Valley Fire September 12, 2015 ~ News & Views for Remnants of Paradise Tell-A-Vision: Why Not Try Love Again? Archive

Valley Fire ~ 201509.12

Valley Fire Incident Information

Brooks & Dunn "Hillbilly Deluxe" from HQ Productions ~ https://vimeo.com/44002637

Saturday Morning Chores

Backyard, Eastern Ridge ~ With 300'/91m waterfall (white water) drop into pool at bottom (old photo).

We were doing chores at "The Mountain" (our small ranch) when we noticed emergency vehicles going by and a helicopter, followed by a plane (fire, water bomber), fly over. Normally, this type of activity would suggest a vehicle accident has occurred somewhere 'up the road'.

We discover a fire is headed towards the ranch and a mandatory evacuation is issued at 15:47 PM (local time), Saturday, September 12, 2015. (fwiw) There are no animals at the ranch in danger's way.

When we leave "The Mountain" there was no smoke plume visible. About a mile down the road I looked in the rearview mirror and start filming:

Beginning of Valley Fire

16:50 PM ~ Fire is now in ranch backyard at top of the Eastern ridge.

17:00 PM ~ Mandatory evacuation has now been extended 6 miles below our (ranch) front gate.

We are okay and now at "The Meadow," (other home, 5 miles from ranch) where ash is coming down. This concerns us because ash embers are starting other fires within several miles of the fire origin.

The fire is now traveling very fast, generating its own weather (fierce wind), and creating small fire tornados, which rip across dry grass fields (pastures) at great speed, spreading the fire rapidly.

18:00 PM ~ Fire is in backyard of "The Meadow" and headed toward our house.

Note: What looks like snowflakes are burning embers and ash falling from the sky.
Photograph taken from "The Meadow" 2nd story deck, through dining room, glass sliding door.

18:10 PM ~ Mandatory evacuation for "The Meadow," is being reported by neighbors.

A few houses down from "The Meadow" (waiting in line ~ top of car visible at lower left photo).

18:20 PM ~ Sitting in line of cars waiting to get out gate. Fire on both sides of us.

In car headed for 1st gate. Fire is on both sides of us, about 2 city blocks away, moving quickly.

19:30 PM ~ Took an hour to go one mile to get out 1st gate

20:15 PM ~ Clearlake Walmart parking lot with other evacuees.

21:00 PM ~ Clearlake Senior Center for night and slept in car.

September 13, 2015 ~ Off to Napa, to stay with friends. Both of our homes appear to be gone.

September 15, 2015 ~ See Internet video indicating "The Mountain" is gone (burned flat).

September 18, 2015 ~ 07:00 AM ~ See Internet video showing "The Meadow" still standing.

September 20, 2015 ~ See report indicating "The Mountain" may have survived.

September 21, 2015 ~ 18:00 PM ~ Return to "The Meadow." No eMail (sigh).

September 21, 2015 ~ No telephone, TV, eMail, Internet (sigh) and not allowed to visit ranch to find out status.

September 22, 2015 ~ Neighbors not happy about fire warning, etc. ~ Still no telephone, TV, eMail, Internet (sigh) and still not allowed to visit ranch to find out status.

September 23, 2015 ~ Still no telephone, TV, eMail, Internet (sigh) and still not allowed to visit ranch to find out status. ~ Telephone, TV, eMail, Internet restored 15:31 PM.

Follow up

287 walking steps East of "The Meadow"

311 walking steps SouthEast of "The Meadow" (backyard)

87 walking steps South of "The Meadow" (backyard)

87 walking steps South of "The Meadow" (backyard)

September 24, 2015 ~ 10:10 AM ~ Update: "The Mountain" is gone and I am still prohibited from entering the area.

September 25, 2015 ~ 06:30 AM ~ Update: Working on eMail catch-up and still prohibited from entering "The Mountain," which has burned to the ground according to CDF.

September 26, 2015 ~ 04:00 AM ~ Update: We will be allowed to visit "The Mountain" after 17:00 PM today; pictures later... == Thanks for the heads-up Kent.

Fire on the Mountain from Mark Messina ~ https://vimeo.com/8930155

September 26, 2015 ~ 20:00 PM ~ Update: Aftermath of Valley Fire on "The Mountain".

Past:

Present:

Past:

Present:

Past:

[Click to view Seismic Shed Construction ~ Seismic Log ~ ARPSN]

Present:

Past:

Dahbud's old place ~ Flying Snail Ranch ~@~ 2007 Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Willow Tree / Meditation Rock area ~ Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Present:

Past:

1st Fire Trail below house ~ Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Present:

Past:

Redwood water tank (left) leading to Meditation Rock ~ Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Oak tree across from Garage/Studio/Workshop ~ Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Gilligan's Island [Waterfall behind trees & brush] ~ Fire Watch collection

Present:

Past:

Mound of Olive ~ Left turn to 1st fire trail below house ~ Fire Watch collection

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Past:

Large Lower Pond (Empties during Summer) ~ Fire Watch collection

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Past:

[Click to view Seismic Log ~ Assembling VolksMeter II - 2CUG Kit ~ ARPSN]

Present:

Closing Photographs:

December 12, 2015 ~ Where the ranch house used to be.
Seismic slab still remains near orange netting (see above).

May 2016

May 2016

User Submitted Photographs:

Remembering previous fires:

Jerusalem Fire ~ North of "The Meadow" ~ August 9, 2015

Jerusalem Fire ~ North of 'The Meadow' ~ 201508.09 ~ Click for CDF report ~ Photo taken from front deck

Fire on the "The Mountain" 2005

Fire watch 2007 ~ Photo taken from front gate at ranch

Addendum:

Agencies and PG&E take down thousands of damaged
trees in Valley fire area; residents raise concerns

by ELIZABETH LARSON, THURSDAY, 08 OCTOBER 2015 02:52 ~ Source

Photo Located at Site
Trees felled along Route 175 just west of of Middletown, Calif., in the Valley fire area. Caltrans
took the trees down due to concerns about safety. Photo courtesy of Caltrans.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In the wake of the Valley fire, county and state agencies along with Pacific Gas and Electric are working throughout the fire area to remove damaged trees that create safety issues for public utilities and right of ways.

Starting almost immediately after the fire broke out on Sept. 12, the effort to deal with trees and other vegetation in the 118-square-mile fire area has been ongoing, with officials explaining that removing the trees is necessary to protect infrastructure and public safety.

However, in some cases, community members are raising concerns with tree removal, alleging that trees that don't appear to be damaged and which are not close to right of way or infrastructure are being cut down.

County Supervisor Rob Brown said he's received complaints of such tree removal, which also has inspired a petition from community members asking the removal be stopped.

“I've invited people to call me with specific addresses,” where the tree cutting is taking place, so he can investigate, he said.

In one case, Brown said he was personally aware of trees being cut on a property that wasn't near public right of way.

He said he's meeting on Thursday with PG&E and the Office of Emergency Services to talk about tree-related issues.

Lake County Public Works Director Scott De Leon said the county hired a contractor that went through the fire area – particularly areas that were being repopulated after the fire – to check for hazardous trees in the right of way for county roads.

He said the county's contractor, Pacific Tree Care, began work on Sept. 19, with the contract ending on Tuesday.

The county contractor followed along behind PG&E's crews. De Leon said the majority of the trees he has seen cut down in the fire area were taken down by PG&E, which was in the process of installing new overhead facilities.

De Leon said he didn't know the number of trees the county's contractor took down, with the contract costing the county $144,000.

He said the county's contractor is leaving any trees it cuts down on the roadside.

If county road crews can get freed up, they will remove the trees or put them out to bid for removal by another contractor.

He acknowledged, “There's a lot of trees getting cutting down.”

Caltrans addresses hazardous trees

Phil Frisbie, the public information officer for Caltrans District 1, said that agency and PG&E are doing much of the tree removal, estimating that Caltrans is removing the most trees.

As for how many trees exactly have been cut, he didn't have an exact figure.

“We are removing thousands of trees,” he said.

Frisbie said he sat in on the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting – during which community members spoke about the tree removal – and that Caltrans is aware of the concerns.

He explained that the work – being carried out by Caltrans' contractor, Granite Construction, and its subcontractors – is being done as quickly as possible due to safety concerns.

“They've been hard at it for almost two weeks right now,” he said.

Although the National Weather Service has a longterm forecast for a wet winter – with most of the rain expected to hit in January – Frisbie said the weather is not a critical concern at this time.

Explaining the process, Frisbie said every tree that has the potential to fall into a roadway is being inspected by an arborist. That process is ongoing.

If, after being inspected by an arborist, the tree is determined to not be viable, it's marked and the crews respond to remove it, he said.

“That's the biggest thing we're doing right now,” he said.

“They have another two to three weeks of tree removal still until they have all the trees removed to ensure the highway is safe this winter,” Frisbie said.

He added, “Not all of these trees that we're removing are on the state right of way.”

In normal conditions, when Caltrans sees a tree that's dead or damaged on private property, they go through public records, contact the owner and have them remove the tree, or else remove the tree and charge the landowner, Frisbie said.

While Frisbie said they're trying to follow their normal procedures as much as possible, the Valley fire has created an emergency situation.

As such, he said Caltrans is moving forward with dropping all trees that need to be removed for safety – whether they were damaged by the fire or could potentially fall into the state right of way.

If those trees are on private land, crews are cleaning them up and leaving them in place for the landowners, he said.

“We're only hauling off the ones that were in the state right of way,” Frisbie said.

As for what will happen with the trees being removed from the public right of way, Frisbie said, “That is being negotiated right now.”

Due to the fact that Caltrans entered into an emergency contract with Granite Construction, Frisbie said a lot of details were left out, one of those being disposing of the trees.

Because of the presence of sudden oak death, Frisbie said the trees are restricted as to where they can be moved. For example, they can't be taken east, to areas including the Sacramento Valley.

He said that restriction is in place even though most of the trees are pines, which can still transport sudden oak death spores. “That's what we're being told.”

He said Caltrans is looking for local nonprofit groups that would be interested in having the wood as part of sponsoring a firewood program, and could accept donation of the wood. “We would love to do that,” he said.

Because Caltrans is a state agency, Frisbie said special arrangements for disposing of the trees need to be made with groups like nonprofits. Because the trees are a resource, simply giving them away becomes a gift of public funds.

Photo Located at Site
A hillside along Highway 175 in southern Lake County, Calif., where trees damaged in the Valley fire
were removed. Photo courtesy of Caltrans.

PG&E crews at work in the fire area

PG&E spokeswoman Brittany McKannay said crews were out in response to the fire right away, both working on repairing damaged utility infrastructure, and dealing with trees and vegetation.

The work related to trees and vegetation is two-fold, she explained.

The first prong of that response was to remove vegetation that was posing a problem for first responders, especially in areas close to power facilities, she said.

Once access to certain areas was cleared, she said crews started taking out vegetation that had come in contact with power equipment.

The second part of the vegetation-related work was an assessment, McKannay said.

She said PG&E crews went through the entire fire area to assess what trees posed hazards to equipment. Those trees were in the right of way or near it.

The crews looked for trees that could come down and cause further damage to equipment or create fire hazards, McKannay said. As a result of that assessment, crews have been pruning or removing hazardous trees.

She did not have a number immediately available for how many trees PG&E has removed.

In addition to the first assessment, McKannay said PG&E had arborists go back out and reassess all of the trees marked for removal to double-check if they actually needed to be removed or could just be pruned.

“Sometimes when a tree is removed, it may not look like it's a dead or dying tree,” which is why PG&E is having arborists go out and do further assessment, McKannay said.

She said if the tree's cambium layer – the inner growing layer of the trunk – is damaged, it will stop the tree from being able to grow in a healthy way, which could potentially cause issues. Damaged trees also are at risk for disease, as well as beetles or other insects.

“We don't want to have any sort of safety concerns or issues along those power lines because that can be a fire hazard,” she said.

She said PG&E also has been doing more surveying and aerial flights than it normally does to look at tree health, including reviewing impacts not just from the fire but from the bark beetle and the ongoing drought.

“There's a lot of things we're doing to try to protect our system,” she said.

McKannay did not have a deadline for when the tree pruning and removal work will be completed, noting that the crews are trying to get the work done as quickly as possible so the work of rebuilding the community can move forward.

“The community will see us in the area in full force right now,” she said.

PG&E has heard concerns from residents about trees being removed or logged, and McKannay said the company is letting customers know that it's not PG&E's policy to remove any trees felled on private property, although such trees will be moved from the road.

Rather, the trees will be left there, and smaller vegetation – 4 inches in diameter and less – will be chipped, she said.

Separately, she said if anyone sees a tree that is a safety concern near power utilities, they can call PG&E at 800-PGE-5000 and a member of its team will respond to assess the situation.

Tree removal sparks concern for Lake County
residents in wake of Valley fire

Samantha Wood and her husband Josh placed placards around their property warning crews not to cut
their trees, Wednesday Oct. 7, 2015 in Cobb. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2015

BY GLENDA ANDERSON, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, October 11, 2015, 9:53PM ~ Source

Residents of southern Lake County watched in horror last month as fast-moving flames from the Valley fire burned over a wide swath of the mixed conifer and oak forest that covered hillsides and shaded rural neighborhoods, leaving a patchwork of torched and singed trees intermixed with others that escaped evident damage.

Well before the fire was contained, firefighters, road and utility workers began felling and removing thousands of trees on public and private property. Officials said the trees were damaged and presented a danger to residents, motorists and infrastructure, including power and telephone lines.

But as that work proceeds, some area residents say they are witnessing a second wave of destruction — the loss of apparently healthy trees in their yards, along roads and in public places. They contend that many of those trees do not need to be cut down and that agencies overseeing the work have been overzealous with the logging.

“There are a huge number of trees that are being dropped unnecessarily,” said Steve Zalusky, a biologist who lives in Cobb, near the origin of the massive Valley fire, which started Sept. 12, destroyed 1,280 homes, killed four people and badly burned four firefighters.

The fire was declared fully contained last week, though firefighters continue to patrol the landscape in search of lingering flames and hot spots.

At the same time, crews associated with PG&E, Caltrans, AT&T, Cal Fire and the Lake County Public Works Department are moving through the sprawling fire zone, cutting down trees that they say pose a potential danger to the public, utility lines and roadways.

“We are erring on the side of safety,” said Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie. He said utility and road agencies are authorized and required to clear damaged trees both in the right of way and on private property if the trees are tall enough to fall onto roads or utility lines.

Frisbie said arborists and foresters hired by the utility companies are examining trees before they’re felled.

“Unless the trees have a good chance of surviving, for safety, we need to remove them,” Frisbie said.

Still, more than 1,000 people have signed an online petition asking county officials to halt any unnecessary tree cutting. They’ve branded some of the work “environmental genocide.”

“This fire has been devastating enough to our communities. Please prevent the further destruction and desecration of our homeland in the form of unnecessary deforestation,” the petition states.

“I am absolutely heartbroken and livid,” a person identifying herself as Middletown resident Ariel Cottrell posted on the petition website.

Lake County Supervisor Rob Brown, who represents much of the area burned in the fire, said he is investigating the concerns and allegations.

Joshua Wood lost his Cobb home to the Valley fire but he said his trees were largely unscathed. Yet two of them, located about 35 feet from the road and power lines, have been marked for removal.

The fire caused needles at the tops of the two trees to turn brown, but they’re otherwise fine, said Wood, who works for Calpine Corp., the energy company that operates plants in The Geysers geothermal field on the Sonoma-Lake county border.

“The bark is not even touched,” he said.

Wood said if an arborist tells him the trees need to come down and explains why, he’ll be happy to comply. But meanwhile, he’s covered the X marks on those trees with signs that warn tree cutters not to trespass, not to cut any trees and that “violators will be prosecuted.”

“They got the hint,” he said.

Zalusky similarly placed signs on trees in a 36-acre wetlands restoration project he’s been working on. But when he returned to the site, someone had marked a number of trees for potential removal.

He also stopped a tree-removal company from cutting trees on a neighbor’s property, then put signs up warning crews not to remove those trees. When he returned the next day, some had been cut.

“They decided they have carte blanche to cut every tree they want,” Zalusky said.

Representatives for the public agencies and utilities overseeing the work said that fire damage to the forest is not always readily apparent.

Trees may look healthy on the outside, but still could have suffered internal fire damage that could cause them to weaken, become infested with pests or die, PG&E spokeswoman Brittany McKannay said.

Under normal circumstances, when a suspect tree is located on private property, the owners are contacted and its removal is discussed. But the wake of destruction left by the Valley fire has been deemed an emergency situation that requires quick action, Frisbie said.

“It’s something we’re trying to complete quickly and safely so the communities can rebuild,” McKannay said.

Crews are hauling away some of the timber felled on public land, but leaving the downed trees on private property, Frisbie said.

Only property owners can sell the timber felled on their property, said Greg Giusti, an environmental scientist and forest advisor with UC Cooperative Extension. Mendocino Redwood Company is offering to purchase singed pine and fir trees from residents of the fire zone, even though it normally takes only redwood, he said.

Frisbie said Caltrans is chipping some of the wood it cuts on its rights of way and using it for erosion control. It’s seeking a nonprofit group to distribute some of the timber to low-income residents for firewood, he said.

Giusti said many of the fire-damaged trees likely could survive, and he normally advises private property owners to give them a chance to recover unless they are severely burned or located near a house and causing worry.

“Chances are, except in extreme conditions, those trees are not going to fall over,” at least not for a while, he said. He said conifers often can recover unless they’ve had all their needles burned off.

Giusti said he understands that road and utility departments have liability issues and regulations they need to consider and obey. But officials also should keep in mind the trauma that area residents already have suffered, he said.

“The social impact on people’s psyche, that’s not a trivial matter,” Giusti said.

In addition to visual impacts, some area residents are worried about soil erosion and mudslides if the winter brings heavy rains as predicted.

Giusti said there well could be increased erosion because of the massive amount of fire damage, but most Lake County soils are not prone to mudslides. And cutting down burned trees shouldn’t make them any more likely to occur.

“Root systems are still in place” for years after trees are cut, Giusti said.

He does recommend that people leave branches and leaves on the ground through the winter to help stabilize the soil and reduce erosion and runoff into streams.

But any salable timber needs to be removed before it rots, Giusti said.

In the 3,493-acre Boggs Mountain State Demonstration Forest outside Cobb, logging operations to salvage the burnt timber have begun, Giusti said.

The forest was among the hardest-hit areas and will need to be heavily replanted, he said.

“The forest has been pretty much removed,” Giusti said, describing a landscape that resembles something out of a Dr. Seuss book. It “looks like a collection of telephone poles,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or
glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter

Imelda May, It's Good To Be Alive from prano bailey-bond, https://vimeo.com/97103979

The man whispered, "God, speak to me" and a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear. So the man yelled "God, speak to me" and the thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God let me see you" and a star shined brightly. But the man did not notice. And the man shouted, "God show me a miracle" and a life was born. But the man did not know. So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God, and let me know you are there" Whereupon God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.