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The Camp Fire destroys 9070+ homes in California (87 confirmed dead, ~500 missing)
- Thread starter NihonTiger
- Start date
The final death toll is going to be at least around 1k by the time this is all done, just an absolute disaster
How did you get this data?All of this reporting of the size of the fire never really made sense to me. I don't know how big an acre is or a sq mile. But this thing is burning across a huge area. To see it from a different perspective.
I think when you say the fire was incinerating an area the size of a football field each second for some time it helps put it in perspective.
Ugh.. please at least tell me the kids are waiting to be reunited.
That + that australia video. Fire and wind is terrifying. This is so tragic.
Christ. I cannot imagine... My roommate's parents' house was nearly burned down. That's the closest I've been to it. Her neighbors were out there throwing water on their house to help stop the fire. It stopped literally across their street somehow and their house is still ok. They were incredibly lucky.
Jesus, it's mostly all older folks and kids for the known ages. We might be having to ask soon whether these fatality numbers get closer to the Peshtigo disaster (~1500 - 2000) than the Great Chicago Fire (~300).
There's a 101 year old person on the missing list. Shit.
Lots of those on the missing list are family groups, so either the full family is going to be found or a devastating loss.
It depends on how long it's taken for someone else to have reported them as being missing.
I imagine a lot of it is checking census data contacting people, seeing whose been checked into shelters.
The count is going to most likely keep rising.
Australia video?
Missing seems to be almost entirely Paradise and Magalia. Hopefully that's more an indication of their evacuation being so rushed that they weren't able to track people, rather than so many not being able to evacuate in time.
Wow that number of deaths and missing people is insane. I am glad all my friends made it out ok but I feel for the everyone who lost friends and loved ones in the blaze. I told my wife I am moving back to Boston, blizzards/Nor easters aren't so bad afterall.
Are they positive the Camp Fire started because the electric company decided not to shut down power during the wind storm? Can't believe an entire town is gone due to incompetence.
The missing is high because the death count is high. They can't report unconfirmed deaths. There are lots of charred skeletons where they are only finding a jaw bone. Without knowing who it is, they cannot add it to the death toll. Expect a lot more deaths the further we get out. I heard from some people in the local hospital that it was around 200 - 500 when there was only 7 reported dead. It has only gone up from there. My mom's neighbor burned to death in his house and it took them days to add him to the count.
From what I've read the line that failed was a high KV line that didn't fall under that guideline, but the truth will come out soon due to all of the lawsuits. I don't think we should rush to blame the power company before we know any facts.
I had the same reaction. So many people above the age of 60. There's one person who was 101, even. :(
I suppose one could be an optimist and say that the older folks are less likely to easily connect with friends and family but... no. This tragedy is only deepening by the day.
While the spark was likely man-made, the fact that the town was in deep fire country likely did not help. The state of California failed these people by allowing them to continue building there in the first place.
Changes need to be made. California has been taking climate change seriously but it's been a little bit adamant to get in the way of telling people where they can and can't build in deep fire country. This cannot continue.
This might come across as insensitive, apologies if so, but something I've always wondered about wild fires is why are they so hard to escape? Do people think they have more time than they have to leave, or do the fires spread faster than cars can drive?
From what I was told by an Australian friend, these fires can spread really fast, its like the threes are almost exploding and its just a wall of fire surrounding you + wind blowing heat around so its hard to breath + disorientation ...
Yeah.
Camp Fire spread so fast a lot of people did not know they needed to evacuate ASAP.
Looking retroactive towns/cities in high fire areas need more precautions.
This entire situation is so sad. Seeing the number of missing jump up so much each time has been a huge shock. Really hoping that most of them are just displaced and out of contact and will be found alive in time.
Wildfires can spread extremely quickly in general, and in these cases, it's been worse because there are high winds and it has been extremely dry. CNN had a good summation from last week https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/us/wildfires-why-they-spread-so-quickly-wcx/index.html
Changing winds can often cause the most devastating fires. In 2009 in Australia we had a massive fire like this. Imagine a fire that is travelling at 14 miles per hour for 4 hours that is 2 miles wide heading south. The wind changes, now blowing to the east and now the fire is 56 miles wide travailing in a straight line.
That's why it can be so hard to escape from a fire, roads don't go in straight lines and you can't go around it in a situation like this.
That's why it can be so hard to escape from a fire, roads don't go in straight lines and you can't go around it in a situation like this.
It is almost like these fires started in federally controlled land that California does not manage. Like most of the fires, so yeah get on California's case?
Do you feel the same way about land near hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other natural disasters? Do you think the government should claim the land back from people and pay them? What is your plan here. I mean northern California is surrounded by trees. Do you think half the state should be moved?
I mean personally I think they just need to make bigger back burn areas throughout the year. Make a mandatory sprinkler systems on all roofs. You don't need to displace half the state.
People burned alive in their cars as the fire was moving with 30 - 50mph wind. Some got out of their cars when traffic was backed up. The smoke was so heavy that they were running the wrong way as they could not tell the fire's direction. One person caught on fire and ran into barbed wire.
Some were trying to exit their houses through their garage and PG&E cut power. The older community could not open the garage doors with the manual release and burned in their houses.
Once you are surrounded by smoke it is hard to tell where to go. These are not slow moving.
Jesus Christ I had no idea so many people were missing. I'm guessing at this point most of the 1100 can't be alive? Absolutely horrifying.
No reason that the majority may not be alive. So many people evacuated, and if it were me that just lost my home, I might have a lot more on my plate than letting the police now I'm alive. This is an incredible tragedy, but we can hold out some hope, at least for now.
The only way to prevent this much disaster is installing sprinkler systems throughout the town to wet everything to try and slow the fire down.
Before it was infeasible but now with climate change getting worse, insurance companies will benefit.
Before it was infeasible but now with climate change getting worse, insurance companies will benefit.
Trump is on top of it. See the short video here. When asked if this devastation has changed his opinion on climate change he said,
"No. No. I have a strong opinion. I want great climate. We're going to have that."
https://mobile.twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1063907138270109697
"No. No. I have a strong opinion. I want great climate. We're going to have that."
https://mobile.twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1063907138270109697
And his tweets stay focused on everyone but the victims and family unless you're part of the armed forces, firefighter. Basically non peasants
Early reports described the fire spreading at a rate of one full football field per minute, so it can descend on you in an instant.
To put that in perspective, the total burned area so far is 149k acres which translates to 111750 football fields.
What about all the people in flood plains? Hurricane areas? Fault zones? Tornado alley? Victim blaming people in California doesn't do any good.
That wasn't victim blaming. Constantly building residential areas in the places where we know that they will more than likely be destroyed isnt "victim blaming". Its more realizing that we need go take a bit more drastic actions and move these people to places that aren't tinder boxes waiting for a spark.
I lost my entire house and everything I owed to the Freeway Fire in 2008 in socal. There was a knock on my door by the complex maintenance man at 9:02AM, we looked up a hill and saw a tiny, TINY ploom of smoke about 1/4 mile away. It looked about the size of a small campfire if you dosed it out. We started to slowly gather things since we were being evacuated.
At 9:15AM I heard my wife (then gf) scream bloody murder. I ran out front and there were 60ft trees surrounding our complex, 15 feet from us that were entirely engulfed in flames. The wind and fire created a hell on earth fire storm and the sky was black as hell, with burning embers swirling and flying all around us. We grabbed our dog, and like 2 things and ran to our car which was only about 5 feet from the fires. We hauled out of the complex honking our horn and screaming at people to leave.
I know the above timelines are correct because I got a phone call from my in-laws and then my parents at the exact times listed or within a minute. The fire literally came out of nowhere and moved 1/4-1/2 a mile in just a couple of minutes. Besides a hamper of clothes, important paperwork etc, all I got from the unit we lived in was the ceramic letter "C" indicating our unit number when we went back 3 days later. The entire place was burned down.
edit. BTW this wasn't in some wooded area either. This was in a highly dense suburban sprawl in Orange County a few miles from Disneyland. Moved in with my parents then next day and started over, put it all behind me. So as someone who's lost it all, you move on by just moving on and putting it all, everything in the past and taking it 1 step at a time.
Just curious. How do you plan to move 100 million+ people in the United States? Where are they going to move to?
How many times has paradise completely burned down? Your acting like this is a yearly activity when it's not. The camp fire was exceptionally bad.
I don't think it's fair to blame people in California when people across the United States live in disaster prone areas
Christ many of these people probably will never be found. :(
Fuckimg Christ.
If I ever have to move out west I think I might just build a fireproof underground house.
Fuckimg Christ.
If I ever have to move out west I think I might just build a fireproof underground house.