We awoke this morning to what we thought was another day of cloud cover. When we went out to air the dogs it was still dark and we could see an orange glow to the Southwest. We climbed into the truck to investigate only to discover it was far to the Southwest. When the morning light brightened the sky we could see the orange hue of smoke filtered light and ash was on everything. A fire blew up overnight in Tehama County and the smoke covered Shasta County by morning. It seems folks all over California woke up to the same and worse conditions. CalFire named this one the 3-4 Fire. Last count had it at 1,000 acres. It’s not the biggest fire. There’s one far worse threatening Vacaville. Say a prayer for the folks down there.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Beautiful but so scary. Stay safe Tim!
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We will!
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10,794 lightening strikes and counting in NoCal, tens of thousands evacuated during a global pandemic. Unprecedented heat waves across California, lasting and continuing. Mother Earth seems more than a tad pissed off. The barn owl babies are screeching noisily now as I type. At least they are happy.
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I glad someone’s happy! We’re used to the heat this time of year, but the darn lightning really put the hit on us. With all the fires near the highly populated areas it means the rural fires don’t get much attention. We’ve had this scenario before, which usually means some of the most remote fires will burn until the fall rain comes.
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I don’t know you personally, but follow your blog. Stay safe! It must be especially hurtful for you to see such extensive damage to forests with your deep understanding of them and all the critters that live within.
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It’s hard to see forest and families burned out. Especially, when forest fuels treatment can reduce the damage. That being said, when we get this many fire starts all at once there are never enough fire fighting resources to go around. It’s a recipe for disaster under any conditions.
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I heard on french radio that California was in fire, your pictures are beautiful but I think of all the people who have to leave their home and I pray for them. Take care Tim for you and your family.
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Thank you Chatou. Your prayers are much appreciated. Pray for no wind and no more lightning.
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I just can’t imagine how scary that is.
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We learn to live with it. It’s part of California’s summer drought cycle. We live in a fire ecosystem. We have to prepare. I keep the vegetation at our place mowed down to the nubbins. If fire gets on our property (and it has) I could stomp it out with my flip-flops. We just need to reduce fuel across the entire landscape and that’s easier said than done.
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A longtime friend of mine lives in Corning and has been posting photos also. 😢
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Corning is a bit too close to the action. They have two of the biggest fires in the state to the southwest and northwest. Those are more in the foothills and mountains. They very unlikely to reach Corning, but the smoke is terrible.
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Just came to get some news Tim.. It must terrible to breath with the smoke. It seems you are safe. My gosh poor firemen it is so dangerous.for them too. Have you been to reduce fuel ?
Still pray for everybody. take carT
chatou
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The fire fighters are making progress, but it’s very difficult. The smoke continues to be very thick. Tonight we can’t see the sun at all. Our home is quite safe. The fires are over 30 miles from us, and we have all the vegetation mowed down on our property.
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Tim do you and Mary have a safe way out if a fire should come your way? I have thought of yall and the dogs. You have a pond or a small lake I think. Wondering if that would give you any safety if you had a pump and could put water on the house and the surrounding vegetation. Also wondering if yall are prepared with your art, essentials, and the dogs if you had to leave.
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Thank you for your concern Yvonne. We are safe and the fire situation is improving. We have pumps and hose plus all vegetation is mowed flat. Also, when we brought this property years ago part of the reason was because it is so fire defensible.
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You and Mary were smart. I have worried about yall but never wrote about it in any of my comments. I can relax now and know that you are safe. But what about at the mill? How is that situation?
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The mills are all safe, and up and running. They are now trying to make room for the salvage timber that will inevitably come. Salvage operations will start after the fires are controlled. That hasn’t happened yet.
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The fires themselves are bad enough, but I feel for the poor people who have lung problems and disease like Cystic Fibrosis. Stay safe.
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So, true. We had a few nice days, but today the smoke has socked back in. This smoke probably will hang around until the rains come.
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