We have a wildfire 25 miles east from us.

**guest002** · 08-09-2009, 04:37 PM

What I thought was pollen and marine layer (fog) was smoke & ash!

http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=10873168

The wild fire is 25 miles east from us. This is the closest a wildfire has been to us since we've lived here in California and fire season is pretty much year round here now. This is what I get for not watching the local news...I had no clue until 24 hours later we even had a fire this close.

I've closed up all the windows (we've got no A/C so we usually keep our windows open). I was wondering why my throat was burning, etc. My dh's allergies flared up bad yesterday afternoon, but with my 2 year old sick with a head cold we didn't know if he was just catching it or what. Now we know it's all the ash in the air affecting us.

**mauimagic** · 08-09-2009, 04:50 PM

That's too close - any chance of them getting it under control soon? Scary thought that the fires are now year round. Take care of yourself and your family - let us know how it's going.

**guest002** · 08-09-2009, 05:31 PM

I can't find any news more updated than that. The Cal Fire page is slow to update because the fire is so young (not quite 24 hours old). I'm hearing the fire helicopters and aircraft over head so I know they are working the fire. Odd thing with all of California's budget problems is that they were going to shut down Santa Maria's airport as a launching point for the fire aircraft and since that remark they've had to use it at least 2 times for major fires so I don't think that they can.

To put it in perspective so fare acreage size it's not a huge fire yet, but the part that's got me concerned is that it spread in all directions last night and it's in a hard spot for them to fight it and it seems that it's mainly being fought by air right now. Since it's Sunday it seems like I'll have to wait until the Sunday evening local news to get a good update. I'm taking it as a good sign that it's not on the news 24/7 yet, but our town isn't a huge one KWIM. It's not like Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo.

**gapeach** · 08-09-2009, 05:43 PM

I'm sorry to hear this. I hope they are able to get it under control. Stay safe!

**calimomx2** · 08-09-2009, 05:54 PM

How scary, stay safe!!

**Debbie-cat** · 08-09-2009, 06:32 PM

That's really scary. Stay safe and keep us posted!

**guest002** · 08-09-2009, 10:14 PM

Was on the 101 Freeway (this freeway is real close to my house) this afternoon and saw the rather large smoke plume from the fire. I was impressed how close & large it was. Also saw the fire fighting plane fly over head toward the fire. They are flying pretty much non-stop. Thankfully for the time being the winds are staying around the 10 mph range. Cal Fire's web page isn't really updated much and nothing on the 'net is updated much from this morning. The dusting of ash is still on everything and the tickle in the back of the throat is there. I'm avoiding the outdoors pretty much. I'd love to see some containment percentages. But for the time being we still are zero % contained and no new numbers on acres burned.

**mauimagic** · 08-09-2009, 10:22 PM

Mahalo for the update. Do you have any AC malls, theaters or restaurants near you that you could go to to get a break from the contaminated air?

**guest002** · 08-09-2009, 10:30 PM

It's not too bad inside for now. I can't imagine anywhere in town would be much better. Unfortunately seems as Cal Fire now has updated the page
http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current
Now up to 10,000 acres burned and still at 0% contained. So all that work those firefighters did all day and they lost ground. So this morning it was 2,500 burned and now we are at 10,000 acres burned and that's with the winds only at 10 mph. This is how bad it's been here with no rain.

I've got all the windows shut. So far the winds have been okay in regards to not blowing too much more ash.

**guest002** · 08-10-2009, 01:18 AM

Found the video from our local news tonight...

http://www.kcoy.com/global/video/fla...=&rnd=52683129

**mauimagic** · 08-10-2009, 01:24 AM

It's scary how powerful fire is. And no success today for the firefighters - how frustrating. Their jobs are so dangerous - thank goodness that there are people who want to do that so important job.

Please take care and continue to update us!!

**guest002** · 08-10-2009, 01:42 AM

Will do... For now our air quality isn't too bad. Just hoping the winds don't shift against us or the fire last too long, but from what I'm finding out this fire has a lot of fuel to burn (this area hasn't burned since the 1920s). I've set up an email alert system on the air quality monitoring service that www.airnow.gov offers. For now I'm not too worried about the fire burning down property or the like as 25 miles is a long way due to the geographical boundaries that it would have to cross, but I will pay attention to the local news (I usually don't) until the fire is contained. The winds are blowing W and NW so we are getting smoke and ash but for now it's seems to be staying mostly in the upper levels of the atmosphere and what I'm getting is more on the lower levels. It smells like we're at a huge campfire or more like 100 campfires all together.

From what I can tell they reported to have 8 of those tanker airplanes flying all day. As per the usual, we've got no rain in the forecast and the weather/wind isn't going to help them fight the fire. It seems as if it's going to have to burn until it gets to a point to where the fireman can make a stand on the ground and get trucks in on the local roads. I'm afraid we might be dealing with this for a bit.

Currently no homes are in danger. So with that said. Can y'all say a prayer for the firefighters and folks with respiratory issues?

**frugalfranny** · 08-10-2009, 02:58 AM

Be careful and take care of yourself and family.

Keep us posted. Are you also in the area that can be affected by the Santa Ana winds or is that further south?

**guest002** · 08-10-2009, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by frugalfranny

Are you also in the area that can be affected by the Santa Ana winds or is that further south?

Santa Ana winds are further south than us, but we get Sundowner winds from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundowner_(wind)

**calimomx2** · 08-10-2009, 07:21 PM

We were actually driving up the 101 late Saturday afternoon on our way to Pismo Beach and saw that big plum of smoke, it looked really strange and then we could smell the fire and see the smoke off to the east. Today on our way over to Cambria the haze from the fire is as bad as the marine layer off the ocean!!! I hope you are staying safe!