Nice of you to think of me, Kurt, but I'm hundreds of miles south of the horrible Wine Country fires, and 60 miles north of the home-devouring fire in Orange County.
The only effect here in Van Nuys was a gorgeously brilliant orange sunrise this morning as the sun tried to shine through all that smoke coming up from southeast of here!
Good to hear. I knew you were somewhere in the region but had no idea the region was that large!
Good news.
I'm familiar with the sunrise and sunset effect because this summer when Canada was burning to the ground we had the same thing (along with choking smoke) here in Washington.
Dave, good to hear you are right between the fires. Hopefully you will stay nice and safe.
We are good. The clean up is so slow for the county. What they've done is cleaned a neighborhood of debris and then piled it along the road side. Not on the main roads, but off roads. Those piles have been there for a few now. Good for the smaller critters, but it looks brown and yucky. We had no structural damage which is a very good thing. I loaded up 10 carts of debris the morning after and Rich hauled out about another 10 bags from the sweepings. Only one small tree, a Firebush, fell over. That was chopped and hauled out. The main trunk was up righted and it is surviving just fine.
Dave, are you able to breathe okay with all that smoke around you? And what about ash fallout, are you seeing any of that?
Luree -- I'm so glad to hear you escaped Irma without major damage or injury! I can't imagine what it must be like hunkering down inside and wondering how much worse it will get! ( Well, actually I CAN sort of relate - that's how we felt at 4am when a big earthquake hit us 23 years ago - we could hear stuff falling and breaking all over the house and wondering how much longer the shaking would last!)
As to our little corner of California -- only the vaguest whiff of smoke in the air here and no ash yet . . . unlike last month during the Burbank fire when we were warned not to even go outside , and there was little bits of falling ash everywhere! Thanks for asking, Luree!
Luree, so glad you're ok and that everything turned out as well as could be expected under the circumstances, although I'm sorry about all the additional work that you ended up with.
Jeri, thanks for asking! (And I'm sorry I didn't even think of posting about it.) I'm a little closer to the Anaheim Hills fire (called the Canyon 2 fire) -- it's about 15-20 miles from me at the closest point. But there is no sense of danger in this area.
The amazing thing is that most of the greater Los Angeles area has had bad air quality because of the fire, with the peculiar sky and the strange sunrises and sunsets, but not right where I live in the San Gabriel Valley. If you look at maps of the air quality forecast for the area (at least from a day or two ago -- I haven't seen one today) it shows trouble everywhere except right here. I have no idea why that is, because we are not usually exempt from any and all air quality issues. So, I can't even tell that there's such a bad fire nearby.
I've had 2 close calls with fires over the years, and it's not fun. I really feel for everyone affected, both locally, and especially for the truly devastating ones in Northern California. (Including Santa Rosa, which was a place I had been considering for retirement. I just don't think that's really feasibly anymore.) I heard that one of the fires exploded from 200 acres in the evening to 20,000 acres by the next day, travelling about 19 miles. Extraordinary. And tragic. Too many fatalities already and so many more missing. :-(
Seems to me the Drought and Fire seasons are lasting a very long time this year. Lets hope those seasons end now and good luck to all in the danger zones.
It definitely feels that way, John! These high winds off the desert seem to me to be unusually late in the year, when everything is already at its driest, so it makes for a precarious situation like we're in right now.
Hopefully it passes soon. I'll be ready for Flood anytime now!
Comments
The only effect here in Van Nuys was a gorgeously brilliant orange sunrise this morning as the sun tried to shine through all that smoke coming up from southeast of here!
Good news.
I'm familiar with the sunrise and sunset effect because this summer when Canada was burning to the ground we had the same thing (along with choking smoke) here in Washington.
Now, we need to hear from our other "Sweet Dave" - Dave F - Philatarium. Check in if possible and let us know you're all right.
We are good. The clean up is so slow for the county. What they've done is cleaned a neighborhood of debris and then piled it along the road side. Not on the main roads, but off roads. Those piles have been there for a few now. Good for the smaller critters, but it looks brown and yucky. We had no structural damage which is a very good thing. I loaded up 10 carts of debris the morning after and Rich hauled out about another 10 bags from the sweepings. Only one small tree, a Firebush, fell over. That was chopped and hauled out. The main trunk was up righted and it is surviving just fine.
Dave, are you able to breathe okay with all that smoke around you? And what about ash fallout, are you seeing any of that?
As to our little corner of California -- only the vaguest whiff of smoke in the air here and no ash yet . . . unlike last month during the Burbank fire when we were warned not to even go outside , and there was little bits of falling ash everywhere! Thanks for asking, Luree!
Luree, so glad you're ok and that everything turned out as well as could be expected under the circumstances, although I'm sorry about all the additional work that you ended up with.
Jeri, thanks for asking! (And I'm sorry I didn't even think of posting about it.) I'm a little closer to the Anaheim Hills fire (called the Canyon 2 fire) -- it's about 15-20 miles from me at the closest point. But there is no sense of danger in this area.
The amazing thing is that most of the greater Los Angeles area has had bad air quality because of the fire, with the peculiar sky and the strange sunrises and sunsets, but not right where I live in the San Gabriel Valley. If you look at maps of the air quality forecast for the area (at least from a day or two ago -- I haven't seen one today) it shows trouble everywhere except right here. I have no idea why that is, because we are not usually exempt from any and all air quality issues. So, I can't even tell that there's such a bad fire nearby.
I've had 2 close calls with fires over the years, and it's not fun. I really feel for everyone affected, both locally, and especially for the truly devastating ones in Northern California. (Including Santa Rosa, which was a place I had been considering for retirement. I just don't think that's really feasibly anymore.) I heard that one of the fires exploded from 200 acres in the evening to 20,000 acres by the next day, travelling about 19 miles. Extraordinary. And tragic. Too many fatalities already and so many more missing. :-(
Fire and Water and Wind. What a year we've all had! And we made it, some a little frazzled, but we are all here.
Ted
The running joke is that Southern California really does have 4 seasons. It's just that they're Earthquake, Drought, Fire and Flood. ☺
Hopefully it passes soon. I'll be ready for Flood anytime now!