California Fires

[bobby]

Santa Rosa Cartoonist's 'Fire Story' | KQED Arts

[Friends just call me Ross]

The aftermath:

 

[Tortuga]

There are some mandatory evacuations in place due to mudslides. 

[Whitley M]

5 hours ago, Tortuga said:

There are some mandatory evacuations in place due to mudslides. 

Are you in safe area brother? Looks like possible earthquakes in the area too! I sure hope that’s not true 

[Friends just call me Ross]

 

[Qapla]

Interesting ... but, sad

[Tortuga]

Update:

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — PG&E has acknowledged to regulators that it found bullet holes, a broken transmission-tower hook and other flaws with equipment at sites where the catastrophic Camp Fire is believed to have started last month.

In its most detailed accounting yet of the problems that might have led to the Nov. 8 wildfire that consumed most of Paradise, the beleaguered utility told state officials that its inspectors have found a "broken C-hook" on a high-voltage tower near the community of Pulga, northeast of Paradise. Lawyers for Camp Fire survivors suing PG&E have suggested the broken hook might have allowed a live "jumper" cable to make contact with the tower itself, showering the dry ground below with sparks.
Separately, at a power pole in the Big Bend area of Concow several miles away, PG&E employees found that "the pole and other equipment was on the ground with bullets and bullet holes at the break point of the pole and on the equipment," PG&E senior director of regulatory relations Meredith Allen wrote in a letter to the Public Utilities Commission.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

So was the fire started deliberately ie a pole shot down?
Or are they suspecting bad maintenance ie hook missing?
Or both?

Older {waiting for wiser}

[Tortuga]

2 minutes ago, TonyWenz said:

So was the fire started deliberately ie a pole shot down?
Or are they suspecting bad maintenance ie hook missing?
Or both?

Older {waiting for wiser}
 

Still investigating, I think it will be interesting if they discover the wire was damaged by gunfire or if that's just a red herring thrown on the table...

[Tortuga]

I just want to share a few things i have heard recently about the Disaster Relief in Paradise California.

 

Two elders from our congregation have been asked to help the brothers and sisters in Paradise even though we are over 100 miles away, I don't if any other brothers in this area were asked to help. 

 

One brother is working with the Safety department. He said that bags of safety equipment (PPE) were provided for each of the friends, each bag had disposable coveralls (Tyvek), masks and gloves. He was assigned to ensure the friends knew how to use the PPE before they went to their property to sift through the ashes. There are also brothers assigned to ensure the property was safe to enter. He told me that in some areas the fire was so hot that it not only burned the trees but it also consumed the tree root ball, which left a cavity in the ground, some residents have apparently fallen into the holes so the brother search the friends property for weak areas in the ground and mark them with flags.

 

He also told me that brothers and sisters are set up to assist the friends with housing, transportation, insurance, everything they need. Friends that are experienced in those areas are on hand to help. He said that sometimes a small group of friends may show up to get help and there are 40-50 experienced friends waiting to help them. Just the opposite of what the other fire victims are finding in the shelters...

 

The other brother from our hall is there to spiritually encourage the friends. I heard from someone else that the brothers are assigned a group of families and their assignment is to ensure they get everything they need, everything. There was one older sister that they had a hard time locating, they finally found her living with relatives several hours away. The direction from the branch was to ensure the brothers did not add to the friends burden, so the brothers had to drive all the way in the opposite direction to meet her just to make sure she was being cared for...🧡

 

I heard last night there is a new arrangement for donating goods, clothing or services to the fire victims. There is a website set up where all of the goods or services that are being donated or loaned will be listed along with the donaters contact information. If the fire victim sees something on the site they need, they contact the donator and make arrangements to get it. This prevents large warehouses of unused donated goods from going to waste. It sounds like only one brother in each congregation will be entering the information on the site... 

 

LDC and Disaster Relief really have this well organized...

 

 

[hatcheckgirl]

Thanks for that update, Richard. I’m very encouraged to hear how well the brothers and sisters are being cared for. 👍

[Tortuga]

The brother showed me some pictures that he took of houses that were completely destroyed but the plastic trash cans are still at the curb undamaged and the lawn is still green..

[dove]

Yea, I saw on the news that many areas still had trees growing all around homes that were burned to the ground but didn't burn them..seems like the fires were as selective as the tornados sometimes are...

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Yes, it appears fire is indiscriminate. The Sister whose house burnt to the ground in the 1983 fires in Victoria had a modern brick house. The house next door was made and clad with timber. We call them Weatherboard houses. It survived!

As we drove around, there didn't seem to be a way to tell which would stand, and which would burn. It didn't seem to depend on construction material, although you would think it must have some bearing.

But fire is very destructive as it reduces things to ash. It was called Ash Wednesday.

 

Just Older

 

 

 

 

[Tortuga]

When the lights go down in the city

And the sun shines on the bay
Do I wanna be there in my city?

 

The PG&E utility company is filing for bankruptcy. The utility company provides gas and electricity for most of northern California, including San Francisco.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pg-e-bankruptcy-impact-price-hikes-unpaid-fire-lawsuits/

PG&E says it can't afford at least $30 billion in expected costs related to California's deadly 2017 and 2018 wildfires. Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow the company to hold off creditors and keep providing electricity and natural gas service while it gets its finances in order.

[Tortuga]

I helped deliver some furniture this morning to a young couple in Paradise that lost everything in the fire. It was sombering to drive past all the burn areas and see where homes use to be. We stopped at the KH and looked at the ashes..

[Tortuga]

The Camp Fire in Paradise, CA started 2 years ago today. So much has happened since then that it feels like forever and yesterday at the same time..😟

[BLEmom]

2 years??? It only seems like one. It’s a good thing we only live one day at a time....