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Their home is in the northern section of Santa Rosa, California that was devastated by the wildfires this morning. I received a PM from him about 7 am PDT--he said they were preparing to evacuate, fires were all around, and he could hear propane tanks exploding in the neighborhood. I haven't heard anything from him since, but the news photos look really bad.

This has been such a crappy year, I want it to go away. Hope they are all OK.

Thinking good wishes for you and family, Mike.

Dang . Stay safe mike.

We will be thinking of you Mike.

Best wishes to you and yours from Down Under Mike.

Just got a PM saying that his home is OK so far, though with devastation to the N, E, and S. Power has been out all day. Most neighbors evacuated, he and a few others stayed, with car packed and ready to roll at a moment's notice. His workplace is in the devasted area, though. News says at least 10 dead and 1500 buildings destroyed in the multiple fires.

So many fires at once, can't help but think of arson...

So many fires at once, can't help but think of arson...

What my thoughts were this morning.

Stay safe Mike!

Lightning strikes too with conditions being so dry. Been reading latest news, not good for Sonoma nor Napa counties. Good to hear that Mike still has a home.

If somebody has immediate contact with him to inform him no to stay too long there, fire is very unpredictable element, people can die nearby, not from the fire itself, but the oxygen that consumes enough to choke animals and people.
I wish to overcome this bad situation himself his family and everybody that suffers it.

Oh dear... I hope he and his loved ones will be ok!!

staying behind with the car ready to go is a very bad idea. you can't escape sometimes in that way. Many of the victims of the recent summer fire in portugal died in their cars in such a way. i agree with asinoro and there is more to that.
let's hope there will be not more victims and damage and that our friend stays safe

This summer many wildfires destroyed acres of forest in south west of France. A 14 years old boy has just been arrested; he admited more than 18 fire outbreaks.

I hope he and his family are safe. Sad if he lost his house but life is so unvaluable...

I’ll be thinking of Mike and his family, sending good vibes their way. Really hope everything works out for the best despite the situation.

Keep safe Mike and all.

Good Luck from Texas, Mike.

Later PMs from Mike have let me know that he and his family have evacuated to his mother's home out of the fire zone. Watching maps such as https://sonomamap.maps.arcgis.com/apps/ ... f8daf7b13f have so far given them some peace of mind and allowed some much needed sleep, since so far their home seems to be out of danger. He says without live maps such as that one, it's very difficult to get good information about the current situation.

Good to hear. The situation out there looks pretty bad.

May it be so--and continue to be.

Happy to hear that Mike is in a safe place.
Wildfires are so unpredictable.

Thanks for the positive update Stevo. My thoughts and prayers are with Mike and his family.

Thanks from me too Stevo, great to hear that they are OK. The fires are headline news here in NZ but not much detail. That map helps a lot.

Mike please be safe.

I lived on Mission Blvd in Rincon Valley when I was living in Santa Rosa. I am guessing that area has been burned out, but not certain as I have not seen proper mapping over a street layout... Have many friends that I worry about on the east side of SR, presume it is a bit early to discover much about their current condition.
I also have a close friend on the West Side of Clear Lake and he has not been in touch since the shooting here in Vegas.

So glad to hear he is safe!!

@ namida12 fire zone looks to be about 3/4 mile NNW of Mission Blvd on current map.

Many thanks, Stevo, for the map. My wife's cousin lives in Santa Rosa and we were able to check her address and see that her house is safe (for the time being). She evacuated a few days ago.

Thanks all. This is definitely High anxiety time. My wife & I will take turns watching the perimeter for any fires that approach during the night. The vehicle is packed and ready to go if needed. Thanks for all the map links too. It's really difficult to tell where the fires are or where they're going. Air support, the red dust & water tank bombers didn't start doing their thing until today. We have AM radio on 24hrs day @ 103.5FM for updates. The fires are everywhere and continue to spread but near as fast as they did Sunday Night/Monday morning. Most of the East Side of town (where my home is located) is without power.

We're staying in Healdsburg at Moms, who at 84, btw, has become quite the capable MX user.

- mike

Gordon Cooper wrote:@ namida12 fire zone looks to be about 3/4 mile NNW of Mission Blvd on current map.

Gordon, Thanks. Daughter was able to make contact with one of her school mates, lots of people have been burned out, but all are safe. My friend in Clearlake made contact this morning he is on South West side of the lake. He and his home is still safe. He picked a few friends on east side of lake by boat, and has a house full. He reports east side: one boat up on a evaluator dock with everything behind it burned to the ground. Where he picked up friend on east side of lake, there were about 35 homes burned to the ground.

JR

The situation is definitely improving. From up on a hill in Healdsburg, I can't see anything burning to the East anymore. There's still a pretty big fire working its way South from Geyserville but the Chinooks with Water buckets are regularly cycling in and out of it. I drove South to check on my home (still standing) and the East hills that had been a blaze the last 3 days are just smoldering now.

mike

That's great to hear. The satellite images still look awful...

The best map to see what's burning is this one. Only have the MODIS satellite fire detection box checked. Uncheck any others.
Red==active fire
Orange==burning out
Black==Out

Will do that for sure. Is there smoke where you are at? We had lots of smoke this summer in western Oregon. It makes a big difference if the wind isn't moving the smoke out. Can you see any fires from your place?

Thank you for the instructions Mike!

duane wrote:Will do that for sure. Is there smoke where you are at? We had lots of smoke this summer in western Oregon. It makes a big difference if the wind isn't moving the smoke out. Can you see any fires from your place?

It was real smoky at my house today, not so much at mom's. The fires are all to the East running North & South of Mom's and the wind's been out of the NW blowing smoke & ash away from Mom's and towards my home. I can see smoke coming from the Geyserville fire from mom's in Healdsburg.

It's bushfire season down here every year and some state or district gets scorched, a bit like California. I bet there's even some Eucalyptus around there for effect. I was fortunate when some scores of homes were lost on my road and in the local township. Photos of a family sheltering in the waters beside a jetty even made international news. The fire passed around the farms buffering my little corner of the coast, toasting the wooded hills and flats nearby.

The smoke lingered for days while things burnt out and this, along with following the continued alerts and updates, patrolling for embers without power, running water and local telco mobile network tower out, car almost empty of fuel...I had neighbors but the first official contact as after several days when emergency crews did a property audit, checking who was there or gone to safety, the police tape on driveways a reminder for months later.

...cycling the morning after into town to find smouldering stubs of utility poles, some still suspended by wires, others cut hurriedly clearing the road by emergency crews.... ruin after ruin of houses completely destroyed, others surviving essentially unscathed. Seeing the broken bottles and discarded cans now exposed on bare blackened earth verges.

Take good care Mike and be sure to get some time away somewhere peaceful when circumstances allow to recuperate.

All the fire maps indicated clear near my place so we left Mom's and went home yesterday AM. I got up to pee the dog at 3:30AM and the SRPD was banging on all the doors to get out NOW! No wind, nothing burning on the fire maps but I could see the flames coming over the hill from Sugar Loaf State park maybe 1/4 mi to the SE. We have relocated to my brothers in Windsor.

Mandatory evac notice on nixle.com now from adobe rd to Calistoga rd all areas N & S of HWY 12.

dang!

mike

Stay safe.

Damn, Mike--that sounds awful.

The only map that's staying current. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/multimedia ... eadline-xy - mike

Some chance of rain only on Thursday, hopefully the wind is not going to blow too much. Fingers crossed.

Adrian wrote:Some chance of rain only on Thursday, hopefully the wind is not going to blow too much. Fingers crossed.

amen on that

This is what the hills East of Santa Rosa look like from Sebastopol.

Facing NW, this is what we woke up to @ about 2AM on the 9th.

The same view after it got light.

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:Facing NW, this is what we woke up to @ about 2AM on the 9th.

Goddam, that would so freak me out!

Our mandatory evacuation was just lifted. We are going home tonight.

Good to hear Mike!

Wow, that's great! Must be a big relief.

Rock on, Mike.

Welcome home Mike. Are the services still working ?

Welcome home Mike. Are the services still working ?

Mail for sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wsegE01zUE

Thanks Adrian. What a disaster area! Never been in a wildfire situation but recall a tropical cyclone where we had to dig a small well to get clean water for one of the team to wash his contact lenses.

The place is like we just came home from work. AC & Gas is on. Still keeping a couple bags packed up next to the front door just in case.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, best wishes. It meant a lot.

MX Rocks!

- mike

Great News! Thanks for letting us know. I'm glad that mmikeinsantarosa is back in Santa Rosa. It's been a crazy year with the weather and the fires.

Adrian wrote:

Welcome home Mike. Are the services still working ?

Mail for sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wsegE01zUE

That's my old neighborhood... Coffee Park. We moved from there 13 yrs ago. Areas that weren't anywhere near forests got burned to the ground and pine & redwood forests just off the main path didn't get touched. My wife and I are so fortunate and grateful to have been skipped by the destructive path(s) of this thing. Many of our friends and co-workers lost everything.

good to be home

I remember the feeling when we had to evacuate during the Waldo Canyon fire a few years ago. And, there's no place like home. I'm glad all is good...

Good to be home I'm sure!! :)

@mmikeinsantarosa:

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:

Adrian wrote:

Welcome home Mike. Are the services still working ?

Mail for sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wsegE01zUE

That's my old neighborhood... Coffee Park. We moved from there 13 yrs ago. Areas that weren't anywhere near forests got burned to the ground and pine & redwood forests just off the main path didn't get touched. My wife and I are so fortunate and grateful to have been skipped by the destructive path(s) of this thing. Many of our friends and co-workers lost everything.

good to be home

Only just read this. Glad nothing happened to you. My thoughts and prayers will be with you, your family, friends and co-workers.

Just looked for a free/libre open source wildfire warning software for Linux-based systems, but I didn't find any (none for Android neither). Would be good to have devices warning everyone in time. Did you receive an SMS alert?

If there's anything I can do for you, please send me a PM!


Greetings, and take care, Joe

I think one of the problem is that mobile communication is one of the first to drop during fires, SMS won't work if there's no cell reception.

This may be wildly OT but there once was an effort to make a non-centralized peer-to-peer network that would be more robust in these situations. I don't know what came if it. I imagine it met stiff resistance from companies that profit from the centralization.

Adrian wrote:I think one of the problem is that mobile communication is one of the first to drop during fires, SMS won't work if there's no cell reception.

Correct. I recall hearing 70+ cell towers went down during this event. They either just lost power or burnt. Cell reception was spotty. For most of Tuesday there was an area at my mom's in her driveway about 20' x 20' where we could make calls. Inside the house and most areas outside were dead.

@BitJam:

BitJam wrote:This may be wildly OT but there once was an effort to make a non-centralized peer-to-peer network that would be more robust in these situations. I don't know what came if it. I imagine it met stiff resistance from companies that profit from the centralization.

Like some kind of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_networking system? Greetings, Joe

as far as i know , the only thing to help you communicate in such situations, is amateur radio. that's why i asked timkb4cq the other time if due to weather crisis , people occupied the frequencies to find each other and created a messy situation.

one question, why do you people in usa build your houses with such materials? why not stone or bricks or cement or something else? are these expensive there as i hear? is there another reason?

why do you people in usa build your houses with such materials? why not stone or bricks or cement or something else? are these expensive there as i hear? is there another reason?

It's probably a matter of both cost and culture -- we didn't learn from the story with 3 little piggies... the second, wood house, was still blown away.

From what I know tradition and thereby cost and building time make that wooden houses are so "popular" in the US. In France thanks to the 3 little piggies, people have tendancy to think that wooden house are much less reliable (about 10% of new built houses, the vast majority are made of brick).

In case of violent wildfire, I'm not sure you don't have to build from scratch even in a brick house except if you build that (google translate is your friend)

The devastated Coffey Park area was considered not to be in a wildfire hazard zone, and the homes were not subject to regulations that other California homes in danger zones are required to follow to be fire resistant, such as fire resistant roofing or screened attic vents. The regulations are sure to be revised after this disaster. The fires spread via embers flying in the high winds and lodging in eaves, roofs, etc. Experts think most of the homes ignited through embers flying into attics through unscreened attic vents and starting fires in there, so even brick or concrete buildings would have been collapsed, burned-out shells...and even modern, fire-resistant buildings such as hospitals and big-box stores built of cinder block still were destroyed in Santa Rosa, so fire researchers have their work cut out for them.

As for why wood-frame houses, there are several reasons besides money and ease of construction:

They are more earthquake resistant overall than concrete or masonry structures, which is very important in this part of California, as long as they are securely bolted to the foundation.

The climate is generally mild, so the homes don't have to withstand bitterly cold winters, wild hurricane-force winds, or have basements like in most other parts of the US. Homeowners in the Midwest have to think about being prepared for tornadoes, for example.

i see... thanks for the replies.
i asked because every time i see in the news that a disaster of some kind, hurricanes,fires etc, hits the usa , nothing remains... everything seems totally collapsed. So , i thought that it must be the houses , the way they are constructed...

A lot of the homes destroyed in Hurricane Andrew were indeed of rather shoddy wood-frame construction, while solidly-built concrete structures survived. Of course, we saw the same sort of thing happen recently in the Caribbean this year, too.

I live in upstate New York, not far from the Canadian Border. The vast majority of houses are wood frame, but not surprisingly my father who was an Italian immigrant and mason built a brick house. I think it is somewhat cultural.
During my first visit to Canada as a boy I was taken aback by the almost universal masonry houses, brick mostly. Eighty miles away from my home the atmosphere was completely different largely due o the structures. Different culture, different concept of what the home and heath should be encased in. That is my uninformed contribution to the reason.

Ha! My house is made of foam with a concrete core--it would stand after a wild fire, but it would be super ugly.

Here in the Shaky Isles, we're much the same, or possibly worse than California for earthquakes. Timber framing is usual for housing, though the cladding may vary.
Being planned for Wellingon (most likely city to have a shake) is a 12 level office block, foundation re-inforced concrete, but everything to be laminated timber above ground. Claims are that it will be more resistant to both earthquakes and fire than the usual steel/concrete structure.

The original part of my house is made of adobe but I don't think it would withstand a fire.

I was living in El Cajon during the 2003 Cedar Fire: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ceda ... story.html

There was smoke everywhere that morning, but then I was driving along the 52 freeway and it had flames roaring alongside it! That night, it burned right to the roads marking the northern edge of Santee, residents were evacuated in a mad rush, but a heroic effort stopped the fire from getting into Santee. Other areas later were much less fortunate. We had four days of heavy smoke, making breathing dangerous, without a trace of the sun.

This artist lost most of his artwork and home's contents, as well as 4 of 9 structures in his compound, during the fire. But it wasn't designed to be a bunker like the one in French link: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdu ... story.html

Still angry about the hunter that started it. 300 lbs, out of shape, smoking pot with his brother. Wanders down a 2000 ft. deep canyon during 100 F weather, then claims he became lost when he was actually just not able to climb back out. Starts the fire to summon rescue and is more worried about getting in trouble for being stoned than starting the fire on his helicopter ride out. Later lies to investigators and claims his firearm started the blaze. Finally sentenced to 6 months work furlough and a $900 fine.

Things are a tad messy here. My work site is inside an evacuation area. We have been getting checked in & out via national guard which recently got replaced by a private security firm. Hard hats & Steel toed boots now required on the job. I blew my lower back out frantically loading the vehicle up when we got evacuated a couple Saturdays ago. Although the home is still standing, not everything, especially mwa is running on all cylinders yet. The first couple of days back to work, it took over an hour just to go the last 1/2 mile. My normal commute is about 12 minutes. Today it only took 20 minutes to get on site.

@mmikeinsantarosa:

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:Things are a tad messy here. My work site is inside an evacuation area. We have been getting checked in & out via national guard which recently got replaced by a private security firm. Hard hats & Steel toed boots now required on the job. I blew my lower back out frantically loading the vehicle up when we got evacuated a couple Saturdays ago. (...) My normal commute is about 12 minutes. Today it only took 20 minutes to get on site.

Poor you! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help. Wouldn't know exactly what that could be, but saying just in case.


Greetings, and have a safe week, Joe

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:We have been getting checked in & out via national guard which recently got replaced by a private security firm

why? that sounds weird
and what authority has a private security firm upon you?
do you people there find this situation normal? what are other people in the area say aboyt this?

xali wrote:

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:We have been getting checked in & out via national guard which recently got replaced by a private security firm

why? that sounds weird
and what authority has a private security firm upon you?
do you people there find this situation normal? what are other people in the area say aboyt this?

Initially, the road to work was closed due to the devastation the fire left in it's path. The area was under a mandatory evacuation order. There were a lot of homes on that street and law enforcement didn't want anybody going through the rubble and looting what they could find or entering homes that hadn't burned and taking stuff out. Also, nobody knew if there were hazardous materials brought out by the fires. The national guard was called in to keep everyone out. Towards the end, they began to let home owners in to get what they could and people like me in to go to work. You had to get your name on a list for the national guard to use and if your name was on the list, you got in. You also got checked out when you left. Eventually, the national guard was redeployed elsewhere but they still needed to keep nitwits out. So for about 2 days, road security access was executed by a private firm. Then they opened up the road to thru traffic and a private security firm was placed at the entrance to my work where you had to have your name on a list to get in. It was a mess whenever someone got in line and wasn't on the list. A couple times, people were just going through and got diverted into our plant where they couldn't get in and stopped the train from moving.

looting and hazardous materials, yes that makes sense then.
very messy and annoying situation, keep strong mike

@Adrian:

Adrian wrote:I think one of the problem is that mobile communication is one of the first to drop during fires, SMS won't work if there's no cell reception.

If one bought a satellite phone, would you get an emergency notice if you had a satellite phone?

In order to do this, your provider would probably have to know where you actually are. Is this information being delivered to the satellite once you are logged into the network?

Might be an option, they are not too expensive any more. I don't know what kind of alert systems are usually being offered with standard plans, however.


Greetings, Joe

mikesantarosa wrote:Towards the end, they began to let home owners in to get what they could and people like me in to go to work. You had to get your name on a list for the national guard to use and if your name was on the list, you got in. You also got checked out when you left.

one question...
what about people who lost their id, passport etc in the flames? how did they prove that they are who they say they are?

In Australia, we have an alert system tied to location, arising from past devastating bushfires.
http://www.emergencyalert.gov.au/

xali wrote:

mikesantarosa wrote:Towards the end, they began to let home owners in to get what they could and people like me in to go to work. You had to get your name on a list for the national guard to use and if your name was on the list, you got in. You also got checked out when you left.

one question...
what about people who lost their id, passport etc in the flames? how did they prove that they are who they say they are?

The city put up a one stop shopping center for everything any local might need. Blankets, food, water, Insurance center etc. I'm not sure how it worked but if you needed ze papers, that's where you went to get them. I don't know of any fraud there but human nature being what it is, I'd bet there was some of that. - mike

thanks mike for the reply

@tascoast
very interesting thank you

@mikesantarosa: How are things going now that some time has passed? How you are well! Greetings, Joe

MX-16_fan wrote:@mikesantarosa: How are things going now that some time has passed? How you are well! Greetings, Joe

We're all OK. I tweaked my back during an evac. in Oct and it's still messed up. I'm going to a back surgeon Friday to see what my options are. A lot of town still looks like a war zone and we are just now beginning to see construction crews clear out lots where there used to be homes. A lot of doctors are leaving the area because there's no place for them to live close to the hospitals. Some that are staying are doing 80hr weeks to make up for it. Now is a good time to sell if you're looking to leave because there just aren't any homes available. It's going to take years for this place to come back. - mike

@mmikeinsantarosa:

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:

MX-16_fan wrote:@mikesantarosa: How are things going now that some time has passed? How you are well! Greetings, Joe

We're all OK. I tweaked my back during an evac. in Oct and it's still messed up. I'm going to a back surgeon Friday to see what my options are. A lot of town still looks like a war zone and we are just now beginning to see construction crews clear out lots where there used to be homes. A lot of doctors are leaving the area because there's no place for them to live close to the hospitals. Some that are staying are doing 80hr weeks to make up for it. Now is a good time to sell if you're looking to leave because there just aren't any homes available. It's going to take years for this place to come back. - mike

So sorry to hear all that. Glad that you are o.k., however. Prayers and best wishes, Joe

MX-16_fan wrote:@mmikeinsantarosa:

mmikeinsantarosa wrote:

MX-16_fan wrote:@mikesantarosa: How are things going now that some time has passed? How you are well! Greetings, Joe

We're all OK. I tweaked my back during an evac. in Oct and it's still messed up. I'm going to a back surgeon Friday to see what my options are. A lot of town still looks like a war zone and we are just now beginning to see construction crews clear out lots where there used to be homes. A lot of doctors are leaving the area because there's no place for them to live close to the hospitals. Some that are staying are doing 80hr weeks to make up for it. Now is a good time to sell if you're looking to leave because there just aren't any homes available. It's going to take years for this place to come back. - mike

So sorry to hear all that. Glad that you are o.k., however. Prayers and best wishes, Joe

Thanks Joe

Apparently the cell phone alert system also failed to be timely in the Montecito flash floods/debris flows. Though I would think that all the storm warnings for days in advance, coupled with the unprecedented incredibly intense rainfall (half an inch in five minutes) that passed over Montecito from the south before it hit the burn area, waking most people up, would also have served as a big "get out now!" to those in the voluntary evacuation zone. But people's desire to stay in their homes is strong.

Montecito is Spanish for "little mountains", and the neighborhoods are made more picturesque by the huge boulders scattered everywhere. But those were brought there by prehistoric debris flows; in fact Montecito and much of Santa Barbara are built on top of debris flow deposits. That's akin to building on top of an active fault, dormant volcano, or in a river floodplain. Bad things are going to happen eventually.

Great read here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1988 ... ountains-i

Stevo wrote:Montecito is Spanish for "little mountains", and the neighborhoods are made more picturesque by the huge boulders scattered everywhere. But those were brought there by prehistoric debris flows; in fact Montecito and much of Santa Barbara are built on top of debris flow deposits. That's akin to building on top of an active fault, dormant volcano, or in a river floodplain. Bad things are going to happen eventually.

Too right, Stevo. It's as bad as building a church on an ancient landslip!

Interesting read there. I sometimes enjoy a long New Yorker article, even though geography and media here are far apart. The majority of the Australian landscape is reputedly worn down over long ages, once soaring ranges now barely discernible, occasional rocky remains. Tasmania perhaps shows the most glacially shaped remnants of recent formation, with some dolomite boulder fields and expanses on nearby ranges, some including glacial formations like scattered lakes and debris structures. I gather parts of New Zealand are quite active and prone to shift, by contrast, the Ring of Fire and all being influential. Regarding fire, the traditional practices of regular burning to maintain grasslands, create mosaics and minimize wildfire potential seems to parallel some of the N American experience. Our flora and fauna are well adapted to regular burning, particularly cool burns that promote grasses, terrestrial orchids, lilies and varied herbage. European settlement has disrupted such close, widespread and persistent fire management, although in Northern Australia fire is still an important and regular seasonal feature of land management. Elsewhere it tends to be controlled fuel reduction burns by fire and parks crews, who can barely complete very modest targets, given the resources available, going by historical comparison.