In this fire, though, fire retardant roofs wouldn’t have helped. Look at the picture. Every house in the burned neighborhood was burned to the ground. If the walls of your house catch fire, the roof won’t extinguish the fire.
so truly horrific. Watching the Today show this morning and the devastation is unbelievable and so fast moving. Many people literally had to evacuate with just the clothes on their back and barely able to grab a handbag and any pets. My DH did watch the golf tournament this past weekend… so hard to believe what can happen in seemingly an instant.
My parents had to evacuate early yesterday for the Atlas Fire, but were able to return home late afternoon/evening the same day. They had 2 friends who lived a few miles away near where the fires seemed to have started that lost their lives. It came upon some of those homes so fast. So sad.
Unfortunately more evacuations have been called. The smoke is starting to smell stronger, and I fear that it may mean that more houses are burning right now. I pray that I’m wrong.
True that sometimes even a fire retardant metal roof will not help prevent a fire, but sometimes it CAN make a big difference.
I think that in many instances a fire retardant roof could help. However, on Sunday night/early Monday morning, the wind was fierce and the fire was pushed fast over some dry areas full of trees and brush and down into some densely populated areas. It was like a giant flame was being blown across and down the hills. I don’t think that any amount of preparedness could have helped in this situation…
Lots of homes in San Diego with red tile roofs burned down in 2007 - the fire will go up underneath the roof to the rafters. Oddly, the house next door will sometimes survive unscathed.
we arrived back in SF this morning and our first step out of SFO was overpowering with smoke. Crossing Golden Gate, could not see Angel or Alcatraz Islands or Sausalito or East Bay. Driving north on 101, Mt. Tam not visible at all…guessing maybe a 1/2 to 1 mile of visibility. Freeway signs indicate that Hwy 12, 121 and 128 still closed (all in Sonoma & Napa). House and car had lots of ash and we are 20 miles south of the closest fire.
Two hospitals evacuated patients to our county and all the hotels are booked. Many shelters opened here, and calls have gone out for help with housing displaced people and pets. Have received alerts asking all not to call 911 unless you actually see fire, as the system has been overwhelmed with those calling about smelling smoke.
The winds are calm now, but are predicted to rise later today and be gusty for the next three days. Red flag warnings are out. Will probably be sleeping with one eye open…and like others, am assembling items to grab–just in case. Fingers crossed, praying for all…
I had to take a friend to the U of Michigan hospital yesterday. The hospital is very big but I’m sure it’s not anywhere close to the biggest in the country.
While there, I heard about the hospital evacuations in California and I realized that I could not imagine the nightmare that would exist if they had to evacuate the hospital I was sitting in.
Please, please stay safe everyone. For those of you in “sit and wait” mode, my heart goes out to you.
I think if I were building in this area - I’d be using concrete and tile roofs, but wood is better for earthquakes. I’ve seen details for fireproofing the eaves which older houses probably do not have.
Local news just announced that 15 people have died from the Santa Rosa/ Mendocino/ Napa fires. The winds have picked up and the smell of fire has returned to the Silicon Valley area.
You can follow the Air Quality Index here:
https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=320
I’ve been back in CA for three hours and even though we’re inside, with windows closed, I can feel my lungs are not happy…and I yanked out the contacts awhile ago. From @MaterS 's link, we’re on the border of unhealthy and very unhealthy. While it would be nice to have some winds blow some of the smoke out, I fear it will just fan more fires…
Horribly sad.
Gosmom, you and I were on 80 at the same time! Left our friends in Butte Co. this am to smoke, which got worse as we headed to SFO. Vallejo was down to 1/4 mi visibility and the smoke burned my throat from inside the car. Saw the same signs as Gosmom headed for Napa.
It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation. We go out there every summer to see our friends and are familiar with many of the towns. We drove through Bangor on our way from Grass Valley on Thursday, and the town was pretty much gone by Monday. We stood on the back deck as the winds came roaring through Sunday night and worried that they would cause trouble. Yup – wildfires from just N of Yuba City up to Chico. One jumped across Hwy 70 (four lanes, 4 wide shoulders, gravel median).
Would a portable HEPA Air Purifier help at all? Maybe you could order one from Amazon Prime.
Nearly 30 years ago our acreage was in a huge named wildfire, our property burned on one half, the wild half, the other half had had horses which had eaten the grass down and the fire burned right up to the white fence and stopped. Those grasses may only be a foot tall, but are perfect kindling. All those neighborhoods, with houses close together, and the edge backing on wild undeveloped lands with dried out plants, and the Autumn winds, no chance.
I’ve been following a SoCal fire where old friends and neighbors have evacuated and an inland NorCal neighborhood where my parent’s tenants were evacuated and the Santa Rosa fire, where my nephews former house has burned to the ground. It’s everywhere.
October = wildfires in CA and November = mudslides in those same areas 
These stories are so sad. It’s disaster overload. Hugs to all who may be affected.
Our air quality has shifted to moderate and/or unhealthy for sensitive groups. I can tell huge difference, because it’s cooler (fog on coast) and a bit of a breeze now. Has helped firefighters a bit. But, the winds in the wine country are predicted to be 20-30 mph tonight. Not good. New evacuation orders have been issued for Oakmont (huge retirement community), Bennett Valley and Mt. Veeder areas…homes are now burning in these areas…
We haven’t seen a lot of tanker drops in wine country, because there are so many other fires in the state and they go with where they can make most impact. A state senator said that every available firefighting plane in THE US is either in CA or on it’s way. Not totally convinced I believe that, but the interviewer pressed on it and he confirmed.
Hope he’s correct…
@gosmom, I have heard the same thing about the air attack from a relative in emergency services.
Currently, the fire that was headed one way yesterday is heading back over the ridge to the Bennett Valley area of Santa Rosa (a different area than was affected late Sunday/Monday), and people are evacuating in droves. Everyone here is hoping that firefighters can put out the fire before it reaches the neighborhoods below.
The one good thing is that weather forecast has been changed from when I earlier saw it; it doesn’t seem like the winds are going to be more than 8 MPH at most.
It’s going to be another sleepless night here.