Wildfire Today

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Wildfire Today

Tag: Valley Fire

The emergence of Periscope and Twitter as a source for breaking news

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 1 Comment on The emergence of Periscope and Twitter as a source for breaking news

In the last few years Twitter emerged as a source for obtaining information about breaking news. Then it was followed by Instagram and in the last few months, Periscope. And of course Facebook belongs in the list as well. In case you’re not familiar with Periscope, it is an app, or program, that can be installed on smart phones that makes it possible to very easily broadcast live video and audio from any location that has good, fast cell phone service. Viewers can interact with the photographer by texting questions that appear on the screen, and can indicate they appreciate the broadcast by tapping the screen which displays heart icons that float up and then off the screen. Some videographers answer the questions verbally.

Periscope has only been around since early this year. It was first available on Android devices in March after the app was acquired by Twitter for $100 million. We have seen some wildfire organizations use it, including CAL FIRE (“CAL FIRE PIO Berlant”) for daily situation reports, and the Sacramento Fire Department (“Sacfire Pio”) which routinely transmits live from incident scenes. But yesterday it came of age — even though it is only a few months old. A fire photographer, EPN564, broadcast live six times from the Valley Fire, about 70 miles north of San Francisco. The high quality video that showed active fire, including homes burning, was striking. There were probably other journalists who also provided video from the fire.

Social media is not a perfect source for news, of course. Citizen “journalists” do not have fact checkers, and occasionally misinformation gets distributed. And there will be those that criticize real-time video of burning homes, but when a news helicopter transmits live video of the same scene, you rarely hear anyone saying that it should be censored.

Below is an excerpt from an article published today at Holistic Marketing Concepts. The author appears to be Tiffany Ann Brown, writing about the revolution in how we are obtaining breaking news, and specifically, news from the devastating Valley Fire last night:

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“I had quite an interesting night, watching live coverage of a massive fire unfolding in Lake County, California … which also happens to be my husband’s hometown. But rather than seeing anything at all about it on the evening news, I received nearly 100% of my information from Twitter and Periscope. While watching the live coverage on Periscope, I finally experienced firsthand what so many in both business and marketing circles have been talking about for so long: digital (or social) darwinism in action.

It was indeed a defining moment for me, catching live video streams on Periscope, with some of those streams coming directly from various firefighters’ iPhones. Meanwhile, I found it delightful that the general public (and various people tuning in from around the globe) were encouraging them along every step of the way with words of support and concern as these periscopers did their best to share what was happening with viewers live and in real time. In one case, we watched a stream as the number of viewers started at below 100, and within a few minutes grew to over 1,500 viewers.

Not only was this in-the-moment, informative news that I wasn’t getting from any mainstream media sites, but rather than instilling a sense of fear and drama (as is often the case with front-line news reporting), the overall feeling evoked a sense of realism, as well as support, encouragement, and care from the community based on the sentiment of the comments that were filtering through the live chat. ..”

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Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Barbara.

Firefighters on the Valley Fire aided by the weather

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 9 Comments on Firefighters on the Valley Fire aided by the weather

(UPDATE at 9:05 a.m. PT, September 17, 2015)

The Lake County Sheriff’s office announced today that the remains of two more people were discovered in the Hidden Valley and Anderson Springs areas. More information.

On Wednesday the weather station in Calistoga south of the fire recorded 0.77 inch of rain. Some areas on the fire received more than 0.50″, according to CAL FIRE. However, they warn that a warming trend is in the forecast with temperatures expected to exceed 90 degrees over the weekend.

Some areas in Lake and Napa counties are still under evacuation orders. For more evacuation information, call (707) 967-4207).

The fire has burned 73,700 acres and CAL FIRE is calling it 35 percent contained.

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(UPDATE at 10:47 a.m. PT, September 15, 2015)

Firefighters on the Valley Fire burning out Sept. 14, 2015 near Highway 29 south of Lower Lake. Photo by SLOSTRNGER used with permission.
Firefighters on the Valley Fire burning out Sept. 13, 2015 near Highway 29 south of Lower Lake. Photo by SLOSTRNGER used with permission.

On Monday the spread of the 67,000-acre Valley fire 62 miles north of San Francisco was slowed by temperatures in the low 60s, relative humidity above 80 percent, and 0.01″ of rain that fell in the late afternoon, according to data from a weather station south of the fire in Calistoga.

CAL FIRE reported Tuesday morning that their latest damage assessment shows that 585 homes and hundreds of other structures have been destroyed. The surveys are continuing and the numbers will likely change in the coming days. Approximately 9,000 structures are threatened. Evacuations are still in place, affecting 23,000 people.

In addition to the homes that burned in Middletown and Cobb, a geothermal plant that produces electricity, The Geysers, was damaged. Five of the 14 plants were affected, including power lines and wooden cooling towers.

Air tankers have not worked the fire since Saturday, grounded by poor visibility caused by smoke and clouds. Tuesday’s weather is expected to make it possible to use them again. The forecast calls for a 35 percent cloud cover, a high temperature of 73 degrees, relative humidity in the 40s, and winds out of the west at 8 to 13 mph.

The video below was aired by a San Francisco television station and uploaded to YouTube September 14, 2015..

Valley Fire Jefferson CT
Jefferson Court in Middletown after the Valley Fire. Photo Sept. 13, 2015 by SLOSTRINGER, used with permission.

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(UPDATE at 1:47 p.m. PT, September 14, 2015)

The Lake County Sheriff’s office have confirmed they have found the body of a civilian that died in the Valley Fire, which has burned 61,000 acres 62 miles north of San Francisco. They don’t yet have an official identification from the Coroner, but it is believed to be an elderly, disabled woman who was not able to self-evacuate.

According to the Lake County Press Democrat the Sheriff’s office received a phone call at 7:12 p.m. on Saturday, about six hours after the fire started. At 7:20 deputies and officers responded to the area but were unable to reach the subdivision because it had already been engulfed in flames, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.

Dispatch lines were flooded with requests from people asking for help evacuating and family members asking authorities to check on their relatives.
Continue reading “Firefighters on the Valley Fire aided by the weather”

Four firefighters burned on the Valley Fire in northern California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 10 Comments on Four firefighters burned on the Valley Fire in northern California

Four firefighters working on a new wildfire in northern California suffered burns Saturday afternoon. Daniel Berlant of CAL FIRE said they were part of a helitack crew suppressing the Valley Fire. The firefighters from CAL FIRE helicopter 104 were transported to the Firefighters Burn Institute at the University of California at Davis.

At 8 p.m. on Saturday Mr. Berlant said the four fighters all suffered second degree burns and were in stable condition.

The Valley fire grew to 10,000 acres within six hours after it started at 1:24 p.m. By 10 p.m. it had exploded to 25,000 acres.

The Valley Fire is burning about 8 miles west of the Rocky Fire that burned about 70,000 acres near Clearlake, California north of San Francisco. It also grew very quickly, blackening over 8,000 acres within six hours of starting at 4:10 p.m. PT on July 29.

Mr. Berlant said the Valley Fire has caused evacuation orders to be posted for the communities of Cobb and Middletown.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Dick, Kelly, David, and Barbara.