Smokey Skies

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

As I drove home this afternoon from the KMET 1490-AM radio studio in the San Gorgonio Pass to my home in Murrieta, California, the closer I got to my home, the smokier the skies became.  As I passed the park a few blocks from my house the smoke was so thick that I could not clearly see the baseball diamond on the other side of the property.  It almost looked like a morning fog was hovering over the grass.  The stench of smoke, even with all of my windows up, was bad enough that my eyes were beginning to water.

Over 90 fires are burning across thirteen States.  On the West Coast the Carr Fire in Redding has been raging for a while, with a large number of other fires also burning in the Golden State.

● Carr Fire: This fire, at Redding, California, is moving so fast people have not had a chance to react.  500 homes have been destroyed with over a thousand currently in danger. The death toll is currently at 5.  Mandatory evacuation orders are in place, and because of the speed of the fire many people have had to evacuate without getting a chance to collect their things.  81,000 acres have burned, 37,000 people have been displaced.  NPR

● Cranston Fire: More than 13,000 acres have burned in this fire near the mountain community of Idyllwild in the mountains above the San Jacinto Valley, and west of Palm Springs.  The fire is in its fourth day of life.  Five homes have been destroyed, and 7,000 people have been evacuated from the area.  The heat from the last few weeks has died down, helping the 1,300 firefighters on the scene.  ABC7

● The Pasqual Fire is just south of my location, and combined with the Cranston Fire, much of the smoke in my area is likely coming from this fire burning in San Diego County just west of Ramona, in the vicinity of the San Diego Wild Animal Park (now called the San Diego Zoo Safari Park).  The park never closed its gates as the flames raged in the area, and now the fire has mercifully moved away from its location.  This fire has burned 365 acres and is currently 40% contained. Evacuations remain in place.  A seven mile stretch of the 78 Freeway has been shutdown during this fire.  UnionTribune

● Ferguson Fire: Three smaller fires have burned east of the City of Visalia in Central California.  These fires follow the Ferguson Fire which first sparked near Yosemite National Park about two weeks ago. The Ferguson Fire, which is to the north of the smaller fires, has burned 49,619 acres and is currently 29% contained. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5927/

● Garner Complex and Natchez Fires: Along the California border, and in southern Oregon, east of Brookings, Oregon and west of Grants Pass and Medford are two fires that are working their way through thick forest west of where the Klamath Falls fire was burning earlier this summer. The Natchez Fire has burned 3,777 acres and is 10% contained. The Garner Complex Fire has burned 25,097 acres and is currently 27% contained.  To the northwest of those fires, deeper into the Oregon forests, is the Klondike Fire, which has burned 10,989 acres and is only 5% contained. To the east is the Hendrix Fire, 1,081 acres, Contained: 70%.  https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5935/

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