2017 Wine Country Fire Devastation on Google Maps

[myosh_tino]

If anyone is interested in seeing how destructive the October 2017 Wine Country fires in Northern California were, Google Maps Satellite View has been updated to show the devastation.

Coffey Park Neighborhood (Santa Rosa): https://goo.gl/maps/ZoVK8EKaMoM2

Fountaingrove Neighborhood (Santa Rosa): https://goo.gl/maps/vJovtKWeRAN2

Silverado Country Club: https://goo.gl/maps/J5FUKn93fiD2

Note: You can do a Before-and-After effect by switching between classic Satellite and 3D views.  The 3D view is the "before" and the classic Satellite view is the "after".

A little backstory here... our family had friends that moved to Santa Rosa some 20 years ago and while the fires were burning back in October my dad recalled that those friends had moved into one of the affected areas (the Fountaingrove Neighborhood).  He had a bad feeling their house didn't survive the fire.  Today we received a Christmas Card from them and while no mention of the fires was included, I took the address and immediately plugged it into Google Maps expecting to see charred remains of their house.  What I saw instead was their house still intact.  Unfortunately, many houses to the north, south and west were lost to the fires.

While I'm happy our friend's house survived, I'm saddened by the loss of so many other homes to those fires...

[nexus73]

When this fire was going on, I wondered how this area ever got hit with 80 MPH winds?  That is what the news reports said for speed and why the fire spread so quickly.  The Southland has the Santa Anas and up here on the Oregon coast we get wintery windstorms which means no fire is possible since those are wet storms but in between here and there, I had no idea that inland winds were so strong in NorCal.  Is this normal?

Rick

[sparker]

When this fire was going on, I wondered how this area ever got hit with 80 MPH winds?  That is what the news reports said for speed and why the fire spread so quickly.  The Southland has the Santa Anas and up here on the Oregon coast we get wintery windstorms which means no fire is possible since those are wet storms but in between here and there, I had no idea that inland winds were so strong in NorCal.  Is this normal?

Rick

For the last several years, Northern California has been seeing these high-pressure zones set up generally over the location where California, Oregon and Nevada come together (east of US 395); these are driving what's up here referred to as "Diablo" winds (the functional equivalent of the Santa Ana winds in SoCal); that's what drove the Tubbs fire west across US 101 into northern Santa Rosa.  The high-pressure zones are where the jet-stream used to be on a regular basis; changes in the overall climate have driven it further north into south-central Oregon, bringing wet storms to that area -- storms that used to come through the North Bay area on a perennial basis.  And since we've had El Nino/La Nina events during late winter and into spring, the foliage has built up to the point that with several dry periods it becomes layers of tinder along the ground.  One little spark and that's that! 

[roadfro]

When this fire was going on, I wondered how this area ever got hit with 80 MPH winds?  That is what the news reports said for speed and why the fire spread so quickly.  The Southland has the Santa Anas and up here on the Oregon coast we get wintery windstorms which means no fire is possible since those are wet storms but in between here and there, I had no idea that inland winds were so strong in NorCal.  Is this normal?

Rick

Could depend on weather pattern and topography.

Wind can easily reach gusts or even sustained speeds of 50+ mph on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada blowing over from Lake Tahoe into Washoe Valley (between Reno and Carson City along I-580/US 395), given the right conditions. This happens frequently enough that NDOT has permanently placed high profile vehicle protocol/detour "when flashing" signage along this stretch.

LG-H871

[myosh_tino]

When this fire was going on, I wondered how this area ever got hit with 80 MPH winds?  That is what the news reports said for speed and why the fire spread so quickly.  The Southland has the Santa Anas and up here on the Oregon coast we get wintery windstorms which means no fire is possible since those are wet storms but in between here and there, I had no idea that inland winds were so strong in NorCal.  Is this normal?

Rick

Perhaps I am mistaken but I recall winds reaching 50-60 MPH during the NorCal fires in October.  I do know that the current SoCal fires were being driven by winds blowing 80+.

As for these types of wind patterns being normal, it depends on time of year.  The S.F. Bay Area typically sees these types of winds during what I call "Indian Summer" (mid-September thru late October).  Because the winds blow offshore (from the north or northeast), humidity is extremely low and temperatures are generally pretty high.  A similar weather pattern occurred during the 1991 Oakland Hills firestorm when a 1,500 acre fire destroyed over 2,800 homes and almost 500 other buildings like apartment complexes.

[nexus73]

Thanks for the explanations.  Sparker, one thing we have not had this December is rain.  Last year's 12th month was record-setting.  So far we have had a real drought and very high barometric pressure.  Most unusual!  Generally when I see the needle at the 3 o'clock position it means an arctic air mass with freezing temps.  There have been lows in the 30's on the coast with some days seeing the highs in the 60's.  On occasion we get a few nice days of sun without wind that are not cold in December but something as long lasting as this dry spell is not characteristic.  Thank heavens the rains came to put out what was the nation's biggest fire by Brookings for if this had been a drought fall all the way through, there would be little left in Curry County.

Myosh, as to wind velocity, there's the news as a source and we all know how inaccurate it can be, even for something as non-political as the actual weather conditions. 

Rick

[sparker]

Thanks for the explanations.  Sparker, one thing we have not had this December is rain.  Last year's 12th month was record-setting.  So far we have had a real drought and very high barometric pressure.  Most unusual!  Generally when I see the needle at the 3 o'clock position it means an arctic air mass with freezing temps.  There have been lows in the 30's on the coast with some days seeing the highs in the 60's.  On occasion we get a few nice days of sun without wind that are not cold in December but something as long lasting as this dry spell is not characteristic.  Thank heavens the rains came to put out what was the nation's biggest fire by Brookings for if this had been a drought fall all the way through, there would be little left in Curry County.

Myosh, as to wind velocity, there's the news as a source and we all know how inaccurate it can be, even for something as non-political as the actual weather conditions. 

Rick

Looks as if the jet stream has moved even farther north -- or is arcing further east, if Coos Bay isn't getting much in the way of rain.  The times I've been up the coast on 101 -- regardless of the time of year -- there seemed to be something of a "marine layer" of moisture extending along a large portion of the coastline -- if that goes away or is driven offshore by easterly winds, I can certainly see how that would leave the area vulnerable to particularly nasty fires, considering the densely packed foliage there.  Let's just hope that isn't the case -- or if so, it's only for short periods of time.  BTW, while it's true that the prevailing wind speed in the Sonoma County fires was in the high 50's or low '60's, it didn't come in short spurts or gusts; it was pretty much continuous during most of the fire event -- and that's what was frustrating to firefighters -- no letup.  And the speed increased overnight in the worst cases.  The accounts of the firefighting effort from various fronts are just beginning to show up in local newspapers and TV broadcasts in the area (after a bit of a news break to give the affected people some "down time").  So far, pretty harrowing!  It's surprising the loss of life wasn't in triple figures! 

[Plutonic Panda]

If everyone turned on their sprinklers and soaked their yards as well as taking hoses with those fountain things and placed them on their roofs, would that have saved their homes? Some homes were fine when the ones right next door burned.

What's up with the neighborhood in the first Google Map link? It seems that was the only area to get burned. Everything around it seems fine.

Regardless, this is sad and I hope that new safety measures are enforced such as requiring homes to be "fire proofed"  when new ones are built. They should also conduct controlled burns it seems around populated areas once every couple years or so.

[sparker]

If everyone turned on their sprinklers and soaked their yards as well as taking hoses with those fountain things and placed them on their roofs, would that have saved their homes? It seems some homed were fine when the ones right next door burned.

What's up with the neighborhood in the first Google Map link? It seems that was the only area to get burned. Everything around it seems fine.

Regardless, this is sad and I hope that new safety measures are enforced such as requiring homes to be "fire proofed"  when new ones are built. They should also conduct controlled burns it seems around populated areas once every couple years or so.

That was the Coffey Park neighborhood, primarily composed of wood-frame houses with various roof styles.  Being in the "flatlands" with US 101 separating them from the end of the hillside east of the freeway, that neighborhood wasn't considered to be in any particular fire danger, so a lot of the standards applied to neighborhoods in more fire-prone areas weren't applied to that area.  It caught on fire because the persistent winds coming out of the east dumped a steady stream of hot embers on that neighborhood; without fire-resistant materials or much in the way of clearance between buildings the neighborhood went up in what could best be described as a chain reaction from one structure to another -- all while the embers were still raining down -- all that wood and paint didn't have much of a chance under those circumstances. 

You can bet that more stringent standards will be applied to any reconstruction in not only this neighborhood but all around the general region.