the sky is beige
and I can smell a little smoke.

http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grandprix/index.html

Some really nice pictures here, but only thumbnails:
http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grand...ixgallery.html

Just looked at the maps. I hadn't driven up I-15 for a long time before
I started skiing at Mountain High two years ago and was surprised by all
the houses that had been built in that area. Not pleasantly surprised,
either.

I missed why it's called the Grand Prix fire...

Son said that there's a fire in Moorpark and ashes are falling in 1K
Oaks.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...724508,00.html

Not much coverage yet.

--
Cheers, Bev
-----------------------------------------
Of course SoCal has four seasons:
Earthquake, Mudslide, Brushfire, and Riot

"The Real Bev" wrote in message
...
Richard Henry wrote:

The Grand Prix fire burning near Rancho Cucamonga has spread east and
threatens the access road to Mt. Baldy area. Mt. Baldy residents are
being
evacuated. If the Santa Ana winds continue, the fire should stay away
from
the ski area proper. However, fire protection assets are stretched kind
of
thin (I can see clouds of smoke and hear firetruck sirens down here in
San
Diego county from a new fire that started last night), so fires that
burn up
into wilderness mountain areas may be ignored for a while.

Bev, are you downwind?

Possibly, but the smoke is too high for us to smell by the time it gets
here. Yesterday morning it was clear here, but you could see the cloud
of smoke to the east blowing to the south.

Update (I just went outside for the first time today): the sky is beige
and I can smell a little smoke.

http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grandprix/index.html

Some really nice pictures here, but only thumbnails:
http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grand...ixgallery.html

Just looked at the maps. I hadn't driven up I-15 for a long time before
I started skiing at Mountain High two years ago and was surprised by all
the houses that had been built in that area. Not pleasantly surprised,
either.

I missed why it's called the Grand Prix fire...

Son said that there's a fire in Moorpark and ashes are falling in 1K
Oaks.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...724508,00.html

Not much coverage yet.

Intermittent power outages caused by fire and wind knocked out the cable
modem signal for a while. Just got back from climbing a hill about a
half-mile south watching the CDF bombers diving on a fire in the valley
south of that. At the rodeo grounds, people were bringing in horses
evacuated from the ranchitos in the hills. At the convenience store around
the corner, the power outages had knocked out the cash registers. The lady
behind the counter was willing to let us go without paying for our hotdog,
soda, and ice cream, so I gave the change in my pocket - a couple of bucks.
We have the pictures, papers and a few clothes packed up in case the fire
hops the main road south of us.

Good news: there are no ski lifts threatened in San Diego County.

Richard Henry wrote:

"The Real Bev" wrote in message
...
Richard Henry wrote:

The Grand Prix fire burning near Rancho Cucamonga has spread east and
threatens the access road to Mt. Baldy area. Mt. Baldy residents are
being
evacuated. If the Santa Ana winds continue, the fire should stay away
from
the ski area proper. However, fire protection assets are stretched kind
of
thin (I can see clouds of smoke and hear firetruck sirens down here in
San
Diego county from a new fire that started last night), so fires that
burn up
into wilderness mountain areas may be ignored for a while.

Bev, are you downwind?

Possibly, but the smoke is too high for us to smell by the time it gets
here. Yesterday morning it was clear here, but you could see the cloud
of smoke to the east blowing to the south.

Update (I just went outside for the first time today): the sky is beige
and I can smell a little smoke.

http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grandprix/index.html

Some really nice pictures here, but only thumbnails:
http://www.incidentcontrol.com/grand...ixgallery.html

Just looked at the maps. I hadn't driven up I-15 for a long time before
I started skiing at Mountain High two years ago and was surprised by all
the houses that had been built in that area. Not pleasantly surprised,
either.

I missed why it's called the Grand Prix fire...

Son said that there's a fire in Moorpark and ashes are falling in 1K
Oaks.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1...724508,00.html

Not much coverage yet.

Intermittent power outages caused by fire and wind knocked out the cable
modem signal for a while. Just got back from climbing a hill about a
half-mile south watching the CDF bombers diving on a fire in the valley
south of that. At the rodeo grounds, people were bringing in horses
evacuated from the ranchitos in the hills. At the convenience store around
the corner, the power outages had knocked out the cash registers. The lady
behind the counter was willing to let us go without paying for our hotdog,
soda, and ice cream, so I gave the change in my pocket - a couple of bucks.
We have the pictures, papers and a few clothes packed up in case the fire
hops the main road south of us.

Jesus, that's scary. A couple of people were apparently killed in your
fire. We're close to the foothills, but I can't imagine a fire
spreading that far. Although several years ago one came really close to
St. Luke's hospital, which Caltech just bought. I couldn't have
imagined that, either.

LA Times coverage:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fires26oct26,1,4891037.story?coll=la-home-headlines
and
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-102603fires_wr,1,6754725.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Good news: there are no ski lifts threatened in San Diego County.

Then we can all breathe a sigh of relief that nothing important will be
destroyed.

--
Cheers,
Bev
------------------------------------------------------
"Don't bother looking for that key. There is no Esc."
-- M. Tabnik

On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 13:46:37 -0800, The Real Bev
wrote:

Then we can all breathe a sigh of relief that nothing important will be
destroyed.

The way I look at, the entire state of California could go up in
flames and absolutely nothing "important" would be destroyed...

....except some vineyards.

-Astro

AstroPax wrote:

On Sun, 26 Oct 2003 13:46:37 -0800, The Real Bev
wrote:

Then we can all breathe a sigh of relief that nothing important will be
destroyed.

The way I look at, the entire state of California could go up in
flames and absolutely nothing "important" would be destroyed...

...except some vineyards.

Hrm. There are quite a few of those in the Cucamonga area near the
fire. When I drive by in the winter the old gnarled vines look dead and
there are weeds growing all over the ground, so maybe ours are already
gone. Or maybe that's the way they always look in winter.

--
Cheers,
Bev
----------------------------------------------
Linux: The penguin is mightier than the sword

"Richard Henry" wrote in message
news:TNWmb.91389$La.13778@fed1read02...

Intermittent power outages caused by fire and wind knocked out the cable
modem signal for a while. Just got back from climbing a hill about a
half-mile south watching the CDF bombers diving on a fire in the valley
south of that. At the rodeo grounds, people were bringing in horses
evacuated from the ranchitos in the hills. At the convenience store
around
the corner, the power outages had knocked out the cash registers. The
lady
behind the counter was willing to let us go without paying for our hotdog,
soda, and ice cream, so I gave the change in my pocket - a couple of
bucks.
We have the pictures, papers and a few clothes packed up in case the fire
hops the main road south of us.

Good news: there are no ski lifts threatened in San Diego County.


I was encouraged by the fact that the fire crews were setting backfires
along the road that I had picked as our safety limit. Then the fire got
around the edge of the backfires and came down through a canyon filled with
big old oaks and sycamores, going up in 100-foot fire tornados. I was up on
a hill watching when it broke into the canyon, and I scooted home. I sent
my wife and kids away to friends with our valuables.

The firestorm came over the hilltop I was watching from about 30 minutes
after I left. Then the wind stopped, and the fire laid down. Now I can see
three flame fronts from the back yard. The one that is the most threatening
is on a ridgeline east of us, but with the wind stopped it is moving only
slowly. Also, the firemen have started backfires whenever a house on the
ridge is closely threatened.

If I decide to bug out, the last thing to go will be this computer.

Richard Henry wrote:

I was encouraged by the fact that the fire crews were setting backfires
along the road that I had picked as our safety limit. Then the fire got
around the edge of the backfires and came down through a canyon filled with
big old oaks and sycamores, going up in 100-foot fire tornados. I was up on
a hill watching when it broke into the canyon, and I scooted home. I sent
my wife and kids away to friends with our valuables.

The firestorm came over the hilltop I was watching from about 30 minutes
after I left. Then the wind stopped, and the fire laid down. Now I can see
three flame fronts from the back yard. The one that is the most threatening
is on a ridgeline east of us, but with the wind stopped it is moving only
slowly. Also, the firemen have started backfires whenever a house on the
ridge is closely threatened.

If I decide to bug out, the last thing to go will be this computer.

How far away is it in feet/blocks/miles? The closest we've had fire is
perhaps 1.5 miles away, where some expensive (multimillion$) hillside
homes were burned. Or half a block, where some evicted tenants set fire
to the house from which they were evicted.

--
Cheers,
Bev
----------------------------------------------
Linux: The penguin is mightier than the sword

"The Real Bev" wrote in message
...


How far away is it in feet/blocks/miles? The closest we've had fire is
perhaps 1.5 miles away, where some expensive (multimillion$) hillside
homes were burned. Or half a block, where some evicted tenants set fire
to the house from which they were evicted.

About a half-mile east to the ridgeline that just burned over, apparently
without much damage to homes (we'll know wehn the sun comes up and the smoke
clears); about a half-mile south to the ridgeline I went up to view the
fire's progress today (two of the three peaks I went up have burned over,
but only one of them was populated). The winds are squirrely now, sometimes
calm, sometimes brisk from the east, sometimes light from the northwest.

Richard Henry wrote:

"The Real Bev" wrote:

How far away is it in feet/blocks/miles? The closest we've had fire is
perhaps 1.5 miles away, where some expensive (multimillion$) hillside
homes were burned. Or half a block, where some evicted tenants set fire
to the house from which they were evicted.

About a half-mile east to the ridgeline that just burned over, apparently
without much damage to homes (we'll know wehn the sun comes up and the smoke
clears); about a half-mile south to the ridgeline I went up to view the
fire's progress today (two of the three peaks I went up have burned over,
but only one of them was populated). The winds are squirrely now, sometimes
calm, sometimes brisk from the east, sometimes light from the northwest.

Jesus, that IS scary. Have you soaked everything you can reach with a
hose? A half a mile away is where the hills actually start here. We
replaced the scale-filled pipe bringing water to the house a few years
ago, and we can now deliver at least 3x the water we could before. I
figure this means that we'll never have to actually do it...

--
Cheers,
Bev
================================================== ===============
"The federal government has taken too much tax money from the
people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty
with the Constitution." -- Ronald Reagan