Two Towns Evacuated as Wine Country Fires Explode; 29 Dead; 460+ Missing; 3,500+ Buildings Razed

Updated: 2:50 pm PDT

21 Wildfires have burned more than 191,000 acres in Calif.

ALL residents of Calistoga and Geyserville were ordered to abandon their homes.

Emergency Declarations have been proclaimed by the state governor for Napa, Sonoma, Yuba, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, Orange and Solano counties.
At least 29 people are confirmed to have died in N. California wildfires this week, with 285 others reported as missing.

The ferocious fires have destroyed an estimated 3,500 homes and businesses, and charred more than 191,500 acres (~ 77,500 hectares).

The wildfires have also destroyed or substantially damaged at least 13 Napa Valley wineries, and razed entire neighborhoods, with an estimated  total of 2,834 homes, in the city of Santa Rosa.

Tens of thousands have evacuated their homes, including 25,000 people in Sonoma County alone, while 8,000+ personnel are trying to contain the fires.

Red Flag Warnings have been issued for much of Northern California due to gusty winds and low humidity starting today. While these winds may hamper the efforts of firefighters, they will also increase the risk for new wildfires. [Cal Fire]

“We’re not going to be out of the woods for a great many days to come,” said Cal Fire director.

“We’ve had big fires in the past,” said Gov. Brown. “This is one of the biggest.”

Our Forecast for 2009 California Fires

Wildfires: The Golden Fleecing of America

The Raw Facts

• Cost of fighting wildfire in California since July 1: $285 million [And it’s just the beginning!]

• Daily cost of fighting the fire [which should be allowed to burn out] : up to $13 million

• Cost of fighting California fires a decade ago: $44million a year

• Why aren’t the fires allowed to burn naturally? Need the unburnt fuel for next year’s fires!

• “There is no more fire season as we know it — the fire season is now all year-round,” said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in July while touring wildfires in N. California. “That means that we don’t have enough resources.“

Burn Baby, Burn!

In this July 5, 2008, file photo, firefighters watch as a brush fire burns out of control in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Goleta, Calif. (AP Photo/Phil Klein, File). Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

• California’s budget deficit: $15.2 billion [Are you surprised? They don’t call us the Golden State for nothing. Our forests are paved with the precious stuff!]

• Calif. Sen. Feinstein is seeking $910 million in emergency funding [for now anyway.]

• Forest Service has already spent about $900million, or 75 percent of its fire-suppression budget, and the season hasn’t even peaked yet.

• Last year Forest Service spent more than 50 percent of its entire budget on fires, compared with only 13 percent in 1991.

• Allstate Corp., as if it had already smelled a rat, stopped selling new homeowner policies in California in 2007. They have 50,000 fewer homeowner policies in the state this year than in 2006. (WSJ)

Our forecast for 2009 California fires?

They’d cost more to “fight” than the 2008 Fires. Guaranteed!

Get the message?

Related Links:

• California Wildfire Scam Continues
• California Fires: Not Hard to Understand!

• The War on Wildfire
• Telegraph Fire: Day 5
• What Next After The Telegraph Fire?

• Nature Must Be Punished, Look at the Mess in California!
• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?

• Thought for the Day
• Stop Nature! She Is Ruining Our Lifestyles

• The Godfather Brush Fire! [Added October 24, 2008]