wildfire...

[Squirrely]

As I was returning from town this evening, smoke was heavy in the air. We're in wildfire season so it's not all that unusual...

...however, the smoke was getting thicker, and there was an apocalyptic traffic jam. People were honking their horns and getting out of their cars trying to see what was going on. Cars and trucks were sideways in the road trying to turn around and go back the way they came. It was Mad Max. The Highway Patrol had blocked off the road into the canyon.

(aerial shot 4 hours ago from a KABC7 news chopper...)



The old timers know how get in and out of the Canyon over dirt roads and I was riding a scooter so I threaded my way through about a mile of stalled chaos, went off road, and was able to make it the 7 miles to home because the fire was about 4 miles South of us.

About 200 firefighters are working on it, and two water dropping helicopters flew till sundown. The Canyon will be closed over night and might be opened some time tomorrow. I'm glad I work inside the Canyon because traffic is going to be hell, because the only main road through the canyon is a commuter artery to the Coast, and is only two lanes.

We live in one of the most wildfire prone areas of the nation, and this dry season looks to be a long and dramatic one because of heavy Chaparral from ample rainfall.

Greg

 

[vinny11950]

Wow, Greg, sorry you and your neighbors are going through that. Good luck and stay safe.

 

[Squirrely]

Wow, Greg, sorry you and your neighbors are going through that. Good luck and stay safe.

Thanks, vinny.
No one is a victim because everyone here freely chose to assume the personal risk of living in an extreme wildfire danger zone, so they're just a normal part of life. The dry season is from now to the end of October. A good percentage of our property taxes go to firefighting.
We built a highly fire resistant house so that a wildfire could burn right through and we'd be fine, although it would destroy the orchard and vineyard.

Greg

 

[vinny11950]

I give you credit. At least you know the risks and plan around them. And knowing the dirt roads is bad ass in a survivalist way.

I am curious, what type of wood burning appliance do you have or need over there? I assume that's why you joined here.

 

[Squirrely]

I give you credit. At least you know the risks and plan around them. And knowing the dirt roads is bad ass in a survivalist way.

I am curious, what type of wood burning appliance do you have or need over there? I assume that's why you joined here.

Wood stoves have been in use in our homes for 46 years. the current one is this little Morso Squirrel which is our only home heating source. Waste wood from tree trimming is plentiful here, so our heat costs us nothing except the time to cut and stack. It takes half-sized 8 inch wood and is very frugal.



...and you called it exactly.
My wife and I are preppers who have worked out contingencies to get us by in just about any disaster, except perhaps a direct astroid strike. (lol)

We live in a rural area with no street lights, sidewalks or city government. Our neighbors ride horses on the road. It's Coyotes, Owls, and a few Mountain Lions who recently developed a taste for goat and wiped out a bunch of them. Our house borders 10k+ acres of open land, so we can hike from our front door to the Pacific Ocean. There's a fair amount of independent self reliant "pioneer" types here, so wood stoves are common even though the weather is mild.

Greg

 

[vinny11950]

Nice stove. Morso stoves are beautiful stoves; small and simple.

And your community sounds like a great place. Good luck with the fires.

 

[Squirrely]

That's what I like most about it... simple.

No electronic circuitry, no fussy "automatic" features, no expensive to replace parts that burn out. It's dual fuel so the fire box is robust.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Sorry this is happening! Sounds like its time to upgrade your ride bro!

 

[Squirrely]

Sorry this is happening! Sounds like its time to upgrade your ride bro!

View attachment 198647

Thanks for your goodwill.
There's nothing to be sorry about, for we freely chose to assume all of the personal and property risks of living in one of the most dangerous wildfire areas in the nation. There are many simple ways to mitigate the risks so we availed ourselves of them.

What model is your adventure bike? They are getting really popular around here, and I see lots of fully outfitted ones on the roads. Besides the scooter (which is a blast to ride) I also ride a ten year old supermoto with 30k+ winding canyon road miles on it. Here I'm riding the Snake just past the Rock Store, a popular biker hangout...



I'm 69 and have been riding motorcycles for transportation since I was 16.
It's just as much fun today as it was when I was a teenager.

Greg

 

[sportbikerider78]

Thanks for your goodwill, but there's nothing to be sorry about. We freely chose to assume all of the personal and property risks of living in one of the most dangerous wildfire areas in the nation. There are many ways to mitigate the risks.


Thanks for your goodwill.
There's nothing to be sorry about, for we freely chose to assume all of the personal and property risks of living in one of the most dangerous wildfire areas in the nation. There are many simple ways to mitigate the risks so we availed ourselves of them.

What model is your adventure bike? They are getting really popular around here, and I see lots of fully outfitted ones on the roads. Besides the scooter (which is a blast to ride) I also ride a ten year old supermoto with 30k+ winding canyon road miles on it. Here I'm riding the Snake just past the Rock Store, a popular biker hangout...

View attachment 198654

I'm 69 and have been riding motorcycles for transportation since I was 16.
It's just as much fun today as it was when I was a teenager.

Greg

Awesome. Motards are an absolute hoot! If I lived back down in the smoky mountains, I would definitely have one.

That is not my ride,,but a Honda Africa Twin 1000 will be my next ride. Right now I'm on a 2004 GSXR 750. I love it.

 

[Squirrely]

GSXR's are really nice bikes!



I've never had anything larger than 400cc's because I'm a small guy and size my ride to fit my ability to handle it, so the SM is a perfect fit. It's been lowered, lightened and narrowed. I turned it into a rat bike! (lol)



Regardless of the bike, the enjoyment of riding is all the same. I have a little 49cc Honda scooter and it's just as much fun to ride.

Greg

 

[BigFir]

We are currently in chaos here. most fires have been north of me. One has started 15kms from home yesterday afternoon. now almost 200 hectares in size. I have 5 evacuees, plus 2 cats and another dog staying with us. over 5,000 square km on fire right now from 150 wildfires.
The largest being 138,000 hectares(341,000 acres).

 

[HisTreeNut]

Glad you're ok...praying for some rain...lots of slow steady rain.

 

[Squirrely]

We are currently in chaos here. most fires have been north of me. One has started 15kms from home yesterday afternoon. now almost 200 hectares in size. I have 5 evacuees, plus 2 cats and another dog staying with us. over 5,000 square km on fire right now from 150 wildfires.
The largest being 138,000 hectares(341,000 acres).
View attachment 198836

All you can do is clear a defensible buffer around your house, get out, and hope the firefighters can keep it from burning. Our plan is not to evacuate and instead to shelter in place in the basement while the flame front passes through, and then put out the embers.

Greg

 

[firefighterjake]

All you can do is clear a defensible buffer around your house, get out, and hope the firefighters can keep it from burning. Our plan is not to evacuate and instead to shelter in place in the basement while the flame front passes through, and then put out the embers.

Greg

This may be a foolish question as we do not have the huge wildfires here in Maine as folks do out west. . . .

If the house catches on fire while you are in the basement what is the plan? Second question: Is the heat or smoke a concern?

 

[Squirrely]

This may be a foolish question as we do not have the huge wildfires here in Maine as folks do out west. . . .

If the house catches on fire while you are in the basement what is the plan? Second question: Is the heat or smoke a concern?

We designed and built our own house. And because we live directly on the border of thousands of acres of open land, fire insurance here is prohibitively expensive, if you can get it at all. So instead of being held financial hostage by an insurance bureaucracy for the rest of our lives where we would have to pay the cost of irresponsible fools who live in piles of kindling surrounded by and overhung with flammables, while expecting firefighters to keep it from turning into a pile of cinders. Instead, we took an outside the box approach of designing the fire insurance into our house by making it highly fire resistant and self-defensible.

All of the exterior surfaces are non combustible... stucco, tile concrete, aluminum and glass. No wood or asphalt shingles, no wooden eaves to catch flames licking up the sides and directing them into the attic through the attic air vents. There are no eaves at all, and the house doesn't have an attic either. There's not one inch of flammible wooden fascia or any exterior wooden trim anywhere. The house has two roofs. The top one is clay tile and underneath it is another silicone roof. Not one twig of a tree overhangs the roof. Not one leaf can fall onto it. The roof could be covered in live falling embers and not catch fire. There is plenty of wide walk-around clear defensible space all around the perimeter of the house and there are no fuel ladders. On the inside there is a commercial sprinkler fire supression system required on all new houses here.

We have yearly Fire Department inspections so our house is already well known. The inspectors just walk by on their rounds because there's no need to waste their time coming in.

I made insulated reflective foil panels which can be inserted into the seven basement vents to keep smoke out while we're down there. The foundation is 27 cubic yards of continuously poured concrete and rebar down to bedrock for earthquake protection, and I dug out the basement below grade inside of the 8 foot deep two foot thick footings. That mass has more than enough thermal resistance. A wildfire flame front takes an average of about 15 minutes to burn through, so the length of time we'd be in the basement would be relatively brief. After the front passes through we would be outside putting out any hot spots. We are working on the assumption that we would be totally on our own with no firefighting support because the firefighters would be overloaded fighting on other multiple fronts.

Choosing to accept the personal financial responsibility for assuming your own risk
includes taking prudent measures to mitigate that risk.

Greg

 

[begreen]

This may be a foolish question as we do not have the huge wildfires here in Maine as folks do out west. . . .

If the house catches on fire while you are in the basement what is the plan? Second question: Is the heat or smoke a concern?

Or lack of oxygen in a firestorm?

 

[Squirrely]

Or lack of oxygen in a firestorm?

Not a problem as there's an ample volume of air in the basement which is 24" x 30'. We're only there for the time it takes for the flame front to burn through which is not very long.

Also there has to be sufficient fuel present to have a firestorm. The environment here is desert Chaparrel with some Oaks, and not a conifer or mixed forest as is common to your area. So while Chaparrel burns like crazy because desert plants are oily, it also burns fast releasing all of the stored energy in the plants, and then quickly moves on.

This is why it's called a wildfire and not a forest fire.

Greg

 

[begreen]

Extensive wildfires north of us in BC have sent a lot of smoke our way. Can't see the mountains and the sunsets have turned blood red.

 

[BigFir]

Our closest fire has now reached 149,000 hectares (369,000acres)in size. It is still not the largest one in BC. We did get a drizzle of rain last night! Although the fire still grew. These will likely not be out until November.

 

[begreen]

Yes, these fires are huge. We've gotten a brief reprieve with a change in the wind, but I'm not sure how long that will last.

 

[BigFir]

Yes I was down in the lower mainland for the last few days. I was surprised how bad it was on Friday, but Saturday was nice. Sunday at home was nice as well. It is back today though, I hope you guys get an extended break from it.