Northern California wildfires creating massive smoke

[bcla]

It's apparently the Camp Fire (not a pun) from Butte County. I heard it got it's name because it started near a road called Camp Creek Road.

It's at least a good 150 miles away from where I'm located, but the sky is brown and it actually hurts to breathe in the air.

https://www.sfgate.com/california-w...ire-forces-red-air-alert-prompts-13377739.php

Here's a recent photo taken in Oakland:

 

[Domo]

I saw that on the news. Those poor people - both that the fire has consumed and all those whose lives have been ruined

 

[Pea-n-Me]

That is awful. I saw that some people died in their cars.

 

[gillep]

I am over 200 miles South of this fire and our air is full of smoke, it hurts to breathe outside, I cannot imagine what people closer to this fire are experiencing, and my heart goes out to all of those who have suffered loss as a result of this fire.

 

[bcla]

I remember a small tree/brush fire in my neighborhood a few weeks ago. It totally freaked me out, but I was thinking of the potential for it to be uncontrollable if it had gone on a bit longer before our fire department put it out.

 

[bcla]

I am over 200 miles South of this fire and our air is full of smoke, it hurts to breathe outside, I cannot imagine what people closer to this fire are experiencing, and my heart goes out to all of those who have suffered loss as a result of this fire.

Strangely enough the air quality doesn't seem to be that bad in the area around the fire compared to the Bay Area. A lot has to do with winds and terrain. I found this gif centered around Sacramento. Even though they're closer to the fire, their air quality isn't as bad as the Bay Area.

 

[disneychrista]

I live about 150 south west of the fire. Here is a photo of the smoke plume yesterday. It was almost completely dark at noon.

 

[superme80]

I live in the Auburn area, and the smoke is not too bad where I live. I was in Sacramento today and it was awful. Such devastation. My best friend's mom lost her house. Just awful.

 

[minniecarousel]

I think it’s the ”off shore” winds that are pushing the winds west instead of east. I couldn’t take my grandkids outside today because the smoke is so bad. My brother lives on the Coast (Half Moon Bay) and he said it was even bad there.

And the fires are bad in Malibu too.

 

[skyblue17]

It all seems so scary. Keeping up with the Malibu fires and just from visiting, can't imagine how people are getting out of the mountains and canyons efficiently. Those roads are so windy and narrow, and PCH isn't exactly a highway either. It must be so terrifying.

A somewhat good note: I went to bed after watching an episode of The West Wing. I woke to see that later in the night, Charlie Sheen put a call out on Twitter because he could not get in touch with his parents, Martin and Janet, who were ultimately spotted at Zuma Beach and Martin later ended up on the news letting his children know that he was fine and just didn't have cell service. Hopefully others are as safe, and can get similar peace of mind from their loved ones!

 

[cinnaminny]

I hate that this is happening. I live in Oregon so these are not affecting me, but there have been so many fires on the West Coast these last few years my nerves are frazzled by it. They are really devastating.

 

[usnuzuloose]

It's apparently the Camp Fire (not a pun) from Butte County. I heard it got it's name because it started near a road called Camp Creek Road.

It's at least a good 150 miles away from where I'm located, but the sky is brown and it actually hurts to breathe in the air.

https://www.sfgate.com/california-w...ire-forces-red-air-alert-prompts-13377739.php

Here's a recent photo taken in Oakland:

I went outside and it looked eerie, I didn't know we had fires again. looks better today.

 

[SteveH]

Hopefully CalFire has called out the big guns and has the Global Super Tanker in the air

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We have a friend who recently left the SF Bay Area and bought her dream house in Paradise, CA. She and her son have been in the Bay Area all week, helping her dad who had surgery. Her husband called the other morning to say he was grabbing the dog and evacuating their new house. Their cat ran away before he could grab him. I also have a co-worker who was very distraught on Thursday because her mother-in-law lives in Paradise. She was trying to evacuate, but a huge traffic accident was blocking the road out of her neighborhood. She called her son and said she didn't know if she was going to get out. She was with a group of neighbors and the police were there, so hopefully they were able to get to safety. So sad...

 

[bcla]

The air is still pretty bad and shows no signs of getting any better for a while.

Around here, an indoor basketball game (Detroit Mercy at Cal) has been cancelled on the basis of a lot of the unhealthy air entering the building. In football, Stanford is scheduled to play at Cal on Saturday, but there's a chance that it might get cancelled.

https://calbears.com/news/2018/11/15/mens-basketball-game-vs-detroit-mercy-cancelled.aspx
https://www.apnews.com/83ddb01f3053404fa940891dc0efd60f
Cal canceled its basketball game against Detroit Mercy on Thursday night because the Air Quality Index was well over the threshold of 200 — the very unhealthy range. A significant amount of smoke infiltrated Haas Pavilion leading to the cancellation.

San Francisco postponed its game Friday night against Arizona State because of unhealthy air quality as well. The schools are working on finding alternate plans for the game.

Cal says no decision has been made about the football game Saturday in Berkeley against Stanford. Officials are monitoring air quality in the area.​

There are reports of high school football champions being determined by coin flips rather than requiring postseason play in these conditions.

My kid's school has cancelled classes tomorrow. Apparently UC Berkeley and a host of other schools have cancelled classes to discourage people from spending too much time outdoors.

 

[disykat]

Oregon and Washington are getting smoke from it too. We drove I-5 yesterday all the way through both states. It was a little bad in Southern Oregon, fine most of the trip, but I had a huge asthma attack yesterday afternoon in Longview, WA because it was so bad. That is over 500 miles away. It's funny how smoke patterns work.

I'm still coughing up stuff today. I really feel not only for the devastated fire victims, but for all the smoke victims as well. It affects not only the fire victims, but can affect people with lung issues hundreds of miles away. I'm heading off to my workday with all my inhalers, hoping that I can get over this attack quickly rather than months like the last two summers of dealing with wildfire smoke.

My husband has healthy lungs and saw that the sky looked and smelled different, but wasn't affected at all. I was coughing to the point of vomiting. I'm so happy we got to just keep driving and so sad for those who have to live in it right now.

 

[Adelle Dazeem]

Big Game postponed until December -

Heads up, college football fans -- officials have decided to move the date of the big Cal vs. Stanford football game to December 1 due to poor air quality from the Camp Fire.

This is from my window on campus:

 

[bcla]

Oregon and Washington are getting smoke from it too. We drove I-5 yesterday all the way through both states. It was a little bad in Southern Oregon, fine most of the trip, but I had a huge asthma attack yesterday afternoon in Longview, WA because it was so bad. That is over 500 miles away. It's funny how smoke patterns work.

Wind and terrain. It’s odd where the wind carries the smoke. Lake Tahoe has an AQI of 7.

 

[disneychrista]

Flights out of SFO were delayed yesterday due to the smoke.

 

[sasywtch]

Earlier today, Sacramento was in the hazardous stage. Fire stations were handing out masks for people to wear and all schools were closed. I heard on the news, the death toll is now at 71 and over 1000 people missing (per sheriff, could be duplicates, etc..so not a definite count). Paradise is a community with a lot of retirees living on pensions. Definitely not a wealthy area. I just shudder every time they say they found another body inside a car or inside a burnt structure. Knowing how they died.......