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Fire
Aug 10, 2009 9:56:58 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 10, 2009 9:56:58 GMT -5
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
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Fire
Aug 10, 2009 15:56:04 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2009 15:56:04 GMT -5
Praying!
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Fire
Aug 10, 2009 16:12:49 GMT -5
Post by katpants on Aug 10, 2009 16:12:49 GMT -5
Praying!
Katrina
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Fire
Aug 10, 2009 18:18:48 GMT -5
Post by lisa on Aug 10, 2009 18:18:48 GMT -5
I'll be praying Bro. George
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Fire
Aug 11, 2009 11:29:50 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 11, 2009 11:29:50 GMT -5
"Our" fire has increased considerably since yesterday. As of 5 o'clock this morning it had grown to 15000 acres. The equipment being used and the manpower are increasing also. We now have 7 helicopters in addition to the airtankers. We have firefighters coming in constantly with some coming from as far as Utah. The crew that was in Utah is actually from Maryland but they were on another fire in Utah. Fortunately the fire is burning in a southeasterly direction which is taking it away from populated areas. It has however gotten about 6 miles closer to our city. There is no containment at all. In fact the incident commander said he has no idea when containment may start taking place although they are working hot and heavy on a fire break on the eastern flank of the fire.
Please continue to pray.
In Christ, George
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Fire
Aug 13, 2009 9:21:18 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 13, 2009 9:21:18 GMT -5
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.
The incident commander has said the fire has the potential to grow to 50 or 60,000 acres before thay can expect containment.
In Christ, George
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Fire
Aug 14, 2009 10:24:22 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 14, 2009 10:24:22 GMT -5
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 h as 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.
I want to add that I just read that 50,000 acres is actually 105 square miles. That is one big fire!
In Christ, George
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Fire
Aug 16, 2009 9:45:34 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 16, 2009 9:45:34 GMT -5
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 border. 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
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Fire
Aug 16, 2009 17:55:03 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 16, 2009 17:55:03 GMT -5
For those of you who may not be familiar with what a wildfire looks like here in the parched California foothills I have attached a photo of an active area of the fire. george Attachments:
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Fire
Aug 17, 2009 8:38:46 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 17, 2009 8:38:46 GMT -5
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
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Sister Pamela
Full Member
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Posts: 114
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Fire
Aug 21, 2009 11:06:46 GMT -5
Post by Sister Pamela on Aug 21, 2009 11:06:46 GMT -5
Praying for you and your neighbors. We had horrible wildfires here in Colorado around us a few years ago. Very frightening and unsettling. So I know how rough these times can be. Our area has regrown and is beautiful again, and except for the burnt pines you wouldn't suspect what had happened. We get a tremendous amount of lightening here and that is what starts most of our fires, so we all cringe when the lightening gets started. Take care, praying for your safety and a speedy end to the fires. Sister Pamela
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Fire
Aug 23, 2009 10:04:41 GMT -5
Post by George on Aug 23, 2009 10:04:41 GMT -5
Praise God the fire is now fully contained. It is not out by a long shot and there is no estimate as to when it will be declared completely over with. However they were able to complete the last of the fire lines yesterday afternoon and evening. The Lord our God really helped with the last six miles of the fire lines. Yesterday we had some rain in the area. It is almost unheard of to have rain here this time of year. The combination of the cloud cover and the moisture really helped the firefighters. Since hits is a monsoonal flow that is coming up from Mexico there was concern about lightning strikes in the area. However none were recorded. Praise God again for that!
The number of personal involved is now down to about 900 from a high of about 2200 a few days ago. The air tankers have been released and only the helicopters are flying to put out hot spots. There are still a lot of hot shot crews involved because the area involved is almost completely inaccessible unless the men are ferried in by helicopter.
Praise God again that after 15 days of burning this thing has finally been brought under control. The firefighters were blessed with having only two minor injuries and the loss of only two structures. Both of the structures had been abandoned many years ago.
In Christ, George
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Fire
Aug 23, 2009 16:46:13 GMT -5
Post by lisa on Aug 23, 2009 16:46:13 GMT -5
Praise the Lord I am so glad to hear this. Blessings Lisa
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