The Terrible Force of Fire

June 20 th 2008, a dry lightning storm hit Northern California igniting what could be considered the worst fire storm in California History. To date there have been a total of over 1700 fires statewide. Currently 323 fires are still active. Many have heard about these fires but no one can understand or comprehend the scope of these fires unless you are right there in them. Firefighter from all over the nation are here fighting these horrific fires and the National Guard is undergoing emergency fire training before being sent to the various fires through out northern California.

To give you an idea of the scope of these fires, at this time there are 12,823 residences, 165 commercial, and 2,763 outbuildings threatened by the fires. 96 residences, 1 commercial, and 88 outbuildings have been destroyed and the numbers could continue to climb. When fires occur, the largest amount of effort is given to the fire threatening the most structures. In California right now, there are at least three major fires threatening large numbers of structures. Here are a few photos to show you the scope of these fires.

These two photos are of the Gap Fire threatening Goleta in Santa Barbara County. These were taken from UCSB in Isla Vista. You can see the lights from the city below the massive flames in the mountains and foothills. Power outages are a daily problem and many people are using generators to keep their homes and businesses running.

This is a fire in Humbolt County. The fires here are now about 85% contained.

This is from the Big Sur Fire. Thick smoke has caused many problems for both the public and the fire fighters as well as making the location and fighting of the fires very difficult.

A helicopter drops water on the Big Sur Fire.

This heartbreaking photo was taken in Butte County after fire destroyed a home.

Many people have been evacuated from their homes, taking only what they could carry as flames bore down on their homes. For some, they will return to find everything they once owned is gone. Fire is a very devastating thing. In some cases fire can be good for the forests and when it is not threatening structures, it is left alone to do what nature intended. When it starts heading for homes and businesses, it needs to be stopped and every effort is put into protecting those structures and people in its way. There are so many fires burning right now in California that it is difficult to find information on every one of them. They are mostly listed as Lightning Complexes for the various counties to encompass all information in one place. My heart goes out to everyone in the path of these fires and I hope they can return to their homes and find them still standing.