Fire

[George]

Brothers and Sisters, we in this area are in need of a great deal of prayer. We have our first wildfire of the season burning to the east of town. It started Saturday afternoon and within 3 hours had grown to 1500 acres. As of this morning it is at 11000 acres and is burning in an area that has not burned in about 100 years. It has a lot of fuel, the area it is burning is very dry and there is little humidity. The temperatures in the area have been in the high 90's. All of this makes for ideal conditions that this fire can grow rapidly.

It is really sort of stupid to me that since the fire is burning in the San Rafael Wilderness area the firefighters cannot use mechanized equipment to fight this thing. They cannot bring in dozers and such. Currently we have about 700 firefighters, 4 helicopters and 8 air tankers fighting the fire. In areas where they are permitted they are using dozers to cut fire lines.

Currently the fire is about 10 miles to the east of the outskirts of Santa Maria but it is burning into areas where there are ranches and such.

Please pray the Lord will provide success to the firefighters and that little or no damage will be had to structures and livestock.

In Christ,
George

[George]

This fire continues to grow at an astonishing rate. As of last night there were approximately 29,500 acres burned. It is now threatening over two dozen ranches in the area. The residents of those ranches have been told to be ready to evacuate at any time.

There is however 10% containment at present which is great compared to no containment at all until now. There are more than 1600 personnel on the firelines. That includes 39 engines mostly used for structure protection, 49 hand crews, 19 bulldozers, 11 helicopters and several fixed wing aircraft. Yesterday they brought in this huge aircraft called a Martin Mars. It was originally built as a seaplane for the military but two of them have been converted to air tankers. This thing has a wing span that is larger than that of a 747! It is a water scooping type of aircraft so it flies to one of the local lakes to fill up.

About a mile from my house in a large rodeo grounds is the base camp for the firefighters. The Santa Maria airport is being used as a retardant refilling base for the fixed wing aircraft as well as a refill station for the helicopters.

Please pray they are able to keep this fire away from occupied structures. Pray also for the safety of the firefighters. Two have been injured thus far.

In Christ,
George

[Brother Tim]

George, I have heard several reports on the national news on radio. I am assuming it is the same fire. I think of you and pray each time I hear the news. God has spared us thus far here in Florida from the annual summer fires. We have also had no tropical storms, so I am thankful for that. I guess each area of the country has its own troubles. Keeps us looking upward.

[George]

The fire has gotten considerably worse since I wrote you last. The thing is at about 50,000 acres now. We have had mandatory evacuations in the rural communities to the east of us. About 150 homes as well as numerous ranches are involved in the evacuation order. The scary thing is that if the fire does get into that area it has clear sailing from there to town. There is nothing in the way. It is all flat, open farm land.

We had another fire break out to the south of us yesterday afternoon. It is “only” 100 acres and is 80% contained. Unfortunately they had to divert some resources from the large fire to tackle this other one.

Some statistics: Currently there are 1859 personnel assigned to the fire. (It is known as the La Brea fire because it seems to have started in La Brea canyon.) There are 100 engines, 59 hand crews, 25 bulldozers, 11 helicopters and 5-fixed wing aircraft assigned.

The smoke plume from here in Santa Maria is huge. Fortunately for us starting yesterday the wind kept the plume moving to the south. Prior to that time we had quite an ash fall out.

Thank you for the prayers and for spreading the word. It is really getting serious. We cannot see flames from here in the valley yet but the main growth of the fire is to the west toward us so it may not be too long before we can see the flames in the hills.

This afternoon I think I may take my camera and head out to the airport. I thought it might be interesting to take some photos of the aircraft landing, taking off and refilling with retardant.

Tp put this into perspective I would like to add that I just found out the 50,000 acres is actually 105 square miles! That is one big fire!

In Christ,
George

[Jerry80871852]

I just now come up on this topic, sorry about those fires, no doubt that is something that's hard for man to fight. Prayers that condition will get wet and stop this fire from spreading.

On another note, you mentions Santa Maria, back in the 70's & 80's I came thru there several times on 101 going to pick up produce up north, and came south also going back towards LA. So I suppose I may have been close to where you live.

[George]

Thank you Brother Jerry. This thing is growing at an astonishing rate. Yesterday I reported that it was at 50,000 acres. This morning it is at 69,000 acres. Due to changes in the winds it is spreading towards a populated area. The primary focus of the firefighters is to keep the fire from growing on the western flank so that it does not burn into those populated areas. The people have all been evacuated so the potential for loss of life is minimal. Thus far there have been no structures burned.

You said that during the 70s and 80s you may have passed close to where I live. That is very true. In that time frame I was living about 6 blocks west of the freeway. Currently I live very close to it. In fact all I have to do is drive about half a mile and I am on the onramp. It is just a hop, skip and a jump from 101 to my place.

In Christ,
George

[Jerry80871852]

Wow, hope they can keep the fire held back, I can't imagine what it would be like for something like that to happen. I just hope and pray none of the people in that area will do anything silly and lose their life. In my younger days I would probably have been one who would do something silly not wanting to give up even if I seemed to be a losing the battle. Seems California is plagued by fires now days. Prayers for sure.


Back in the late 70's I was headed up to Salinas one Friday afternoon to get a load of lettuce. They told me I had better hurry up or I would not get my load and they would not be open Saturday.

After passing thru Santa Maria I had been running along at about 65 MPH, for most of the time if us trucks would stay about 65 the trooper would not bother us, the speed limit was 55 MPH for us.

After passing thru Santa Maria I got to thinking I sure don't want to spend the weekend in Salinas so I started speeding up just a bit. About 25 miles north of Salinas all of a sudden those ugly flashing lights came on behind me. The trooper told me, "I started following you as you came out of Santa Maria, you were running along at 65 MPH which was OK, but when you finally got up to 92 MPH I felt it was time to stop you, where are you headed, to Salinas?"

I told him yes and what they had told me and I kept thinking I sure don't want to spend the weekend in Salinas. He quickly gave me a speeding ticket for running 65 MPH and told me, Hurry up and get up there and get loaded. I asked him if he meant what I thought he meant. He just said, "Its clear sailing for you between here and Salinas, take advantage of it and I hope you get that load on tonight OH, if you come back this direction be sure to slow down when you get to Santa Maria , after you get south of here it will be clear sailing to LA." I said, "That sound good, now this truck will run quite a bit faster than 92 MPH." He replied, "Just keep it safe and be careful," them turned and headed for his car. I got loaded that evening and pulled into my home town in Arkansas just before midnight Sunday night.

[George]

This is just wonderful: this morning fire officials released the news that this fire was started as a result of a cooking fire related to a marijuana grow. The Los Padres National Forest where the fire is burning is a favorite spot for illegal marijuana groves. In fact the week before the fire started the Sheriff's Department was busy eradicating other illegal grows but did not find this one. The men responsible are thought to be on foot in the San Rafael Wilderness area trying to hike out. Hopefully they will put the Sheriff's helicopter in the air today and try to find them before they can get out and disappear across the boder. I say across the border because it is believed this grove of marijuana was being grown by people connected to the Mexican Drug Cartels that have been in the news so much lately.

The fire has grown to over 80,000 acres which is approximately 131 square miles. It is now 25% contained which means they are making progress on it. The fire crews have been successful at keeping it away from homes and ranches to this point. Let us pray that continues to be the case. We still have about 240 homes that have been evacuated with no concept of when the people will be allowed back in.

In Christ,
George

[Jim]

Glad to hear the report brother, I pray it will be out soon. Did it take out the an Rafael?

[George]

Jim Wrote:Glad to hear the report brother, I pray it will be out soon. Did it take out the an Rafael?

Brother Jim, the greater part of the fire has been centered in the San Rafael Wilderness area. The last map I saw showed that the majority of that area has been burned.

In Christ,
George

[George]

For t hose of you who may not be familiar with a wild land fire here on the parched California hills I have attached a photograph of an active fire area. It is pretty scary to look at.

I have no idea why they came out so small but there is also one of the smoke plume as visible from town. If you go to the National Weather Service web site and check on California you can even see it on satellite images it is so bib.

In Christ,
George[attachment=19][attachment=20]

[Jerry80871852]

Looks horrible, I've only seen a large fire once, I was at my dads cousin's house about 3 miles west of where I live, I was probably about 6 or 7.

South, across the road from us we could see the clouds of smoke filling the sky, plus just across the road set my great aunts house. I was to young to understand the danger, but I could feel the fear of what could come about from what the adults were saying. A larger timber company brought in a bunch of equipment along with the forest service department and established a fire line and managed to stop it. I still remember seeing truck after tuck bring in dozer after dozer.

We have quite a few of those type of farmers around here. They just cause all kinds of trouble. Hope they get them.

[George]

Praise the Lord for answers to prayer! Yesterday the evacuation order was lifted for the vast majority of the residents involved although there are still some who are evacuated. Over night the containment on the fire has reached 64%. The fire lines that have been cut are holding. What a blessing!

It is quite interesting at my place. I do not live far from the local airport. I see and hear the aircraft flying in and out all day long. It seems to me that in the evening starting about 5:00 the activity, especially of the air tankers, increases. I believe that may be because the winds start to die down around that time.

It will be a long time before the fire is controlled. In fact it will probably be a few more days before it is contained. The incident commander still rates the possibility of spread of the fire as extreme.

In Christ,
George

[Jim]

wow brother George, what an experience. Good to hear it is under control though.

[Davo]

I am glad that you are safe, George.