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This will be quick, I a'm a refugee as I type this and this is this is from a borrowed device. Every one is safe and doing fine unless you were a cat. House was in danger for about three days but it is looking better each day now. I only got one load out of the house.which was the Olds and a few of my most expensive guns, not much else because I planed on a few more trips but got ran off by a lady cop. It looked like Bonnie and Clide going down HWY 32 in a open car with 20 long guns sticking out every where. I expected to get stopped at a check point for being a looter.. I'm staying with the Old Man for the duration, probably a week or so till they will let me back in. No juice or water but at least it is still standing the last I heard.... That is it for now.... More when I can...... Tedd
Our thoughts are with you Tedd... Here on East Coast we're getting drowned and my aunt just said seems like they need some of this rain in California. Glad your casa still stands.
Thanks for updating us Tedd. Good to hear you are safe and the house is still standing. Stay out of harms way , our thoughts and prayers go out to all that have lost loved ones and possessions.
Take care Tedd, please keep us updated when you can !
Eric
My FIL lost his house near Malibu. Got out with the clothes he was wearing. He is now living with us. My wife's uncle lost his house in Paradise, CA along with everything inside it. He is moving in with his daughter.
Good to hear things are going well for you so far... It does seem you were able to rescue some important items, Cars and guns would be at the top of my list as well...
Keeping you in my prayers Tedd. Man this has been a bad year for fires, and I'm not used to forest fires burning towns down. But since the community of Weed burned we've seen several fires take out communities in the last few years.
Tedd, Even after having seen the devastation on the news, I know we in other areas of the country have very little idea of what you guys are living thru... The Lord Be With You.
Tedd, Even after having seen the devastation on the news, I know we in other areas of the country have very little idea of what you guys are living thru... The Lord Be With You.
Very true! I couldn't imagine what the folks are going through. Scary to watch here on the news, Praying for you all !
I just got home about 1/2 hour ago and everything seems OK so far, no looters or issues with anything being burnt or water soaked. I was afraid a sink or tub could have been left on as we were trying to fill up buckets of water while the pump still had pressure when we decided to bug out while the getting was still good. I had plans of making a few trips to get other valuables but the lady cop had other ideas. She was right..
Paradise is burnt like no other town / forest fire I've ever seen. The whole town is burnt flat something like what a atomic bomb site would look like, so hot cars with aluminum engines and wheels melted into the ground. What I've been told some bodies were like they were cremated already making identification difficult.
This all started at about 7 o'clock Thursday morning when I spotted a string of smoke about 12 miles to the north east.My house sets high on a ridge and I have good panoramic view of about 180 degrees. I called 911 and was told they knew about it and had equipment on the way. Less than a hour and the electricity was shut off and the fire had moved about a mile in that time. A strong wind from the north pushed the fire down the ridge and towards Paradise.There was no stopping it for three days. I was lucky I was north west and though the fire crept closer and closer each day the steady north wind slowed it enough that the fire fighters got a line around it. I could see fire all 180 degrees around the house that evening all about 5 miles away thank God.
When we left it was dark and as I was gathering up the dogs the cat decided that she didn't like the flashlight and ran and hid in the bedroom which had the door shut as we left. She had a little bowl of water and maybe some cat food.We didn't get back for a full week. I thought for sure she died from the lack of water but she survived, used up one of her 9 lives for sure.
I left the Old's in Chico till I could check out the property but It should come home tomorrow so my dad can put his Lincoln back in his garage.The Miata was left in my front yard with the top down and is full of pine nettles and a good coat of ash on everything.In all I'm very lucky, most all of my friends have lost everything, many nice classic have gone up in smoke with their beautiful homes...... Tedd
So glad to hear your OK Tedd. Back in July I saw the effects of the Klamathon fire, melted car wheels, aluminum blocks and semi truck trailers. This really has been a bad year. It sounds like there may be many more fatalities in Paradise since there's so many people still unaccounted for. I'm sorry that so many of your friends lost their homes and cars.
How lucky I am, I retrieved the Old's today, gotta thumbs up and " I like your car" yell from a guy with a bed role and a dog on a string. Even when in dire straights people enjoy a classic car. Gave me a good feeling on a drab day.
On the twenty first I have a Miata club dinner scheduled, many members use to live in Paradise most have lost both their cars and homes Its going to be a sober event. Not many people choose a Miata when you only have 5 minutes to grab your most cherished treasures, family members, pets and keepsakes. Many went up in smoke.....Tedd
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
Glad to hear you made it through, you're one of the lucky ones for sure. Saw pictures of the devastation, we've had similar (but smaller) events like that here in Alberta. A few people I know were displaced by the Fort MacMurray fire a couple of years ago and they still don't have their lives together. It really changes things, even for those who were lucky; the world is just not the same anymore.
Ted, _ _ _ what a quick Firestorm right !
As the sheriff asked one evening "please no finger-pointing" yet until we get the area inspected and deemed safe for people to return.
The bay-area attorneys are sure advertising for business for those who wish to Sue someone. Kind of a shame really.
It becomes difficult to manage dense overhead power lines with overhead trees that residents don't want 'trimmed' for loss of shade. :-(
The compromise between comfort vs safety must be addressed. I sometimes wonder if those people who sue were working along-side the 5,000 fire fighters to stop the spread of that fire.
I am happy to know that you still have a home to return to. The generosity of individuals and the Fed Govt and local groups and agencies is great.
I hope that everyone can work together on the rebuilding without 48-month delays due to Lawsuits and such.
Butte County and the Paradise community will need to work together for a much-better Emergency Escape facility and plan.
In April of this year I was deep within the reaches of Paradise with stock trailer in tow chasing ******-parts, and it took some very technical maneuvering to get my trailer turned around. At that point, looking around me at the narrow streets and ways, I wondered how on earth residents would ever make an "orderly" escape in the event of an emergency.
I am so sorry for all the victims of the Camp Fire in the Paradise area.
My road which goes from HWY 32 to Magalia / Paradise is one of two roads that can be used to escape upper Paradise should a fire reach the bottle nick at Paradise dam, and it did. 18,000 people live above that dam and thousands came out on my narrow gravel road. Had someone crashed or blocked the one lane bridge that crosses Butte Creek many more would have perished. As bad as it was(and it was terrible ) the chances of even greater loss of life was huge.
My car meeting was a bust as I thought it might. People had more on their minds than talking about little cars.One of dads rentals went from two people to twelve over night and it is very small unit. My grand daughter is housing four refugees and I have a ex sister in law living in my spare bedroom till she can find a rental somewhere in the area,Fat chance. There are approximately 60,000 displaced persons. It will be two years or more before we will see the light of day. Even though I sometimes bitch I'm so happy that I go to bed in my own bed every night. I could have been sleeping in a tent on wet ground at the local Walmart parking lot..... Tedd
My road which goes from HWY 32 to Magalia / Paradise is one of two roads that can be used to escape upper Paradise should a fire reach the bottle nick at Paradise dam, and it did. 18,000 people live above that dam and thousands came out on my narrow gravel road. Had someone crashed or blocked the one lane bridge that crosses Butte Creek many more would have perished. As bad as it was(and it was terrible ) the chances of even greater loss of life was huge.
My car meeting was a bust as I thought it might. People had more on their minds than talking about little cars.One of dads rentals went from two people to twelve over night and it is very small unit. My grand daughter is housing four refugees and I have a ex sister in law living in my spare bedroom till she can find a rental somewhere in the area,Fat chance. There are approximately 60,000 displaced persons. It will be two years or more before we will see the light of day. Even though I sometimes bitch I'm so happy that I go to bed in my own bed every night. I could have been sleeping in a tent on wet ground at the local Walmart parking lot..... Tedd
I got a good chuckle when you mentioned Bonnie & Clyde going down the hill with guns sticking out everywhere ! hahahaha
So I wanted to share a thought of the "Clampetts" driving their old automobile:
I have been driving an old '71 Winnebago 24-foot motorhome for around 24 years now. It is an ugly beast in the world of motorhomes, but I keep it wrenched into good reliable running condition. _ _ _ well, kinda.
When I bought it in '93 it had robust Rubber on the tires, but they appeared to be "aged" by the sidewall checks. I told the wifey that I am doing a tire-experiment.
In other words I said I would put New tires on the steering axle and we are going to Run the 4-on the rear axle to see if we can wear out the tread before the tire casings Fail.
A few years back we had been camping up at Lake Almanor for a week-in-the-dirt, and upon getting ready to leave the boat launch, I had a flat in the rear-inside.
Great, this is going to be good, because it was only 99-degrees in the hot parking lot of the boat launch. ( I often wonder 'when' my transmission is going to fail me on a boat launch ). snicker.
Anyway, I get the spare put on and we head for home to Redding down highway 36. As we near highway 36, I told the wife we had better pull into town and get the spare repaired. As we are pulling into town with boat in tow, KA-BOOOOM !!! _ _ _ _ we Blew a rear tire, and it sounded like a Bomb going Off.
The explosion kicked up one-hell of a Dust Cloud, and as I am trying to pull over with tire tread flapping, people came running out of the businesses to see what the Explosion was. _ _ _ _ just the "Clampett's" in their beat-up old ugly motorhome. hahahah _ _ _ very embarrassing.
The temps that week had been 110 during the day, and the tire shop was out of tires, because he said there were so many flats that week because of the high temps that I would have to go to Susanville or further for tires. we had to stay over in town and call the kids to bring tires from the valley.
( I haven't done anything to my 455 Olds project engine, as I have been refurbishing an Isuzu V-6 for a Honda Passport. This is the 3.2L sohc, and my god, the exotic valve train is something i'd expect to see in a motorcycle engine. The intake rocker-shaft wears excessively where the Intermediate rockers (which operate the exhaust rockers on another shaft) ride on the intake shaft. It has been an interesting "build."
There was a recent article about the rebuilding efforts up here in Redding following the 1,000 homes that burned, and the lot clean-up is about completed, and new building permits have been issued in some cases, so they must be streamlining the permit process, which usually takes Months. Good to hear !
Hang in there Tedd, and I hope all is going well !
Tedd,
I have been driving an old '71 Winnebago 24-foot motorhome for around 24 years now. It is an ugly beast in the world of motorhomes.........
Len
Len, now I'll thank you for the chuckle! I have a friend out in Cali, and he also drives a very old and ugly beast of a motorhome what isn't dented is rusty... but it gets hime everywhere without fail, we call it the rolling Ghetto, thanks for the reminder to give my old friend a call..... and the chuckle..
Eddie, I am glad someone got a chuckle. Anything can happen while getting-out for the weekend in an RV or not.
Here is a photo of my wife and I up at Lake Almanor, California, which is a power-generating reservoir 12 miles long and shallow. I was in-charge of keeping the "family" Sea-Doo wave-runners operating for the extended family vacationing.
I learned one-good-thing about maintaining Wave Runners after doing so for 6-years. Don't take anything for Granted and check machines frequently if young adults are using them. Here in California, you must be 16-years old to operate a wave-runner
If a water-pump nozzle gets broke-off inside the pump housing, then the venturi-action is lost and the jet-pump with then pump the hull full of water.
One day, a 13-yo niece's son approached me and said "uncle-Leonard, the water in the hull drowned out the engine."
When I felt around to it, I went to the waters edge, and started snooping and investigating the run-ability issue. I get out the wrenches and remove spark plugs to check for spark. I stick my head down inside the wave-runner body and crank the starter looking for spark. Yep ! good spark. Then I towed the machine over to the boat launch and pull it out of the lake to drain out all of the water inside the hull.
THE HULL WAS FULL OF GASOLINE !!
Come to find out, one of the younger "smart" boys volunteered to fill the machine with gas (unsupervised), and the lad had poured the gasoline down the hull-vent opening instead of the gas-inlet opening ! Oh crap ! I am surprised I didn't have an engine fire while stuffing my head inside the hull, checking for spark.
I was young and dumb once and now am just older-and-dumber. The nice thing about the hull being filled with 5-gallons of gas, is the inside of the hull was sparkling clean after draining.
The old Winnebago has the 413 engine with sodium-filled valves from the factory, and a hard-puller.
I learned a trick by trial-and-error to keep wave-runners operating season after season.
Most older Sea-Doos are two-stroke. The engines in the Sea-Doo's that I maintained both had the 951 Rotax engine w/ 2-cylinders. They were both Oil-Injected.
The second year, one of the oil-injector nozzles plugged leading to the engine seizing when getting warm enough, like half-way across the lake.
So, being an old dirt-bike rider, where in the early '70's I ran a 32:1 mix on my fuel oil-to-gas ratio.
To prevent any possible engine seizing in the future, I began mixing the fuel at a 100:1 two-stroke mix, in conjunction with the oil-injection.
Before doing this, I shared my thoughts of the 100:1 pre-mix with the local mechanics and they said "oh, no, that engine will not run and the spark plugs will foul."
Hogwash - I did it anyway, and never had plug fouling at 4k feet elevation, and never again any seized pistons. A point to ponder for those of you who may soon be volunteering to maintain a wave runner. The 100:1 pre-mix worked for me, and when we sold the machines 2-years ago I shared my pre-mix concept with the buyer, and he gave me good reports after running them for the first 2-months after purchasing them. He was Happy.
November 13th, 2018, 10:28 AM
