Oh joy. Another California wildfire

Nov 9 0715 PST

Quick travel update. It’s just now daylight and fire officials will be doing updates as soon as they get a better picture.

Highway 101 in Southern California is closed between LA and Santa Barbara. Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway is open, but new evacuations have been ordered that will clog the road. As the fire is heading that way, expect lots of emergency vehicles.

In Northern California, Highway 99 is closed near Chico. Highway 70 through the Feather River Canyon is closed.

San Francisco airport is reporting delays due to visibility, which includes smoke.

Nov. 9 0745 PDT

Camp Fire northeast of Sacramento. This Fire map shows where it is. The town of Paradise is more or less in the center of the fire. The stripey nature of the fire is because it is running down canyons. Note that there are only a couple of roads that go west from Paradise. Those are the evacuation routes that were utterly clogged.

To the left, the fire made runs toward Chico, a city of about 90,000.

There are lots of rumors. Although Paradise was severely damaged, it isn’t necessarily burned utterly to the ground. Emergency responders have been too busy doing emergency responding to do any assessment. No fatalities have been confirmed. Somewhere around 30,000 people are in the evacuation areas. Many fled with only the clothes on their backs and had to abandon pets and livestock. . Relief agencies are scrambling to set up shelters

Nov. 9 0800 PDT

Woolsey Fire. Fire has crossed highway 101 and moving south. Entire town of Malibu under mandatory evacuation.

I was going to mention about that map of the Camp Fire— yes, Helltown is a real place. It’s one of those old Gold Rush era place names created as miners’ jokes (or complaints). Probably not a coincidence that it is near Paradise. The origin of the name “Paradise” is disputed. One claim is that it was named for the Pair o’ Dice saloon. Another is that it was named because the mountain area is so pleasant compared to the hit & dusty Sacramento Valley.

Nov. 9 1000 PST

GRIFFITH Park Fire Los Angeles. This one is small now, but causing concern as it is near the Los Angeles Zoo. Zoo is closed and preparing for animal evacuation if necessary, and hiding down hillsides.

Woolsey Fire and Hill Fire between LA and Santa Barbara. Just looked at air traffic. Winds must be favorable, because there is a huge air tanker presence. Highway 1 opened, but should be avoided. 101 still closed.

Nov. 9 1045 PST

There are now at least 6 fires burning and weather forecasts don’t look good. No rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Winds will die down a bit today, then pick up again over the weekend. We are now under a Fire Weather Watch, which may be upgraded to a Red Flag Warning (worst possible case) by Sunday.

CalFire has put out a call for help to other states.

Camp Fire northeast of Sacramento. More than tripled overnight to 70,000 acres/28,000 hectares. CalFire has confirmed that there are fatalities, but has given no details pending identification and notification of kin. Paradise, as well as the smaller communities of Magalia and Concow are heavily damaged. Thousands of homes & businesses gone. The Paradise hospital did not “burn to the ground,” as reported, but outbuildings were lost and the main building damaged.

The fire has been moving southwest toward the city of Chico, but winds are shifting. This is going to push the smoke away from the SF Bay Area (it made it as far away as Monterey) and more toward mountain communities and the Sacramento Valley. Could be really bad in the Northern Valley, along I-5 on the way to Oregon.

Nov. 9 1:00 PM PST

Woolsey Fire Southern Calif, Ventura County. 14,000 acres, 0% contained. Something like 200,000 people ordered to evacuate. There are a lot of small ranches in the area & need for horse rescue. Home have burned and are now burning in Malibu. Entertainment news sources are happily reporting about celebrity homes that have burned or may burn, to a fair amount of scorn. [My opinion]I get it. Some TV star or movie mogul has the wherewithal to recover, as compared to Jane & Joe Schmo who are living in a trailer park, but that doesn't make home loss less emotionally tough.[/opinion]

Area is being heavily hit with air support. Highway 101 still closed. Highway patrol has been allowing highway 1 (PCH) to be one-way to facilitate evacuation. ‘Westworld’ Location at Paramount Ranch Burns Down.

Griffith Park Fire Contained; roads reopened; zoo is fine.

Nov. 9 1:30 PM PST

Camp Fire Sheriff has confirmed 5 fatalities. They were trapped in cars and overrun by fire while trying to leave. They are badly burned enough that identification is difficult.

Winds are currently calmer and air support is heavy, including the Supertanker, a converted 747.

I have been following a local Chico TV station's live coverage. The LA stations, with their massive resources & helicopters are all over the So Cal fires. This small station in a small market is doing a heroic job of coverage, stretching their staff and resources. Kudos to Action News

Wind shift has moved smoke back into where I live. Those lovely brown-gray skies I remember from last summer.

Satellite view of the fires& smoke

Nov. 9, 8:20 PM PST

Camp Fire 90,000 acres. 9 confirmed fatalities, and there probably will be more. 6700+ buildings destroyed, mostly homes. Estimates are that 80% of Paradise is gone. Officially 5% contained, but that containment is a highway the fire hasn’t crossed. Full containment may not happen until the end of November.

Flight delays at SFO continue, due to smoke.

Woolsey Fire 35,000 acres. Anyone who wants to drive between LA and Santa Barbara should fine a route that is NOT highway 1 (PCH) or 101 (Ventura Freeway). Anyone traveling via AMTRAK, Greyhound, Megabus or Bolt Bus should check about service. Right now, AMTRAK is reporting no disruptions.