Western Journalism: It’s hard to believe that something so ferocious could have emerged from something so small. Authorities have told the Washington Post and other news sources that California’s deadly Carr fire was possibly started by a car.
Evidently, a single vehicle may have experienced some sort of mechanical issue. That sparked a blaze that ignited on July 23 and has since been spreading rapidly, causing massive chaos and widespread destruction across California’s Shasta County area.
The Carr fire actually doubled in magnitude overnight. Early on it grew to nearly 81,000 acres — practically the size of Philadelphia.
To date, the fire has claimed multiple lives. This further underscores the deadly menace of a blaze that Cal Fire Chief Brett Gouvea described as “extremely dangerous and moving with no regard to what’s in its path.”
President Trump has declared a state of emergency for all affected areas. But as frantic civilians are forced to flee, other good Samaritans have come charging in.
One of those heroes is named Tucker Zimmerman. He’s a retired U.S. Marine who has placed his own life in jeopardy to save dozens of others. MORE
Some heroic shit going on in the State of Jefferson. And some really bad fires. The first guy that died in the Carr fire was an 81 year old Caterpillar Tractor contractor for Cal Fire. I thought it my be a miss print but today there’s a story about how he was cutting a fire line and the fire jumped it behind him.
While the Carr Fire may indeed have been started by a car, there is something very suspicious about all these fires starting at roughly the same time. the fires causing loss of life, property losses in the hundreds of billions, and destruction of our forests. Every year we see the same thing. here in southern Oregon, we are surrounded by fires, and the visibility is approximately one mile, and has been for 2 weeks. Is homeland security even looking at the possibility that these fores may be the act of terrorists?
The fire was started by someone towing a trailer. The trailer had a flat tire, the tire shredded and the guy proceeded on rolling the trailer on the bare rim causing sparks. We had a similar incident here but it was a malfunctioning catalytic converter throwing sparks and setting small grass fires along the highway. A Park Ranger told us the other day they were following a guy up the mountain here and his bumper was dragging on the road shooting sparks. They got the guys license plate and called the CHP.
There’s charity drives going on here. So I bought $75 worth of dry dog and cat food, diapers and baby wipes. Then the word is they don’t want goods, they want $$$$ cold cash! Yeah, I know how that cold cash works, it never gets to the people that are hurting. Ever look at the salaries of the United Way, Red Cross CEO’s? Over a million dollar salaries. So, I donated the dog and cat food to our local SPCA, men’s like new clothing to PAWS, and I returned the diapers and baby wipes to the store and got my money back. They can thank the money hogs for that! Our local SPCA was thrilled!
BB: My family is in Redding and my niece is dating a Redding firefighter. He and his crew were just behind the guy in the dozer and were laying waterhose down in the cut the guy was making. They saw the whole sad thing. What you describe is pretty accurate. The RFD guy who was the #2 death got hit by a “firenado” that rolled his pickup as he was going from one neighborhood to another to get everyone to evacuate ASAP. My mom and sister had to evacuate. Mom is still in Napa at a retirement home there.
The Mendocino/River fires going on right now is being investigated. Those fires could very well have been set on purpose on pot farms. Same thing happened here last year – started by someone mad at another pot farmer cutting in on his livelihood. My daughter is within 4 miles now of the Mendocino fire near Ukiah, CA. Hwy 20 is closed which is the main highway people use to get over to the coast. We have to drive 2 hours out of our way to get to Ft. Bragg on Sunday. The fires at Clearlake last year around this time was started by an arsonist and they caught him. Fires do not start by themselves.
Goldenfoxx
Both my son and my son in law have been smoke jumpers. Standard protocol is if you run come upon a “grow” back out and call law enforcement. Booby traps. But LE won’t go in until the fires out.
These fires are not in timber, thank God. It’s scrub brush, scrub oak, Manzanita, a lots and lots of dead grass. Combined with really hot weather, some of the worst conditions I’ve seen. These reports obviously are not covering the little fires. We had three today in my county. No wind so they knock them down pretty fast. But at one point today the community watch page reported everything our local CalFire guys had that could fly was in the air.
Cynic
The video of the firenado is just plain scarier than hell. I love Redding. What a great town. I hope your moms home was spared. Let us know please.
81 year old dozer operator fighting a fire. The guys a hero.
One of our Park Ranger friends here her grandson is a firefighter fighting the Mendocino Fire. He’s a heavy equipment operator. IMHO, they are all heroes. Say what you will about jailbirds, but they were here clearing brush for the past 3 years in the State parks here. We have some steep rocky terrain here and they did the work and did it well. I don’t know what they did to get in jail, but I guess it was either do that or sit in jail. They paid back to society and we appreciate the work they did. They cleared hundreds of acres of dead brush, manzanita, cut lower branches off trees. It has protected hundreds of homes in the area. The environmentalist would have a fit if they saw what they did.
P.S. We have a great Sheriff and Cal Fire Chiefs here in our county.
Mean while, we suffer the Nuclear Fall. It’s not quite winter yet, but its getting there. LOL.
The reports of how CA mis-manages the forests are coming out.
Goldenfoxx
How the hell does Clear Lake have anything left to burn?
MJA
Those reports are all true. BUT, Timbers not burning. This is low level crap burning. See above. The Timber will come in late August. Write that down. Golden Fox knows.
@Bad Brad: The fires going on right now are west of Clear Lake. It’s burning towards the Blue Lakes which does have plenty of fuel to burn and into Potters Valley. My daughter lives about 1 miles from Hwy 20 Junction and Hwy 101. They have vineyards around them, but down below them is where the fire would take off. Lake Mendocino is right below them as well and the fire is burning there. We’re headed to Ft. Bragg Sunday for a week – get out of this heat and smoke! Looks like we’ll be dodging fires. Read this article on how fires get started – by humans!
Other “stupid” human causes include target shooting, cigarette butts, chains dragging on roads from trailers, flat tires, bad electrical wiring on outdoor hot tubs, cutting metal outdoors, and mowing dry lawns.
Stupid people start 90% of fires!
https://www.breitbart.com/california/2018/08/01/stupid-people-start-90-of-california-wildfires-study/
Oops, looks like one of those fires I mentioned above took off.They’re calling for live stock (which means horses) evacuation.
BB: Thanks for the concern. All my family has escaped damage. Sister is home, mom is staying a few extra days due to the poor air in Redding and her asthma
Cynic
That’s awesome news. We normally do a houseboat on Shasta over the July 4th week end. What a great trip. Couldn’t doit this year because of MAGA. I’m not bitching. And I love Redding. I could move there in a heart beat.
Marine, nuff said….