Thread by @robwormald

Got Google Earth fired up and plugged into the MODIS fire data. Dark Red/Red are basically actively burning (activity in the last 6 hours), yellow shows the last 6 days burned.

NorCal => Bay Area/Monterrey => Santa Cruz Mountains

#CZULightningComplex

Closer view, with (obv) my place and Big Basin marked.

This is data from NASA, I'll let them explain it :

What's hard to get is the topography, and what makes this thing so scary. Looking up the valley from Santa Cruz towards Big Basin, you can see the fire has largely been on the western coastal side, slowly climbing up the ridges towards Highway 9

That’s the ridgeline you see burning in this insane photograph (left side is above Felton, following North to Boulder Creek and beyond)

And that ridgeline runs up to Boulder Creek, where there’s a break and Highway 236 snakes through the forest to Big Basin State Park - this video is looking West on 236 from Boulder Creek at the end of that ridge (“Empire Ridge” in most comms, but most call it “Empire Grade”...

That’s the road these firefighters are driving up (north, towards safe already burned ground) in this insane video

https://twitter.com/firephotogirl/status/1296329929001283584?s=21

https://t.co/NgW6MROfU9

This ridgeline overlooks the San Lorenzo River and Valley. SLV is beautiful - it starts at the coastline in Santa Cruz with Henry Cowell State Park, and winds up the narrow valley through Felton, Ben Lomond, Brookdale, and Boulder Creek.

Felton, looking west at Empire Grade

finally got maps to do what I wanted - this gives you an idea of the layout of the valley. Empire Grade is the ridgeline to the west (left) that the fire is sitting on top of. Everything to the East, in the middle of the pic, is SLV

Similar view from Earth with the last 0-12 hours of MODIS data. You can see the danger here - the fires are creeping down the ridge towards the valley. You can see Bonny Doon which got hit really hard from initial reports. Fire moving South East (top left -> bottom right)

Opposite view, looking from the coast West to East in the direction the fire is traveling - this is the view that makes it hit home for me. Everyone South of 35 (green line) and West of 17 (Yellow line through Scotts Valley are under mandatory evacuation orders). Easy to see why.

Blue arrows are are creek/river valleys, all of which end up feeding into the San Lorenzo River. If the fire crests the river and starts to climb *up* those canyons, oh fuck. It would be unstoppable and burn right to Skyline. Evacuating the whole area is 100% the right decision.

Many of those canyons don't have roads that head north - south is the only way out, other than fire roads (lots of the pictures I've posted exploring on my eBike have been me exploring these roads, figuring out every possible route out should the worst occur)

Morning all.

Latest VIIRS data. 375m square pixels. BC downtown still looks to be OK, but its all residential neighborhoods that border it, and many of those are on fire 😧

Those areas are what @DylanBouscher tweeted a shot of here 😭

https://twitter.com/DylanBouscher/status/1296699821907091456?s=20

Also hearing reports of looting on the scanner. Looters can die in a fire for all I’m concerned. SCSO and nearby agencies providing security for neighborhoods, but it’s a huge area to cover.

6am presser for those who missed it

https://twitter.com/calfireczu/status/1296794881252196353?s=21

https://t.co/v8xwHRxEfr

Looks like we’ve got no air support at the moment as well. Neighbor saying we have 8 choppers staged at Watsonville and they’re all grounded due to conditions (orange icons bottom right). I don’t blame them but we are missing them.

#CZULightningComplex

Coastal front VIIRS data #CZULightningComplex

@CALFIRE_PIO @CALFIRECZU have been doing a great job keeping us up to date (and they’re wearing their damn masks!)

#CZULightningComplex

https://twitter.com/calfireczu/status/1296837811308335105?s=21

https://t.co/hMXIqion5K

50k+ acres burned
64k people evacuated
They’re having to stop to rescue people who aren’t evacuating.
Please GTFO so they can work.

#CZULightningComplexFire

C’mon, give us a freaking break 😨 #CZULightningComplex

Reminder: listen to local authorities and first responders. I am neither.

Lots of folks sharing this caltopo.com/map.html#ll=37…

From a local coworker, some context on the efforts of our brave firefighters ❤️ they’re out there driving bulldozers into the face of this thing

🔥🌲🚜🏠

#CZULightningComplex

For those not local, one other piece of context : we had a firefight of a different kind on these exact streets a few months ago - a SCSO deputy was murdered by a man who’d recently murdered a federal agent. The suspect was tackled by locals who live at the current fireline.

Air attack is up, looks like they’re hitting the coastal front of the fire (Prob can’t fly safely low the valley due to smoke)

First is the command and control plane, high overhead (6000 feet) circling the scene. Second is a whole mess of helicopters 🚁

#CZULightningComplex

That’s a new one on me, there’s an CH-47 (Chinook) doing air ops over East San Jose 😎

From Montana, privately owned fleet!

fireaviation.com/2014/02/21/mon…

🤬

From the 6pm presser :
57,000 acres burned
2% containment
97 structures burned
24,000 structures threatened
1,157 people working the fire

#CZULightningComplex

60 deputies and police involved in burglary suppression
Burglary is happening 🤬
Arrested 5 people with 2 carloads of stolen property off Fall Creek Road
If you see somebody prowling call dispatch center immediately (number in previous post)

Peak Boulder Creek. We always park up at this station and BS about bikes whenever we’re riding 9

https://twitter.com/jpicardi3/status/1297024879766601729

AirBnB has opened their NorCal fire page - sign up if you’re evacuated and need somewhere to stay (or have a place to offer)

airbnb.com/openhomes/disa…

#CZULightningComplex

Sharing this for visibility - big thank you to the CDCR (inmate) fire crews putting in work for our towns and homes ❤️

#CZULightningComplex

Utterly disgusting.

Deputy yesterday - “if you hear an ambulance request on dispatch, it’s likely a looter that has been caught by locals” 😏

Stay the fuck out of the Santa Cruz Mountains. If the sheriff doesn’t catch you, the locals will, and then you’ll *wish* it was a cop.

https://twitter.com/calfireczu/status/1297553631659429888

More CDCR guys on the Salinas fire ❤️

https://twitter.com/ostly_media/status/1296978936920854528

They’re getting a shitty deal, and California *must* change the regulations to allow them to get EMT certified after their release (EMT is a requirement to be a CalFire firefighter, and felons aren’t eligible)

Anybody think these people haven’t paid their debt to society?

From Scott Green, a neighbor and (former?) CalFire captain and 25 year veteran firefighter (I cannot tell you how helpful he’s been over the years for our community - he speaks, we listen!)

Red Flag 🚩 warning on now.

#CZULightningComplex

Good summary of this morning’s press conference (h/t Tony Russomano for prepping!)

#CZULightingComplex

QA from press conference (interesting note re national guard - heard yesterday they give them a week of training and send them out as hand crews. Perhaps they should do the same for some local volunteers next time? I can handle myself with a shovel 😏)

#CZULightningComplex

Again, I’m not sharing pictures of peoples’ burned out houses, but this is the Fallen Leaf neighborhood (off 236 on the way to Big Basin, ~3 miles or so outside Boulder Creek downtown).

It’s gone. Completely. 😔

(Photo credit SLV Steve, local photog)

#CZULightningComplex

Good news : long time Boulder Creek resident Albert the Albino Peacock confirmed safe 😀❤️

#CZULightningComplex

https://twitter.com/shiftinthinking/status/1297589024547196928

Sheriff’s office giving an update on looting:
90+ officers in the hills in addition to SCSO, SVPD, etc.
Protocol - stop every vehicle not police or fire. If you’re not tied to the area, you’re going to jail.

#CZULightningComplex

facebook.com/ktvu/videos/62…

6pm briefing:
Statewide update:
- 615 fires in California
- CZU and LNU fires are the 2nd and 3rd largest fires in California history
- 14,000 firefighters across the state
- 2400 fire engines
- 96% of all CalFire engines deployed at a fire

#CZULightingComplex

SCSO update:
- no good news to share
- dark day, first body recovery from Last Chance Rd
- needed CalFire heli to get to scene
- sounded like he was about to read the riot act but...

CONFERENCE INTERRUPTED BY RAIN 🌧 ☔️ 🥳

#CZULightningComplex

Correction (h/t @StarkZillaa)

SCU and LNU are 2/3rd largest fires in history.

(Also, imagine a fire 4x as big as ours. Fuck. That.)

#CZULightningComplex

https://twitter.com/starkzillaa/status/1297721614021193729

First lightning strikes arriving in Monterey (~45 miles south down the coast)

https://twitter.com/danncianca/status/1297724770373386245?s=21

#CZULightningComplex

@NorCal_Stringer with a time lapse of firefighters saving Boulder Creek Community Church with a back burn.

https://twitter.com/norcal_stringer/status/1297491170524684290?s=21

#CZULightningFire

...I’m not a religious person, but Boulder Creek Community Church has an on-point sign game and I always enjoy the wisdom with a touch of snark. My fave:

#CZULightningComplex

Cool visualization by @bogdan09261613

#CZULightningComplex

https://twitter.com/bogdan09261613/status/1297764771828097031

#CZULightningComplex

https://twitter.com/calfireczu/status/1297755977861566464

Summary :
- best day so far, big wins all around
- weather + firefighters kicking ass
- solid lines of containment on all fronts
- no structure loss today!
Hwy9:
- fire sticking to ridge so
- able to get solid control lines in under ridge

#CZULightningComplex

UCSC:
- 4 dozer blade wide control line from 9->1
- burning operations tonight to further expand line

First day weather cleared smoke up, Helis able to operate and attack fires
Supporting UCSC burn ops

Looking forward to good week w/ favorable weather 👍
#CZULightningComplex

Some thoughts, now that we all get to take collective breath for the first time in a week.

Many people have lost their homes. They’re devastated, but not broken. They’re standing together and supporting each other and vowing to rebuild. We will help them.

#CZULightningComplex

Our amazing, mostly volunteer local fire departments. Felton, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, our hometown @CALFIRECZU and the many other underfunded and understaffed local agencies who literally hiked into a firestorm.

We are in your debt.

#CZULightningComplex

Our local dispatch folks. If you’ve spent any time listening to the scanner, they’re unflappable, utterly professional people who are the lifeline who answer when we call in the worst times of our lives. I know their voices but not their faces. We see you.

#CZULightingComplex

Mutual aid agencies who came running from across the Bay and across the country. It was awesome to see the Calvary screaming up the freeway, running towards danger as we all evacuated the opposite direction. It is a sight to see. We’re grateful.

#CZULightingComplex

it was only June when a tip about a suspicious van led to an ambush and carjacking along Highway 9 in Ben Lomond, ending with the death of SCSO Sheriff Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, another deputy critically injured, and the murderer eventually being tackled by two locals and their dog

Thanks for protecting us then, and now. Anyone who’s driven thru the SLV has seen the signs - we love our first responders, because they’ve saved our collective asses repeatedly and will continue to do so for little or no pay.

#CZULightingComplex

All that said. The untold story here is what many folks around here are calling “the new normal”.

There were not enough resources. That wasn’t a secret. The fact California relies on inmates is bad enough, that many were too sick with COVID to “volunteer” is unconscionable...

Some folks here wouldn’t accept “there’s not enough resources, sorry your house might burn down”

They stayed and they fought. And they won. There are houses standing tonight because of people who broke the rules and risked their lives and stayed to fight...

...despite the fact it violated the rules. Authorities would say they’re hampering efforts and complicating things and maybe they are.

I won’t condemn them, and in fact I think it’s the most no-bullshit American thing I’ve seen this decade.

Let me repeat: “the new normal”

This isn’t the only example but it’s a doozie. If you haven’t read this thread, do. @hahnscratch - dude, ✊ respect. Thank you.

https://twitter.com/hahnscratch/status/1296569164144943104

santacruzsentinel.com/2020/08/24/as-…

@scsentinel on it.

#CZULightningComplex

From Tyrone (the guy in the kilt on top of the gas station )

#CZULightningComplex

Nice one @ksbw 🙄