This is moved over from another thread. Several of you were asking how I'm doing in the huge wildfires that are raging in Ventura county this week:
It's been a hectic, scary week. Right now, I can still go outside and watch open flames burning on hilltops a few miles away. Up here in Ventura county, the Santa Ana winds are calming down and the most vulnerable brush areas have already burned. A lot of damage and some houses lost, but I think we've pulled through. Our little town of Fillmore was almost surrounded by fire, but the geometry of the hill ridges kind of protects it.
The building we're in is one of the safest places in Fillmore. An underground bunker, with a giant sprinkler system, right across the street from the Fire station. Not much personal worry. I stay here in the building, working all through the night, as I always do. Last night, I was outside every hour or so, watching the progress of the nearby fires to see if there are any floating embers or spot fires.
Ha, as I'm typing this, I just got an emergency alert on the phone of high winds and extreme danger! It's not over yet.
Here's the view out the ramp of the Secret Underground Lab on Wednesday evening, almost sundown. Some wild pictures. The big orange patch to the left is the sunset behind the smoke clouds. It's a heavy brush fire right on the other side of the ridge. The ridge is about a mile and a half away. There are several helicopters dropping water in circles around this side of the hill.
And, no, we're not having a special sale on roasted maple necks on Monday. They will be the normal price.
If you are watching the fire maps, the fire that you see up on that ridge is the very east end of the Thomas fire. That's the big fire in Ventura county, which started north of Santa Paula, wrapped around Ojai and down to the city of Ventura. Several hundred homes lost, but only one fatality so far. They expect it will keep burning for several more weeks. But the fire never got further east than that ridge. Santa Paula is about 7 miles away; Ventura is about 25 miles, right on the coast.
So, we had that big fire going on to the west of us. The wind was going that way down the Ventura valley, pushing it away from us. But meanwhile, there was another big fire, the Rye Canyon fire, to the east of us. It was about 20 miles away and heading this way. Our little town of Fillmore was right in the middle of a long valley, with big fires at both ends! There are only three main roads to get in and out of here, and for a while on Tuesday we were almost cut off by all the roads being closed. It was a little scary for a while.
They let the back side of that ridge burn for about three days, to let the dry brush burn off and stop the fire there. And of course, they were battling much more dangerous fires on the other end, around Santa Paula, Ojai, and Ventura. I took those pictures on Wednesday early evening. The ridge burned all through the night. By Thursday morning, they started getting concerned about it. The fire was working to the north (to the right in the picture) steadily, and they were afraid that it was going to go around the back side of that hill, and then come into Fillmore from the north.
Thursday around noon, we got a spectacular air show. They brought the big 747 fire drop tanker in, and it dumped a couple of loads of red retardant up along the ridge. Quite a sight to see! They also had one of the C-130's and several water-dropping helicopters. It worked. They stopped the fire right there, in about a half hour.
So, it's calming down here now. The Rye fire to our east moved south, and they've got it mostly contained. The Thomas fire is still a battle around Ventura and north towards Carpenteria.
Fillmore appears to be safe. But it's still dangerous conditions. It's 83 outside, less than 5% humidity, and steady wind. We still have to stay very alert.
It's been a hectic, scary week. Right now, I can still go outside and watch open flames burning on hilltops a few miles away. Up here in Ventura county, the Santa Ana winds are calming down and the most vulnerable brush areas have already burned. A lot of damage and some houses lost, but I think we've pulled through. Our little town of Fillmore was almost surrounded by fire, but the geometry of the hill ridges kind of protects it.
The building we're in is one of the safest places in Fillmore. An underground bunker, with a giant sprinkler system, right across the street from the Fire station. Not much personal worry. I stay here in the building, working all through the night, as I always do. Last night, I was outside every hour or so, watching the progress of the nearby fires to see if there are any floating embers or spot fires.
Ha, as I'm typing this, I just got an emergency alert on the phone of high winds and extreme danger! It's not over yet.
Here's the view out the ramp of the Secret Underground Lab on Wednesday evening, almost sundown. Some wild pictures. The big orange patch to the left is the sunset behind the smoke clouds. It's a heavy brush fire right on the other side of the ridge. The ridge is about a mile and a half away. There are several helicopters dropping water in circles around this side of the hill.
And, no, we're not having a special sale on roasted maple necks on Monday. They will be the normal price.
If you are watching the fire maps, the fire that you see up on that ridge is the very east end of the Thomas fire. That's the big fire in Ventura county, which started north of Santa Paula, wrapped around Ojai and down to the city of Ventura. Several hundred homes lost, but only one fatality so far. They expect it will keep burning for several more weeks. But the fire never got further east than that ridge. Santa Paula is about 7 miles away; Ventura is about 25 miles, right on the coast.
So, we had that big fire going on to the west of us. The wind was going that way down the Ventura valley, pushing it away from us. But meanwhile, there was another big fire, the Rye Canyon fire, to the east of us. It was about 20 miles away and heading this way. Our little town of Fillmore was right in the middle of a long valley, with big fires at both ends! There are only three main roads to get in and out of here, and for a while on Tuesday we were almost cut off by all the roads being closed. It was a little scary for a while.
They let the back side of that ridge burn for about three days, to let the dry brush burn off and stop the fire there. And of course, they were battling much more dangerous fires on the other end, around Santa Paula, Ojai, and Ventura. I took those pictures on Wednesday early evening. The ridge burned all through the night. By Thursday morning, they started getting concerned about it. The fire was working to the north (to the right in the picture) steadily, and they were afraid that it was going to go around the back side of that hill, and then come into Fillmore from the north.
Thursday around noon, we got a spectacular air show. They brought the big 747 fire drop tanker in, and it dumped a couple of loads of red retardant up along the ridge. Quite a sight to see! They also had one of the C-130's and several water-dropping helicopters. It worked. They stopped the fire right there, in about a half hour.
So, it's calming down here now. The Rye fire to our east moved south, and they've got it mostly contained. The Thomas fire is still a battle around Ventura and north towards Carpenteria.
Fillmore appears to be safe. But it's still dangerous conditions. It's 83 outside, less than 5% humidity, and steady wind. We still have to stay very alert.
