Cranston Fire in San Jacintos

[Florian]

Tower survived, flag and all. The flame must be behind. Amazing.

[zippetydude]

On such a dark day, that is at least one small piece of good news.

The map inciweb just released seems to show the fire already at Idyllwild.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/CABDF/2 ... 25-CDT.png

Frightening. I don't know if the huge flames from other pictures are indicative of the fire behavior at Idyllwild, but I sure hope not. I don't know how they would fight a crown fire under these conditions.

z

[Sally]

My pics from Seven Pines Trail yesterday:

Https://www.facebook.com/10000121421571 ... 831822804/

[Wildhorse]

Multiple sources, public and private say 5 homes burned in Idy. All were on Deerfoot, which is on the SW edge of Idy.

Inciweb and ABC report sheriff making evacuation of all areas of Idy mandatory, including Pine Cove, Idyllwild, Fern Valley etc. I have not found a published explanation. It does not appear to be fire risk. More likely the unhealthy living conditions. No electricity. No food supplies. Dead cell phones. Etc. Also possible crime or mischief.

SCE says power may be off for a very long time.

[cynthia23]

That sounds like a plausible explanation for the mass evacuation, Wildhorse. Or, perhaps, just an abundance of caution--evacuating Idyllwild if fire came over the ridge would be a dangerous nightmare. My mind always goes back to the people burned to death trying to escape the hills of Berkeley--while the biome is totally different, the road situation (narrow, winding, maze-like) is so creepily similar, and most of the old houses in Idyllwild are terrifying--dried up old wood shingled tinderboxes, totally inappropriate for this fire-prone area and which would virtually explode once flames hit. Also, air quality down here in Cathedral City is so bad I'm considering driving out of town--it must be bad or worse up there.

[Wildhorse]

Cynthia, it is disturbing to hear how bad the air is in the desert. I meant to ask about that in an earlier post and forgot. My mind has been locked on the mountains.

I think you are right about the continuing fire risk in the mountain communities. My understanding is that the pyrocumulus smoke cloud can create disastrous weather that could quickly spread the fire back towards Idyllwild communities and into Tahquitz Valley and the state park wilderness.

[zippetydude]

The latest map (at about 8:30) shows Mountain Center at terrible risk. Idyllwild faces the fire on two fronts.

Wildhorse, you mentioned the fire might go "back" towards Idyllwild...does that mean its progress has stopped in that direction?

Cynthia, you said the air quality is bad out there. Strange. Our air quality is fine, but the smoke has been floating west all day long at high altitude.

Wish we had a good strong monsoon storm to knock this thing down like the Valley Fire a couple weeks ago.

z

[cynthia23]

Zip--yes, yesterday and early today the smoke was blowing in the approximate direction of Yucca Valley and Pioneer Town (as was mentioned in earlier post) but in the afternoon the wind direction changed--or perhaps the volume of smoke increased--and now it is blanketing the entire valley. It's worst in Palm Springs but still very bad here. It's not quite as bad--yet--as the 2013 Silver Fire, which, while not as destructive as the Mountain Fire, funneled enormous amounts of smoke into the valley, so much so that you could see smoke drifting down the street and smell it in the house--even though I duct-taped windows and doors. That one, I took my kids and fled to Blythe. May do the same for this if things get worse.

Wildhorse, you mentioned how these giant columns of smoke can collapse and create their own sudden weather--a frightening thought.

[cynthia23]

Good God. Just checked Twitter and there is now a terrible out of control fire in Northern California, which just jumped the Sacramento River directly into the small city of Redding where it's burning multiple structures. Already at least one death. They're evacuating the entire city! Population of 92,000.

This is a grim week.

[Pitownpi]

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/CABDF/2 ... 2-CDT.jpeg

definitely larger on the map the ICON info says 11,500 acres this am.(but still got 7500 in report).

..covered still .....ash still falling, very small particles, bad air!
house arrest!
people need to take care with respirators etc. if they are going out! (think Asian!)


the ICON info says 11,500 acres this am.(but still got 7500 in report).


.it really shot up yesterday which explains why at 8am it looked like this here

and then 1 hour later like this all day....ash falling



this morning is pea soup but the winds haven't picked up.......
seems fires a way of life in these times.
Sawtooth wildfire hit me in 2006!
Valley Fire is still smoldering.....under 30% containment....no telling what could happen unless more rains come!

LET THE MONSOON DANCE BEGIN!