The Gloria Fire -- Wildfire near my house (Pic Heavy)

[whisk.e.rebellion]

The Gloria fire has blackened 5,000 acres east of Gonzales and was 15 percent contained at 7 a.m. today, Cal Fire officials said.

Fire officials said the blaze, which apparently was touched off about 3 p.m. Thursday by agricultural fireworks devices used to scare birds, was threatening 100 homes and a 270-kilovolt transmission line.

One home has been destroyed and evacuations are taking place along Highway 146 and Bryant Canyon, Cal Fire said.

Link to story.

So, I'm on IRC near the end of the work day bullshitting with my wife and the oafs in #zombiesquad. About 10 minutes before I'm going to leave work, my wife sends me this message:

Aug 27 15:53:50 (airexurb) http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/2 ... 0/1002/rss
Aug 27 15:54:48 (whiskErebellion) fuck

The news article (which is no longer available because it was completely fucking wrong and that media outlet is a sorry excuse for a news source) says there's a 20 acre grass fire off of Highway 101, 1 town north of where I live. My biggest concern is that it's going to royally screw up traffic on the way home. Not a big deal, there's a country road I can take that comes in to the south side of town.

It turns out that it's an actual wildfire started by farmers launching off bottle rockets. They do this to scare away squirrels and birds. I don't know why they do this, since it doesn't work.

Cal Fire was short handed because there are two other wildfires in the county. By the time I got home and we lost power, there were only 20 engines, 2 dozers and 2 choppers. One of the choppers clipped a power line which knocked out power for almost 100 miles and started a second fire.

We didn't have to bug out, but we came pretty close. My wife packed a bag, and I threw some stuff in the car, just in case.

The containment line was about 2 miles from our house and the fire came right down to it before burning out on that side. It ended up jumping a canyon and heading east, but we're still smoked in.

Things we were ready for/did well

Food & water: Didn't need it since the power wasn't out for more than a few hours, but we're stocked for at least two months.

Cooking sources: I was able to make our planned dinner (grilled cheese with mozzarella, basil & pancetta) using a cast iron skillet on a charcoal grill.

Lighting: Buttloads of candles on the walls provided light for the living room. Every person in the house had a flashlight. We tapped in to the candle supply in the upstairs closet to get some light in the kitchen. Some glow sticks dropped into half-full bottles of water and hung from the ceiling finished the kitchen lighting. A hand-crank LED lantern provided hands-free light for cooking and bathroom trips.

Organization: It took less than five minutes to get all the candles lit, find and crank up the lantern, and the get the glow stick lanterns made and strung.

Things we need to work on

Bug out Bags: Our primary plan is to bug in, but you can't bug in for fire. It would have taken us too long to pack and GTFO if the flames had come out of the foothills and into town. Now that we're pretty well established with our bug in supplies, we need to work on bug out supplies

Cooking sources: While I was able to make dinner, I don't have enough charcoal to keep it up for more than a few days. I also don't have enough fuel for my Esbit stove to last more than a week. Eating cold canned foods during a bug in doesn't sound like it'd be good for morale. I need to get a few more bags of charcoal, a few dozen more fuel tablets, and another can of propane for the propane grill.

Now, please to enjoy pretty pictures:

Here's the smoke plume as seen from my driveway, around 6.30pm








Here's the fire/containment line from the dead ends that create one side of the triangular "cul-de-sac" where we live













And here's the view from my driveway:





And here's how to make the most awesome grilled pancetta, basil and mozzarella sandwiches. The basil came from our garden.



























[Edited to move pictures off of photobucket]

[shrapnel]

Oofh. Those fires look terrifying- we've had some bad ones uncomfortably close to where I live here in Florida, but never so close that I could actually see the flames at night. Try not to breathe too much smoke- it might be a good idea to take a mini-vacation to somewhere a little further away for the weekend, or something.

Also, those sammiches look delicious.



Stay safe!

[liberty45]

Great post. Thanks for sharing your fire scare and that sandwich looks amazing. Makes me hungry!

[Ricky Romero]

I like how wildfires are so common in California that the sandwiches got more coverage in this thread than the fire.

Seriously though, great learning experience! This is why we needed a California chapter. This state is every kind of disaster waiting to happen. We gotta get folks prepared!

[whisk.e.rebellion]

The smoke should start blowing due south (we're west-southwest of the fires) sometime tonight. There's still hardly any containment on the fires, but they should keep moving east.

I dropped our daughter off with my mother-in-law for the weekend so she doesn't have to deal with the smoke. My in-laws live in coastal town about 30 miles northwest of us, so there shouldn't be much smoke there. From the pics airexurb's sending me, we might be heading there tonight, too

[BobtheBreaker]

I like how wildfires are so common in California that the sandwiches got more coverage in this thread than the fire.

Seriously though, great learning experience! This is why we needed a California chapter. This state is every kind of disaster waiting to happen. We gotta get folks prepared!

Its a Santa Ana!

This is Fire Season, in a few months it'll be mud slide season. Than mudslide season will give way to spring.

[whisk.e.rebellion]

I like how wildfires are so common in California that the sandwiches got more coverage in this thread than the fire.

Seriously though, great learning experience! This is why we needed a California chapter. This state is every kind of disaster waiting to happen. We gotta get folks prepared!

Its a Santa Ana!

This is Fire Season, in a few months it'll be mud slide season. Than mudslide season will give way to spring.

It might be mud slide season with a side of floods around here. El Nino is supposed to come back this year. We had some pretty good flooding in the winter of 97/98 from El Nino. Highway 101 was under about 2 feet of water, Old Stage Road was totally flooded and two bridges washed out on River Road. South Monterey County was isolated from the rest of the county for 3 days.

I like how wildfires are so common in California that the sandwiches got more coverage in this thread than the fire.

Fire bad! Sammich good!

[BobtheBreaker]

Wow that sucks. We don't really get inconvenient flooding like that down here. Although for some reason, we as a County decided to build like 5 major malls, 2 stadiums and our entire downtown in what basically amounts to a dry river bed and fresh water delta. So if this El Nino brings some epic rain, itll be interesting to see them trying to sand bag Interstate 8 and pump out downtown.

[Y.T.]

wow, those fire shots are both frightening and beautiful.
so glad to hear you and your family were unharmed and so well prepared.

and big bravo to you both for being as prepared as you were, plus taking the opportunity to learn from this.
your point about working on cooking fuel made me realize I should be storing some more alcohol and gas canisters for a bugin. we have a gas stove so I've been a bit lax about that.

on an inappropriate humor note:

It turns out that it's an actual wildfire started by farmers launching off bottle rockets. They do this to scare away squirrels and birds. I don't know why they do this, since it doesn't work.

shared this story with my bf. his response:
"well, let's be honest, that fire did scare the fuck out of those squirrels. so..."
/remove tongue from cheek/

and now I want some of those sandwiches. damn you.

[whisk.e.rebellion]

on an inappropriate humor note:

It turns out that it's an actual wildfire started by farmers launching off bottle rockets. They do this to scare away squirrels and birds. I don't know why they do this, since it doesn't work.

shared this story with my bf. his response:
"well, let's be honest, that fire did scare the fuck out of those squirrels. so..."
/remove tongue from cheek/

and now I want some of those sandwiches. damn you.

Maybe the squirrels will come down in to my area and I can watch our friendly neighborhood redtail hawk swoop 'em up.

Another couple of things we did wrong:

I can't find our cheap ass princess phone. When the power went out, the cordless phones went out. Cell reception also went to shit. It seems like any time there's a major car crash/fire/whatever cell reception craps out. The tinfoil hat part of me thinks the authorities are messing with the service.

I need to get a scanner. Even with battery powered radios, there are no local English-language radio stations that would be covering emergencies in detail. The Spanish-language stations might be covering them, but the announcers speak too quickly for me to understand them.

[Oneswunk]

Fuck man stay safe and know when its time to GTFO.
I am so makeing that sandwich for dinner tomorrow.

[Y.T.]

I can't find our cheap ass princess phone. When the power went out, the cordless phones went out.

yep, that's totally one of those things you don't realize until it happens. last year we were experiencing many power outages in the area and each time we lost the cordless phones as well. as a result we now keep a $10 regular phone on the shelf near the phone cord.

Cell reception also went to shit. It seems like any time there's a major car crash/fire/whatever cell reception craps out. The tinfoil hat part of me thinks the authorities are messing with the service.

just based on personal experience, I don't think the authorities are messing with it. I've found that during emergencies and power outages everyone jumps on the cell at once, causing service problems. In addition,sometimes fires or explosions affect local signal towers, preventing service/reception. after 911 I won't rely on just a cell. cell phones were useless once the service towers were knocked out. the only phone communication was via landlines, which were surprisingly rare in many homes.

[BobtheBreaker]

The Cellular band is pretty close to some of the frequencies that some emergency management uses in CA. If you get a lot of units in one spot with radios squawking they might be able to overload the local cellular handsets since I believe Cellular phone are FCC Article 15 compliant.

[airexurb]

I can't find our cheap ass princess phone. When the power went out, the cordless phones went out.

yep, that's totally one of those things you don't realize until it happens. last year we were experiencing many power outages in the area and each time we lost the cordless phones as well. as a result we now keep a $10 regular phone on the shelf near the phone cord.

Cell reception also went to shit. It seems like any time there's a major car crash/fire/whatever cell reception craps out. The tinfoil hat part of me thinks the authorities are messing with the service.

just based on personal experience, I don't think the authorities are messing with it. I've found that during emergencies and power outages everyone jumps on the cell at once, causing service problems. In addition,sometimes fires or explosions affect local signal towers, preventing service/reception. after 911 I won't rely on just a cell. cell phones were useless once the service towers were knocked out. the only phone communication was via landlines, which were surprisingly rare in many homes.

the part that makes us keep our tinfoil hats handy: a few months ago, there was a bus crash on highway 101 right at the start of town. Within 10 minutes, all cell service ceased for a good 45 minutes.

and the sammiches were wonderful...if not a wee bit tardy.

[Y.T.]

he part that makes us keep our tinfoil hats handy: a few months ago, there was a bus crash on highway 101 right at the start of town. Within 10 minutes, all cell service ceased for a good 45 minutes.

that is... weird. maybe if you stuck an antennae in the tin foil hat you could get cell reception.

btw, your sig cracks me up every single time I see it

[deathstyle]

When there was a quake near either anaheim hills or chino earlier this year, the phone companies intentionally cut off service to the general population. People overwhelm the system and they want it clear for 1st responders to use as an alternative form of communication. I dont know how that works but thats what the man in the talking box was reporting will happen during major disasters.

[Y.T.]

When there was a quake near either anaheim hills or chino earlier this year, the phone companies intentionally cut off service to the general population. People overwhelm the system and they want it clear for 1st responders to use as an alternative form of communication. I dont know how that works but thats what the man in the talking box was reporting will happen during major disasters.

that's rather alarming. I mean if there is an emergency, such as a quake, how are people supposed to get ambulance or fire service if they can't use the phones?

and while I can kinda see doing that with landlines, why cell phones? I would think it would be very difficult to do that for just a specific area of cell phone service. plus, they'd have to contact every different cell phone provider (Sprint, Verizon, etc) to do so.

that also begs the question of why don't emergency services have a better communication system than relying on the phones of the general population? I mean shouldn't they have their own line, plus their own frequency, and a back up frequency?

[deathstyle]

I know what you mean. Thats one of the main attractions of a cellular phone. Being able to contact people during a crisis.

Im guessing they clear cell service for 1st responders because its mobile unlike lan lines. Its illegal to drive and use your cell phone at the same time around here and I see 1st responders doing it all the time. I was discussing my frustration over the double standard then someone mentioned to me some prefer cells over their issued comms.

As far as their own special channels. All I know is that the military has channel 1 for themselves. Learned that in my telecommunications class and the mystery of why channel 1 always eluded me was finally solved!

[BobtheBreaker]

that's rather alarming. I mean if there is an emergency, such as a quake, how are people supposed to get ambulance or fire service if they can't use the phones?

and while I can kinda see doing that with landlines, why cell phones? I would think it would be very difficult to do that for just a specific area of cell phone service. plus, they'd have to contact every different cell phone provider (Sprint, Verizon, etc) to do so.

that also begs the question of why don't emergency services have a better communication system than relying on the phones of the general population? I mean shouldn't they have their own line, plus their own frequency, and a back up frequency?

For the past 4 years or so, cellular handsets have had an SOS setting. Basically, the only call you can complete is 911 (or what ever it might be in non US regions). And they have the capacity to force this setting remotely, modern handsets wont even send non-emergency calls, older hand sets will have non-emergency calls dropped at the tower. How they coordinate accross multiple carriers, i dont know. I do know that Cellular bands are licensed from the FCC so that pretty much gives the FCC infinite latitude to force universal operating protocols on all the carriers.

[the_alias]

that's rather alarming. I mean if there is an emergency, such as a quake, how are people supposed to get ambulance or fire service if they can't use the phones?

and while I can kinda see doing that with landlines, why cell phones? I would think it would be very difficult to do that for just a specific area of cell phone service. plus, they'd have to contact every different cell phone provider (Sprint, Verizon, etc) to do so.

that also begs the question of why don't emergency services have a better communication system than relying on the phones of the general population? I mean shouldn't they have their own line, plus their own frequency, and a back up frequency?

For the past 4 years or so, cellular handsets have had an SOS setting. Basically, the only call you can complete is 911 (or what ever it might be in non US regions). And they have the capacity to force this setting remotely, modern handsets wont even send non-emergency calls, older hand sets will have non-emergency calls dropped at the tower. How they coordinate accross multiple carriers, i dont know. I do know that Cellular bands are licensed from the FCC so that pretty much gives the FCC infinite latitude to force universal operating protocols on all the carriers.

Sounds right, in the UK/Europe emergency calls take any damn network available regardless of carrier.

Fun fact, on some Nokia phones 911 and 112 (Europe wide emergency number) can be dialled without unlocking the phone. Also last I heard 911 also worked in Europe apparently because of the massive influx of culture from the US people end up dialling it in an emergency

Glad you and family are ok whiske!

[BobtheBreaker]

Sounds right, in the UK/Europe emergency calls take any damn network available regardless of carrier.

Fun fact, on some Nokia phones 911 and 112 (Europe wide emergency number) can be dialled without unlocking the phone. Also last I heard 911 also worked in Europe apparently because of the massive influx of culture from the US people end up dialling it in an emergency

Glad you and family are ok whiske!

Yeah, in the US any cellular phone can dial 911...doesn't matter if it doesnt have a sim card, it isnt activated, or if youre 9 months delinquent on paying your bill. The sad thing is, it wasnt always like this, it took federal intervention to make this happen!

[airexurb]

little update on the fire:

It is 60% contained and the people who have been evacuated should be able to go home tonight or tomorrow. When we got up this morning, you wouldn't even know there had been a fire. Not even a wisp of smoke near us. Very weird.


and as an aside: those sammiches will probably never again be as tasty as they were that night.

[yale]

Glad you are ok and the fire is gone.
On the subject of the phones going out, now may be a good time to look into alternate communications for your family such as Ham radio or even GMRS licensed base and handheld radios. GMRS licenses cover the whole family and don't require a test. You can buy repeater capable radios and with 40 watt base and mobile rigs you can get many miles of range without using repeaters. My Lady and I are both licensed for Ham Radio and GMRS. It makes a great backup communications source.

[whisk.e.rebellion]

The Cellular band is pretty close to some of the frequencies that some emergency management uses in CA. If you get a lot of units in one spot with radios squawking they might be able to overload the local cellular handsets since I believe Cellular phone are FCC Article 15 compliant.

All consumer electronic devices have to meet FCC Part 15 (must not cause interference, must accept any interference).

The idea of the radios interfering makes sense, but I'm still trying to figure out what harmonic it must be that's causing it. As far as I know, most emergency agencies use COTS (commercial, off the shelf) radios which would also be bound by FCC 15.

Now you've sent me on a mission