California DU-ers......have questions about the fires

[dixiegrrrrl]

My brother in law is near Clearlake, he is writing that a lot of separate fires seem to be popping up, and then are joining others nearby.
He went, in just today's emails, from mentioning several ways he could leave if he had to, few hours later more fires, he was down to looking at I5 to get to Sacramento, because other routes are now closed.
which worries me..that is a busy busy route in normal times.

Has there been any talk of arson??

[onecaliberal]

1. They don't know how all the fires were started

[Purveyor]

3. 40mph winds and downed power lines. Makes sense to me but there are sicko

opportunists out that a few of these fires could be of their doing.

Godspeed to all those in harm's way. I'm a praying sort and they are in my prayers.

[onecaliberal]

8. Yes the wind and power lines but there are A LOT of fires. CalFire says they cannot say

for certain right now how the fires started. Fire is burning at both ends of the state.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I read it jumped to 20,000 acres in just 12 hours

The fire crews say "phenomenal rate of growth".

From the news reports, it seems like a lot of people had just a few minutes warning to flee.

[LeftyMom]

24. The winds are out of the north, which means hot and dry here,

and October is already the peak part of fire season in any year. It's a bad combination.

Keep in mind that in most of California there's essentially no rain from March or April until November or so. So last winter was unusually wet and grasses, brush, etc did well but now it's bone dry. So there's a lot of very dry fuel. Add that hot dry wind and any spark is a potential disaster.

There's some speculation that the high winds downed power lines but nobody really knows yet.

[Purveyor]

12. And high winds across the state. Don't think there is a boogeyman here. nt

[onecaliberal]

15. There are not high winds in my part of the state.

[Purveyor]

16. What part would that be? eom

[onecaliberal]

20. 140 ish miles from Santa Rosa. This is a huge state and there are NOT high winds statewide.

[Purveyor]

21. Oh well that narrows it down. Not another reference point other that 140'ish from Santa Rosa?

Gotcha and my bullshit meter is pegged.

[onecaliberal]

22. I have lived in this state my entire life. I don't give two fucks what your bulkshit meter says.

A simple Google of weather throughout the state easily confirms the fucking wind isn't blowing badly statewide. Enjoy the dust bin.

[BigmanPigman]

2. They don't know yet.

After the fires stop they are able to investigate the origins better. It can be anything... a lightening strike, a careless hiker/camper, or electrical problems with lines or equipment.

[cally]

4. Neighborhood social media sites are claiming they saw folks start some of the fires

No proof, just neighborhood online gossip at this point

[malaise]

5. I heard on ABC tonight that the wind took out electricity poles and some of the

transformers blew up and started the fires.

[defacto7]

7. That certainly could account for some.

[Purveyor]

13. Oh give it up. Logic is out the door it seems. Geesh. eom

[malaise]

14. PG&E power lines linked to Wine Country fires

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/10/pge-power-lines-linked-to-wine-country-fires/
<snip>

As the first reports came in Sunday night of numerous fires that would grow into one of the most destructive wildfire disasters in California history, emergency dispatchers in Sonoma County received multiple calls of power lines falling down and electrical transformers exploding.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Just saw something I had not thought of..

Propane tanks going off...on a news clip....and realized that of course up there in the hills, lots of people use propane, my BIL does, has a rather large tank in fact. Saw clips of tanks hissing and then you could hear explosions.

[malaise]

19. That makes sense - I have no doubt there are several factors

the power lines and the wind are just one factor. What a disaster.

[defacto7]

6. I honestly can't think of any way this many could

automatically combust. It's usually lightning or human error ie. campfires, cigarettes, engine backfire, etc. Then there's arson.

Any other ideas?

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. My bro-in-law has lived in Cal for over 60 years

He's a well known landscape designer, so knows a lot of the state, and mentioned there are many fires in No. and South Cal. that sprang up very quickly.

We are all still clueless at this point.

[fierywoman]

17. The news has said the very wet winter coupled with very dry summer

provided a lot of "kindling"

[rufus dog]

23. they are correct

We had a very wet winter so a great deal of growth. Then we have our typically dry summer and this year a bit hotter and longer than normal. Then, in SoCal, we have winds pick up in October. The winds blow from the mountains to the Pacific, basically North to Southwest, thus the standard winds from the Pacific are interrupted by the dry winds from the North. The current SoCal fire was at an interchange, it caught fire a few weeks ago and then on Monday the opposite side caught. In both of these instances it could have been a spark, cigarette, or potentially arson.

Scary thing is that same area went up about 10 years ago without any loss of structure, this time some houses were destroyed. So what is different, I don't know. These houses are stucco with tile roofs so it takes a bit of work to catch the houses, fire fighters basically stand in backyard (small, sometimes 10 to 15 feet from the structure) and knock down the fire. This time they just didn't have the time to set up a defense.

My theory is that these houses are about 30 years old. Twenty years ago, fire hits, no growth of trees around the houses, easy to save houses. Ten years ago, minor growth of trees around the houses, Palms and other trees about 15 to 20 feet, easy to manage and trim, easy to save houses. Now at 30 years the trees are 30 feet plus, palms can't be maintained by home owners so professional tree trimmers required, some homes have dead fronds, etc. So we get embers flying, trees catching near homes, then a house catches, then a domino effect.

[RandySF]

10. October is the height of fire season.