Posts from — August 2009

The fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains has now burned over 6,800 acres and is 30% contained. So far only 2 outbuildings have been damaged by the fire. More than 250 residences are threatened and there mandatory evacuations for Bonny Doon and Swanton effecting more than 2,200 people.

The primary fuels are redwood and pine trees. The area is mountainous with few roads for access.

Currently there are 234 engines, 17 crews, 22 dozers, 17 water tenders, 6 helicopters, 6 air tankers, and 1,548 personnel assigned to the fire. To date cost $2.6 million.

Links: Cal Fire Lockheed Fire page, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, the Santa Cruz Sentinel local news page, and their map of the Lockheed Fire.

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

Update: I’ve seen a number of queries wondering why this is called the “Lockheed Fire”. Lockheed Martin Space Systems has a facility just North of the fire and the command post is set up there. They could have set up at the University of California Santa Cruz campus, but no one wanted to call it the Banana Slug Fire. [Yes, the sports teams are called Banana Slugs. What part of California don’t you understand? It was founded in the 1960s.]

Position: 11.3 N 36.6 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb.

It is 905 miles [1460 km] West-Southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. This was Tropical Depression Three this morning.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 14.4 N 51.5 W [10 PM 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb.

It is 710 miles [1140 km] East-Southeast of the Leeward Islands. A tropical storm watch has been issued for US and British Virgin Islands and for the Dutch Leeward Islands of St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 14.6 N 45.8 W [11:30 PM CDT 0430 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↓.

It is 1075 miles [1735 km] East of the Leeward Islands. It has regenerated.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

MSNBC notices that California is dealing with multiple fires

Cal Fire Incident list

Hat Creek Complex [Lassen National Forest]
Wildcat Fire [Yosemite National Park]
La Brea Fire [Los Padres National Forest ]
SHU Lightning [Shasta County]
Yuba Fire [Yuba County]
Corral Fire [Alameda County]
Coffin Fire [Trinity County]
Lockheed Fire [Santa Cruz County]

If the location is a national park or forest, it’s a Federal problem, but five of these fires have the meter running at the state, which isn’t getting any richer.

I’m sticking with the La Brea and Lockheed fires, but they are not everything that’s burning, just look at the Enplan Wildfire Viewer.

The United States government has been in health care in this country longer than any health insurance company, drug company, the American Medical Association, or any of the other current organizations who demand to be heard. The creation of the Public Health Service in 1798, should be a rather solid clue as to what the “Founding Fathers” thought about the role of the government in the health care area.

Sign seen at a recent “town hall” meeting:

UNIVERSAL
HEALTH CARE
NOT
UNINFORMED
HEALTH SCARE

Admirable concept that will be ignored because of “leadership” from people like Obama’s “reasonable man”, Chuck Grassley, on CBS

(CBS/ AP) Key senators are excluding a provision on end-of-life care from health overhaul legislation after language in a House bill caused a furor.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that the provision had been dropped from consideration because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly.

Only if you add a lot of demagoguery, Chuckles, or are as ignorant as Glenn Beck.

You may have seen Katy Abram on Hardball discussing the “rage” of “regular people” over health care reform.

Alas, Ms Abram neglected to mention that she was a local leader of a Glenn Beck 9-12 group, what was called a Sturmführer in the Sturmabteilung, when the white guy doing the ranting had a small mustache and convinced people to act like thugs at political events.

So, you want to be a libertarian? Great, Somalia is waiting for you. You get no support for your views from the “Founding Fathers”, because you are totally opposed to their views on just about everything.

Once again with the basics:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

It isn’t about you, it’s about us. You don’t want to join, fine, but don’t ask us to help you when you get in trouble, because the deal was: we help each other. The preamble to the Constitution is about shared responsibilities. You want rights without responsibility, and benefits without obligations. It doesn’t work that way. You have run up a lot a bills, and you have to start paying them back.

A lot of people paid taxes to give you a public education, so it is time to pay that money back with your taxes.

A lot of libertarians are in love with what they think the Second Amendment says. They don’t want to hear about what was meant.

[Read more →]

The fire in the San Rafael Wilderness area has now burned over 67,000 acres and is 10% contained. Evacuations have been ordered on the Southwest side of the fire as it shifted directions. A second fire started near Santa Maria for unknown reasons [probable arson] that burned about 10 acres and pulled crews away from the main fire.

There have been 2 minor injuries fighting the fire which has already cost $6.3 million.

Currently there are 90 engines, 59 crews, 25 dozers, 5 tankers, 11 helicopters, and 1,859 total personnel assigned to the fire.

Links: The KEYT La Brea Fire article, the Santa Barbara Independent La Brea Fire page, InciWeb La Brea page with a map, KSBY has videos and the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, which used satellite sensors to spot fires.

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

Santa Cruz Sentinel reports two structures lost, but over night weather helped to slow the growth of the fire. Unfortunately the weather is forecast to be hot and dry on the weekend.

The fire has now burned over 4,100 acres and is 5% contained. More than 250 residences are threatened and there mandatory evacuations effecting more than 2,200 people.

Currently there are 120 engines, 16 crews, 15 dozers, 3 water tenders, and 676 personnel assigned to the fire. To date cost: $750,000.

Links: Cal Fire Lockheed Fire page, the Enplan Wildfire Viewer, the Santa Cruz Sentinel local news page, and their map of the Lockheed Fire.

[For more information go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Fires” for all of the posts related to wildfires on this site.]

New Kid

Oh, no – THE AXE MURDERER!!!

[Editor: This is a new addition to the clan, reacting to the reality that I had magically appeared after the screen door slammed shut.]

Friday Ark

It’s time to clean your glasses.

Over at MSNBC they say the economy is in turmoil.

Initial jobless claims are going up again, after dropping last week. Even with the “Cash for Clunkers” boost, retail sales are down; even WalMart is down.

The continuing jobless claims are down, but that is people coming to the end their coverage.

Consumption is two-thirds of the GDP, so forget this “green shoots”, it’s the brass corroding. You can’t have a “jobless recovery”, because credit has been maxed out.

The commercial real estate disaster has just started and the ARMs are still resetting, so housing can’t save the economy like it usually does. Real estate was the problem, so it isn’t going to be the solution. The fall may be slowing, but the economy is still falling, and that will continue until people can get back to work.

CNN reports on the Lockheed Fire

(CNN) — A fast-moving wildfire near the Santa Cruz Mountains prompted the mandatory evacuation of some 600 people in northern California early Thursday, fire officials said.

Authorities did not immediately know what caused the fire, which began about 7 p.m. Wednesday and burned an estimated 1,200 acres in the town of Bonny Doon by 1 a.m., said John Forbes with the city’s fire and rescue department.

Evacuations have been extended to the Braemore, Swanton and Davenport areas.

The area is near the Pacific coast about 55 miles south of San Francisco.

“Right now, details are sketchy,” said Jim Crawford, spokesman for the California fire agency, Cal Fire.

High winds tripled the size of the fire in just a few hours.

According to the Cal Fire incident page: 2,800 acres burning with 0% containment in the Santa Cruz Mountains. More than 1000 structures threatened.

Currently there are 120 engines, 15 crews, 15 dozers, 3 water tenders, and 670 personnel assigned to the fire.

Links: Enplan Wildfire Viewer for California, the Santa Cruz Sentinel local news page, and their Map: Lockheed Fire.

The fire in the San Rafael Wilderness area has now burned over 48,450 acres and is 10% contained. Structures to the North of the fire in Cottonwood Canyon are now under threat and evacuations have been ordered.

There have been 2 minor injuries fighting the fire which has already cost > $6.3 million.

Currently there are 89 engines, 57 crews, 28 dozers, 5 tankers, 10 helicopters, and 1,641 total personnel assigned to the fire.

Links: The KEYT La Brea Fire article, the Santa Barbara Independent La Brea Fire page, InciWeb La Brea page with a map, and KSBY has videos. The Enplan Wildfire Viewer has a good map based on satellite detection of hot spots.