Friday, June 26, 2009

California Fire News - Updates in your mail box

California Fire News - Updates in your mail box

Link to California Fire News - Structure, Wildland, EMS

CA-LNF - Inskip Prescribed burn - Lassen National Forest

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 12:14 PM PDT


Large header seen from Anderson Valley towards Chico yesterday -
Smoke plume near Inskip is
Lassen National Forest prescribed burn

INSKIP — A large plume of smoke about a mile and half east of Inskip may have alarmed some ridge residents, but only a prescribed fire.

What: 25-acre controlled or prescribed burn is being conducted by the Lassen National Forest.
The "prescribed burn" is being conducted out of the Almanor Ranger District.
When:
It was ignited at 8 a.m. Wednesday and was expected to burn for two to four days, Cal Fire spokeswoman Mary Ann Aldrich said.
Smoke notes: Smoke was expected to travel north and west.
This was the second control burn in the area this week.
On Monday, a plume of smoke was seen billowing from the Berry Creek area.
9 a.m. Thursday The Plumas National Forest said it was only burning off under-story brush on a 30 acre section of forest in an area near Oro Quincy Highway and Bald Rock Road.

1970's Pin-up Icon passes away - Farrah forever young

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 11:23 AM PDT


RIP Farrah Fawcett: Pinup girl of the 1970's and "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett dies after a long battle with cancer.
Farrah Fawcett became a generation's favorite pinup girlFarrah Fawcett: Forever Young
Generation X's favorite pinup

The Poster: Farrah Leni Fawcett-Majors (at the time, her hyphenation made her seem only more unattainable and therefore, more desirable) was also a guardian angel of sorts, watching us from the walls of our bedrooms, listening as we stumbled through first forays into adulthood: young love, illicit sips of beer. It was easy to pretend that the radiant blond with the mouthful of pearly whites was tossing her head back and effortlessly laughing at something we'd said.

It's impossible to imagine a poster today being as beguiling and mysterious. The photo seemed as if it had been taken almost surreptitiously (on a beach in Cancun?), a woven blanket in the background. The rustred one-piece swimsuit seemed damp and noticeably cool, and a thin gold chain around her neck dipped into her décolletage. She was seated, her left arm resting on her left knee, her left hand tousling her own hair, her head tilted back at a 45-degree angle from the camera, a smile so wide and bright that by today's standards it's full-on caricature. The shot looks ever so slightly exploded -- as if someone had enlarged what should have been a much smaller print.

Today we know that the poster image was shot by freelance photographer Bruce McBroom on behalf of a now-defunct Ohio company called Pro Arts Inc., using a Nikon-F camera. He took it in early 1976 near the pool at the Bel-Air home Fawcett-Majors shared with her then-husband, when she was 29 and had not yet made her TV debut as "Charlie's Angels" crime fighter Jill Munroe (that debut came on Sept. 22, 1976, around the same time the poster was released).

There was no stylist -- Fawcett-Majors did her own hair and makeup. And the Indian-blanket backdrop was a last-minute addition the photographer grabbed from the front seat of his '37 Chevy. The subject of the photos decided which shot would become the poster. She would eventually own the copyright to the image as well.

By March 1977, it had sold 5 million copies. Today that number is north of 12 million, and no one else of her era has come close to being a swimsuited paragon of pinup pulchritude -- not Bo Derek running the beach to the strains of Ravel's "Bolero," not Cheryl Tiegs in her see-through fishnet suit and not Pamela Anderson and her pneumatic ilk prancing through the waves. In 2007, GQ magazine named the poster "the most influential piece of men's art of the last 50 years," and a copy of it is among the holdings of the Smithsonian.

But for years now, she's been enshrined someplace much more intimate and meaningful: in the bedrooms, prom pictures and salon chairs of an entire generation that grew up with a definition of female beauty defined by the blond with the tousled mane and megawatt smile.

She will always be our favorite Angel.


Source: Whole article at LAT.com - Link

Santa Barbra Fires: Great Youtube video from California Fire Alliance

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:43 AM PDT


Capt. Burdick talks about the recent wildfires in Santa Barbara and the ways in which creating "defensible space" around your home can save that home and help protect the lives of firefighters in the thick of the battle.


More info at: http://cafirealliance.com/
The California Fire Alliance website features the California Community Wildfire Protection Plans section Follow this link for more information on how to create a plan for your community.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Earthquake - 3.0 M - San Juan Bautista, CA

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:26 AM PDT





== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==
California Integrated Seismic Net
USGS/ Caltech/ CGS/ UCB/ UCSD/ UNR

Version #0: This report supersedes any earlier reports of this event.
This is a computer-generated message. This event has not yet been reviewed by a seismologist.

A minor earthquake occurred at 8:45:53 AM (PDT) on Thursday, June 25, 2009.
The magnitude 3.0 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) WSW of San Juan Bautista, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 7 km ( 4 miles).


Magnitude 3.0 - duration magnitude (Md)
Time Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 8:45:53 AM (PDT)
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 15:45:53 (UTC)
Distance from San Juan Bautista, CA - 3 km (2 miles) WSW (257 degrees)
Aromas, CA - 8 km (5 miles) SE (132 degrees)
Prunedale, CA - 9 km (6 miles) ENE (63 degrees)
Hollister, CA - 16 km (10 miles) W (266 degrees)
San Jose City Hall, CA - 63 km (39 miles) SSE (153 degrees)
Coordinates 36 deg. 50.3 min. N (36.838N), 121 deg. 34.4 min. W (121.573W)
Depth 6.6 km (4.1 miles)
Location Quality Excellent
Location Quality Parameters Nst= 70, Nph= 70, Dmin=2 km, Rmss=0.12 sec, Erho=0.2 km, Erzz=0.4 km, Gp=64.8 degrees
Event ID# nc71238626
Additional Information 2-degree map
Google Earth KML (Requires Google Earth.)

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

58 hay bales lost, But defensible space saves home

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 10:58 AM PDT


Blaze claims 58 hay bales, but nearby home protected

By Christopher Quirk - Morgan Hill Times

A fire claimed 58 bales of hay in northwest Gilroy today, but a prepared homeowner kept the fire from spreading to his home.

About 1:33 p.m. today, a fire broke out in a hay field on the east side of Santa Teresa Boulevard, north of its intersection with Day Road. The fire dashed across the field east toward a nearby house, pushed by winds of 13 to 15 mph. However, the flames came to an abrupt stop when they reached the 20-foot dirt ring that homeowner Joe Vogel had created around his property.

Vogel "did an outstanding job for defensible space," said Santa Clara County Fire Battalion Chief Derek Whitmer.

Vogel, who called in the fire, was not worried even as the low, quick flames approached, he said.

"I was concerned, but I didn't think it would (set the house on fire) because there weren't sparks flying," he said as he and his wife, Mona, watched firefighters clean up the burnt area.

The fire scorched between four and five acres, but firefighters surrounded and contained the fire soon after they arrived, Whitmer said. Crews worked into the afternoon, turning over hay bales, dousing fires and bulldozing a perimeter around the burnt hay.

Firefighters planned to finish up by evening, then check back in at night to make certain the fire had not been revived, Whitmer said.

Hay bales sell at between $10 and $15, making the loss due to the fire between $580 and $870, Whitmer said.

Cal Fire, South Clara County Fire and Gilroy Fire Department sent five engines, a water tinder, a bulldozer and several other vehicles to fight the blaze. The first vehicle on scene was a small vehicle from the Santa Clara County Department of Roads and Transportation, which sprayed down the fire to keep it in check before firefighters arrived, Whitmer said.

Source: morganhilltimes.com - Link
Photo Source: Morgan Hill Times Staff

Camp Parks live fire training exercise continues today

Posted: 25 Jun 2009 09:20 AM PDT


Wednesday Fire training crews experienced hands-on, live training at the 15th annual wildfire training at Camp Parks which continues today.

What: Instructors work with different teams, teaching them the latest wildland firefighting tactics as well. For two days, firefighters are doing everything from cutting fire lines by hand, to practicing pump and roll attacks.
Who: Hundreds of firefighters participated in the live training exercise, Around 400 firefighters came from dozens of city and county agencies around the Bay Area to practice different firefighting skills in the wildland setting.
Where: Camp Parks, home of the Army's 91st Division in the City of Dublin foothills in the Tri-Valley area of Alameda County.
Google Map - link

Fewer firefighters participated in this year's training because of budget cuts.
Photo Credit: Screenshot from ABC local.com Video - Link
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