Search teams using cadaver dogs found the remains of two more people in the Valley fire, which as burned over 73,000 acres 62 miles north of San Francisco. The Lake County Sheriff’s office announced that on September 16 the remains were discovered in the Hidden Valley and Anderson Springs areas.
Based on the locations, reports about missing persons, and evidence found, the Sheriff’s office has tentatively identified the remains, but has not yet obtained positive identification.
This brings the total number of people killed in the Valley Fire to three. Earlier, the body of 72-year-old Barbara McWilliams, a retired teacher, was found. She had multiple sclerosis and was apparently unable to escape her home as the fire approached. There was a report that a neighbor offered to help her evacuate, but she refused.
Kevin Ragio, the Calaveras County Coroner, has confirmed that two bodies have been found in the Butte Fire, which has burned 71,000 acres south of Jackson, California. Both were in Mountain Ranch.
One was found near Baker Riley Road. Mark McCloud, 65, had refused to evacuate and was overcome by the fire. He was found outside his home.
Another body was discovered in the remains of a home in the M 24 community. The release of the name is pending notification of next of kin.
The red line represents the perimeter of the Butte Fire on September 15, 2015. The white line was the perimeter on September 13.
At last count the destroyed structures in the Butte Fire included 233 residences and 175 outbuildings. Many areas in Calaveras and Amador Counties are still under evacuation notices, but others are being repopulated.
Resources assigned to the fire include 4,865 personnel, 519 fire engines, 92 hand crews, 10 helicopters, and 94 dozers.
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. ..”
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).
Tree cutting on HW175 on #Cobb for #ValleyFire, @CaltransHQ #LakeCounty @NorthBayNews @CAL_FIRE #CAdrought #cawx pic.twitter.com/AAexwMLbZU
— Kent Porter (@kentphotos) September 17, 2015
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. 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..
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.
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.
The Butte Fire south of Jackson, California has grown by about 6,000 acres in the last two days and is now listed at 71,063 acres.
CAL FIRE reports that 135 residences and 79 outbuildings have been destroyed.
Fire behavior remained moderate on Sunday allowing crews to be more effective in constructing fireline on the perimeter.
Butte Fire map, 9-13-2015. CAL FIRE.
Evacuations are still in place for many areas in Amador and Calaveras Counties. More details are available at the fire information phone lines: (530) 647-5218 and (209) 754-5527.
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(UPDATE at 10:35 p.m. PT, September 12, 2015)
In a 9:15 p.m PT update from CAL FIRE, the size of the Butte Fire south of Jackson, California remained about the same during the day on Saturday, but damage assessment teams reported that they counted 86 homes and 51 outbuildings that burned in the fire.
Mandatory evacuations are still in place for numerous locations in Amador and Calaveras Counties. More details are available at the fire information phone lines: (530) 647-5218 and (209) 754-5527.
Over 3,800 personnel are assigned to the fire, along with 452 fire engines, 77 hand crews, 17 helicopters, and 94 dozers.
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(UPDATED at 9:43 a.m. PT, September 12, 2015)
Engine 312 from the West Point Fire Protection District. Photo by SLOStringer, used with permission.
Two close calls have occurred on the Butte Fire south of Jackson, California. A truck from the West Point Fire Protection District burned in the private driveway of a home along Highway 26 . The person who took the photo above said it appeared the crew was doing structure protection and that they were able to avoid any major injuries.
The Modesto Bee has an article about “Modesto and Stanislaus Consolidated crews” that had to take refuge behind a structure as the fire “made a significant run at them [with] very erratic fire behavior”. The firefighters did not deploy fire shelters, but their vehicles suffered heat damage described as “cosmetic”, including “bubbled paint, melted plastic trim and melted hose”.
The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite over the Butte Fire at 1:37 a.m. PT, Sept. 12, 2015. The other colors are from earlier satellite overflights. MODIS. (click to enlarge)
CAL FIRE reports that the Butte Fire has burned 64,728 acres and has destroyed 15 structures. Other than evacuations and the number of firefighting resources assigned (3,330 personnel) CAL FIRE has provided little additional information about the fire. Saturday morning they did supply the map below which, although undated, appears to be fairly current.
CAL FIRE’s map of the Butte Fire obtained Sept. 12, 2015. No information was provided about the date of the perimeter.
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(UPDATED at 5:30 p.m. PT, September 11, 2015)
The Butte Fire at 6:09 p.m. on September 10, as seen from above Jackson, CA, looking southeast. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.
CAL FIRE reported at 3 p.m. today that the Butte Fire south of Jackson has burned 50,000 acres since it started 46 hours before on September 9.
More areas have been added to the mandatory evacuation list in Calaveras and Amador Counties. Details are available at the Fire Information phone line, (530) 647-5218 and (209) 754-5527.
The red dots represent heat detected on the Butte Fire at 1:39 p.m. PT, Sept. 11, 2015. MODIS. (click to enlarge)
