Cranston Fire in San Jacintos

[Ulysses]

Yeah the fire is burning to the east of south ridge. Looked pretty huge based upon the amount of smoke but the flames hadn't crested the ridge when we bailed around 6:30. Looked close though. The fire appeared to be moving in a northeasterly direction. Lots of air suppression.

[cynthia23]

Press Enterprise just said that fire now at 4700 acres, 0 percent contained, evacuations now also for Hurkey Creek, Mountain Center. But they said order also includes Pine Cove and Fern Valley. If it were me I'd leave regardless, this is too volatile.

I wonder what the situation is up at the tram, have they evacuated the campers in Round Valley? Even if fires burning away from them, the smoke is so bad down here it must be awful up there. Getting ashes falling here in Cathedral City.

I sure hope nobody I know is up there and that everyone is getting out safely.

[Sally]

Ellen, Marilyn and I hiked up to San Jacinto Peak via Seven Pines Trail today. I was having one of those “Living in the Moment” days when I wasn’t looking at my watch or taking pics. About halfway back down, sometime after noon, Marilyn pointed out some beautiful cumulus clouds and I noticed some beautiful ethereal misty clouds beneath them. It took less than a moment for us to gulp and realize that they weren’t pretty clouds but a column of smoke coming from over the ridge. We figured that we were not in harm’s way but somberly made haste down the unmaintained trail to our cars, but were being careful not to get disoriented and get lost on the burning mountain. In the time it took to get to the car the smoke had gone from a tall column to a cloud that stretched across the entire sky. Our cars were dusted with ash.The drive down the long dirt road to Highway 243 seemed to take forever. Ellen and Marilyn would be turning right to get down to the 10 freeway. I had to make a quick decision whether to turn left towards Idyllwild (the quickest route to my home) or follow my partners and take the long way home. It’s a good thing I opted for the long way home because I think the road to Idy was closed except to emergency vehicles, of which there were a lot!

I have no idea how I am going to sleep tonight. My heart cannot take another fire in our beautiful mountains. I feel sick to my stomach. Sending positive thoughts to our firefighters and people of the towns of the area.

[cynthia23]

So glad to hear you are all safe and sound! Hopefully everyone who was out there hiking today was not in harm's way and made good decisions like you guys. Your experience sounds frightening!

[Florian]

Caltopo fire overlay .. https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=33.7273 ... &a=modis_h

[Pitownpi]

cumulonimbus flammagenitus ...... or pyroaltocumulus?
Cranston Fire seen from Pioneertown by Pitown Pi, on Flickr
i was watching the skies as normal, we had a lighting strike and fire over hear day before near Oynx Summit.
http://z1077fm.com/lightning-sparked-fire-briefly-concerns-rimrock-and-burns-canyon/
blotted out the sun yesterday and cooled things off up in the Morongo Basin,
fire ash here in Pioneertown and surrounding areas, Big Bear probably even got ash.
it was flowing directly north from San Jacinto to San Gorgonio........
mountain fire had more larger ash, this stuff is fine.
winds aloft were fairy strong/gusty and seems still that way today.
here's some pics from last night and this am..........
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmpDeWVp
the mulies are 10th generation locals!
"Penelope" is a super mom, she's got two fawn this year......or she's playing nanny!
July is when they debut their fawns.......they are just so darn cute!

[Wildhorse]

Much contradictory information out there. News is sparse. Authorities seem to not know much. Really unsettling.

[cynthia23]

Yes, the reports seem rather vague this morning, but it does seem that the fire has not grown and they're reporting 5 percent containment, so that's hopeful. Perhaps they're getting a grip on it or at least starting to. And here in the valley, it's more humid than yesterday, so that too could be helpful.

[Ellen]

Friends, I weep I am also extremely angry

Information about the suspected arsonist: https://heavy.com/news/2018/07/brandon-mcglover/ Thanks to Tekewin for the link.

For those on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/CranstonFire?src=hash

For those on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/cranst ... =feed_text

[cynthia23]

Thanks for posting those links Ellen. Also thanks to Florian for posting the link to the topo overlay.

The article on the alleged arsonist was interesting as he apparently does not have a documented criminal history. If that's so it's odd for a previously law-abiding 32 year old man to suddenly go out and set multiple major wildfires. The little I have read about arsonists suggests that, no kidding, they are troubled people, and their behavior is somewhat compulsive. Interestingly, a lot of serial killers set fires as children.