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Wednesday, October 11, 2017

CAUGHT IN CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES - The USA has technology to talk to astronauts in space, but nothing to send timely warning of approaching wildfire to helpless communities

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  • Some coastal communities in the Canadian west coast that are vulnerable to tsunamis have set up a rather low-tech means of alerting the population of an impending tidal wave:  a siren. 
  • The United States has the most sophisticated means of communication in the world, and yet people living in areas prone to wildfires go to sleep at night not knowing whether they will awake when it's too late and the fire is at their door.
  • That is what happened to a large number of people in California, caught completely unawares as rapidly moving wildfires engulfed their homes and their lives. 
  • At the time of posting this article the number of fatalities is 23 but it's expected to rise dramatically.  The number of unaccounted for is in the hundreds.  Thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes.  An additional heartbreak is the number of animals that panicked people left behind to burn and die.   
  • We can never be fully prepared for all eventualities.  There were instances when people fleeing in their vehicles found that one escape route after another was blocked by fire.  
  • What makes the following images so eerie is the fairy tale nature of many of those luxurious homes, once a dream come true for families and retirees.  The horror of this fire is how it is now devouring those beautiful dreams, sometimes along with the people who built them.    
Anaheim Hills was among the worst affected areas on Monday, with Santa Rosa also suffering heavy damage
 
A family home in Fountaingrove, California, is consumed by fire on Monday night

The smoke from an Anaheim Hills brush fire turned the sky into a pumpkin orange. It is seen above Disneyland's California Adventure park
The incongruent contrast of Disneyland - the Happiest Place on Earth - and the ominous orange and smoky sky of out-of-control wildfires in nearby areas.

Do you recognize this adorable, albeit slightly charred face?  The photo, which was posted to Facebook on Oct. 9 by the Sonoma Humane Society, has gone viral with over 11,650 shares to date. A message about the cat, lost during the North Bay fires, indicates the sweet survivor with the singed whiskers was found underneath a car. He is microchipped and in the Humane Society’s care until an owner comes forward.

UPDATE OCTOBER 13:

Breitbart News:  As the situation worsens ... Criticism is beginning to boil that local safety officials gave no warning of the coming fires, resulting in panicked residents who smelled the smoke and realized that flames were approaching. Sonoma County officials made land-line phone calls but did not use the wireless emergency alert for cellphones, like the Amber Alerts for missing children.   Officials claim that they did not want to issue broad evacuation alerts that would panic residents and snarl traffic, preventing access for emergency vehicles.

See more images


One visitor described the atmosphere on the park's main street as 'ominous' and spooky' 
Disneyland



Coffey Park, an neighborhood on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, was almost completely destroyed during the fire
Coffey Park, on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. 

An American flag is the only thing to escape the flames as homes burn in Coffey Park on Monday
Coffey Park.  The defiant flag was still there when this photo was taken.


Firefighters have been working to control 14 fires that broke out late Sunday night into early Monday morning
Many firefighters have lost their homes too.




Firefighters hose down a burning tree as powerful winds continue to spread the fire 

Firefighters hose down a burning tree as powerful winds continue to spread the fire
 
  
Flames engulf a three-car garage at a home in Napa 
A three-garage home in Napa.


Map shows the ares in California that are experiencing active wildfires 
A map of the fires a few days ago.  The location of fires is changing constantly. 

Photo shows a home destroyed in the wildfires that have consumed northern California's Wine Country 


Images from Monday show fire still burning in Glen Ellen, California

Mandatory evacuations have been issued across four counties including Sonoma and Napa


Burned cars are seen near a structure that has been burned to the ground in Glen Ellen, California 
The town of Glen Ellen - like a war zone. 

The remains of a home burns in Santa Rosa as people move among the ruins in the background, searching for anything undamaged by the fire
A Santa Rosa neighborhood.

The Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa was also reduced to ash as the wildfires swept through, fanned by 50mph winds
The Santa Rosa Hilton, as it is being destroyed by the flames.


Residents go through their destroyed home as a burnt out car sits in the driveway. A total of 90,000 have been left without power
Heartbreaking:  survivors trying to find something, anything at all, in the rubble of what once was their home.


Michael Pond, left, looks through ashes as his wife Kristine, center, gets a hug from Zack Thurston, their daughter's boyfriend, while they search the remains of their home destroyed by fires in Santa Rosa
All they have is each other.  Michael Pond, left, looks through ashes as his wife Kristine, center, gets a hug from Zack Thurston, their daughter's boyfriend, while they search the remains of their home destroyed by fires in Santa Rosa


Tarmac cracked and trees were stripped to stumps by the flames that devastated this trailer park in Santa Rosa
The capricious nature of fires:  Some homes appear to be intact in the background.

The front of the hotel is consumed by flames after fast-moving fires tore through Santa Rosa, California
A Santa Rosa home.

Photos taken on Wednesday show the huge plumes of smoke rising from communities ravaged by the fires across California, which have killed 23 people so far in the north and nearly 150 are unaccounted for, and forced 20,000 across the state to evacuate their homes


Pictured is one of the communities that was destroyed in the fires, which started on Sunday and have yet to be fully contained


A chimney stands alone in a destroyed home in Santa Rosa on Monday, October 9. October has generally been the most destructive time of year for California wildfires.
Here only the Santa Rosa house chimney remains.


Fires burn in the hills to the east of Napa, some of the most valuable wine country anywhere in the world
Hills east of Napa. 


The couple had been married for 75 years, Ruby said, adding that the only thing worse 'would have been only one of them had survived the fire'
A tragic end to a beautiful love story.  Sara and Charles Rippey, 99- and 100-years-old respectively.  The couple had been married for 75 years and died together when their home north of Napa caught fire.   





What little is left of a home in Anaheim Hills continues to burn on Monday afternoon
A home in Anaheim Hills. 



Picture Sources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4964696/Ten-killed-sky-turns-orange-California-wildfires.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4972034/Satellite-pictures-capture-scope-California-wildfires.html

http://people.com/pets/cat-with-singed-whiskers-viral-photo-and-california-wild-fires-lost-pet-reunions/

October 13 - Update - Situation worsens 
http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/10/13/wine-country-temps-spike-14-degrees-winds-reach-60-mph/


RELATED




CALIFORNIA DEADLY WILDFIRES AND THE HEROIC FIREFIGHTERS - ALL MEN
- We're still waiting for feminists to demand an equal share of these jobs

See more photos
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2017/10/california-deadly-wildfires-and-heroic.html


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