August Complex Closing in on 850,000 Acres
Large tree burns at its base along the fire’s north flank. [Photo Credit: Mike McMillan/USFS]The August Complex, the largest fire in California history, is now 846,898 acres and is still only 38 percent contained. Over a month ago, a lightning storm left fires peppering the area and they have grown together and spread outwards forcing thousands to evacuate and burning multiple structures.
- The West Zone which encompasses the southwestern area of Trinity County all the way down to Lake Pillsbury in Mendocino County is 195 miles long, 95,168 acres and 35% contained. All evacuations in Humboldt County were removed but the southern area is still being in Mendocino County is still active.
- The North Zone mostly in southern Trinity County is threatening the communities around Ruth, along Hwy 36, and beyond. Yesterday, aircraft were able to work in around Ruth but it is still an area of concern, as is the area around Hwy 36 near Post Mountain. Hwy 36 may eventually have to be closed. (See more here: https://www.facebook.com/ShastaTrinityNF/posts/2793942324171142 )
- The South Zone which encompasses the far east of the fire has in large part been contained except the south area around Lake Pillsbury in Mendocino and stretching east into Lake County–a large area in itself.
The Plan:
The North side plan from the U.S. Forest Service – Shasta-Trinity National Forest as of yesterday evening: (About five minutes long with a lot of details for those who want to understand the battles firefighters are making.)
The Images:
Firefighters doing burn operations yesterday.
The Weather:
There’s a slight chance of rain on Wednesday but then warmer drier weather is predicted for the weekend. But today the biggest concern is winds pushing the fires towards the northeast. Gusts are relatively light though and expected to be between 10-14 mph. Temperatures will be in the high sixties to high seventies in both the north and west zones.
The Meeting:
The #AugustComplexNorthZone will hold a Facebook Live Virtual Public Meeting at 7:30pm on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 to provide a fire overview and to allow the public to ask questions. [Click here for more]
The Roads:
Here is the latest information: (This includes maps of Trinity County roads now closed.)
The Maps:
- Operations Map for North Zone –to see details either zoom or click on the map and download a pdf.
- Mendocino County’s Interactive map
Evacuation Area information:
USEFUL Information:
- Evacuations for animals Mendocino:
- The Laytonville rodeo grounds are open for livestock. They are located at Harwood Road Laytonville, call ahead at 707-984-8100
- Covelo Rodeo Grounds for small/large animals/livestock (22830 S. Airport Road in Covelo)
- Evacuation place for Trinity residents:
- Evacuees are encouraged to proceed Hayfork Fairgrounds where a temporary evacuation point has been established. This is not a shelter location, it is a point where evacuees can pick up hotel vouchers and proceed to hotels that have been procured in Lewiston and Weaverville. The previous temporary evacuation point in Humboldt County is no longer in service.
- Evacuation place for Mendocino Residents-
- Covelo High School for people (76280 High School Street)
- The Laytonville rodeo grounds are open for livestock. They are located at Harwood Road Laytonville, call ahead at 707-984-8100 Harwood Hall is also open for residents feeling the Hopkins fire. They are located 44400 Willis Ave, Laytonville
- Information Boards are updated daily at the following locations:
Platina Store – 4554 State Route 36W, Platina, CAHarrison Gulch Guard Station – 2555 State Route 36W, Platina, CAWildwood Inn and RV Park – 2721 Wildwood Rd, Wildwood, CASouth Fork Mountain Vista – Horse Ridge Lookout Rd & State Route 36W, Mad River, CAThe Watering Hole (Mad River Burger Bar) – 2515 State Route 36W, Mad River, CAMad River Ranger Station – 741 State Route 36W, Mad River, CASouthern Trinity High School – 600 Van Duzen Rd, Mad River, CADinsmore Store – 43819 State Route 36W, Bridgeville, CAHayfork Ranger Station – 111 Trinity Street, Hayfork, CAHayfork Post Office – 7180 State Route 3, Hayfork, CAU.S. Forest Service – Six Rivers National ForestU.S. Forest Service – Mendocino National Forest
- You can listen to Trinity County Scanner by clicking here Trinity County Public Safety
- You can listen to Southern Humboldt County Scanner by clicking here Humboldt County Law, Fire and EMS – Eureka and South
- You can listen to Mendocino County Scanner by clicking here Mendocino County Sheriff, Fire, EMS, Cal Fire and CHP
- Good fire and smoke info here: Click here. (Please remember the info here isn’t always up to date. If you are given an evacuation order, leave–no matter what this says.)
- Good Social Media Site–FIRE EVACUEE INFO – Humboldt/Northern Mendo/Trinity Fires: Click here
- Wildfire Evacuation Checklist
How You Can Help:
- GoFundMe for Trinity County’s Southern Trinity VFD. Click here.
- If you would like to donate, the addresses for Southern Humboldt Fire Departments can be accessed by clicking here.
- To volunteer or donate to assist regional wildfire evacuees, please contact:
- Pay it Forward Humboldt
- Volunteer: 707-499-2364
- Donation: 707-499-3840
- [email protected]
- Humboldt Area Foundation
- American Red Cross
- Humboldt CERT
- Pay it Forward Humboldt
Earlier Chapters:
- Evacuation Warnings Sent to Southeastern Humboldt–Island Mountain, Palo Verde, Alderpoint, and Harris–as August Complex Spreads West
- Fire Forcing Evacuations in Three Forks, South of Ruth Lake
- Hopkins Fire in the August Complex Burning in Trinity County and Moving Towards Humboldt
- Elkhorn Fire (New Name for Fire Causing Evacuations in Trinity, Humboldt, and Mendocino) Slowed With Cooler Weather
- Wind Shift Helps Keep Fire East of the Main Stem of the Eel River This Afternoon But Drives ‘Erratic Fires’ in Zenia/ Kettenpom area
- Good News: Hopkins Fire–Still Holding East of the Main Eel River, Lots of New Resources on the Ground, and Rain Predicted Next Week
- Reinforcements Arriving! Firetrucks From Texas in SoHum
- Last Night, Firefighters Fought a Battle for the Community of Ruth as They Conducted a Firing Operation on the Hopkins Fire in the Massive August Complex
- Northern California Regional Evacuation Shelter established for wildfire evacuees
- Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Increases Evacuation Orders and Warnings
- Evacuation Orders Downgraded for Hopkins Fire, Some Progress Made, and Firefighters Say, ‘We Feel Loved, But, Please, No More Food’
- Firefighters Are Still Keeping the Hopkins Fire Out of Humboldt County
- Possible Light in the Tunnel of Ash for Growers: Law Enforcement, Cal Fire, and OES Working on a Plan to Allow Cultivators Access to Their Cannabis Crops
- Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Issues New Evacuation Orders for Their Residents
- Dangerous Fire Weather Today in the Areas Between Ruth Lake and Island Mountain
- Pyrocumulous Cloud Formed in the North Fire Areas Yesterday and the Main Complex Pushed About Five Miles Westward Forcing New Evacuations in Mendocino County
- Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Issues More Evacuations Orders for Forest Glen and Warnings for Post Mountain and Trinity Pines
- Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Issues New Evacuation Orders
- Evening Update on the North Zone of the August Complex
- Evening Update on the West Side of the August Complex
- Firefighters Struggling to Hold the Southwest and North Line of the August Complex
- August Complex Grows to Almost 800,000 Acres
- New Evacuation Order Wednesday Night: The Areas of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines are Under an Evacuation Order
- Evacuations in Trinity Pines, Active Fire in Horse Ridge Area Above Ruth, and More in Tonight’s Update
- More Evacuations to the North as the August Complex Grew Over 60 Square Miles Yesterday
- Evacuation Order downgraded for communities south of Casterlin Road
- Residents of the Hettenshaw Valley Can Return Home; The TCSO Has downgraded the Area to an Evacuation Warning Only
- August Complex Calmer Under Cooler, Moister Weather
- Good News: Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Reducing Evacuation Orders to Warnings in Areas Near the Humboldt County and Southwestern Trinity Borders
- Good News: Hettenshaw Valley, Zenia, and Kettenpom Downgraded to Evacuation Warning
- August Complex Moving Towards Hwy 36
- Warmer, Drier Weather Today Over the August Complex Which is now 836,871 Acres
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I am a NAM vet (67-68) and they had a program called “Operation Popeye” that made it rain much more than usual on the Ho Chi Minh trail to slow supplies crossing into S. Vietnam. That was many moons ago, we have a storm system coming over us in the next 36-48 hours that looks like it has some moisture in it. Spray this system with silver iodide like in NAM and make it rain much more than it would otherwise. I know it can be done, it all depends if the leadership wants it to happen.
NPR reported a few weeks ago that cloud seeding programs were being carried out it Russia to fight the forest fires there.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-fires-siberia-idUSKBN24B1JT
and then there’s this;
https://geopolitics.co/2015/06/06/us-air-force-admits-they-can-control-weather/
and this;
https://geopolitics.co/2015/04/03/chemtrail-pilot-blows-the-lid-off-operation-indigo-skyfold/
Fake news? Doubt it. But possibly.
Hello Kym: I remember reports last year from Australia that a private firm was hired to steer any storms within range of those fires that they had going on like California is witnessing this year. If I remember right they succeeded. Owning the weather by 2025, an Air Force manual!!!
So wouldn’t it stand to reason that they didnt just rig up some water tanks with sprayers in an airplane on a whim? Wouldn’t it be far to say that the machinery and chemicals required to do that would need to be installed and tested for efficacy prior to use? Is anything in the aerospace industry invented, installed, and implemented in short order, or does it take years of research and testing before use? Did the article say they invented cloud seeding and implemented it for the first time in the world? This technology has been around for a long time. Given our current world arms race, do you think that Russia would have a bunch of aerospace technology that we 1) dont have, or 2) dont have better versions of? So taking all that and our proximity to an airforce base into consideration, would it be out of the question to say that technology is possibly being tested over our sparsely populated rural coastal region? I dont think so. And to all of you people who roll your eyes and say Its just jet exhaust, at least we can agree that it’s there, what ever it is. Would you want to breathe the air on I-5 in downtown LA all day long? Why not, its just car exhaust?
Can you imagine the outcry from the “chemtrail” and general conspiracy dingbats if cloud seeding happened in the current semi hysteria.
Hello DK: They are laying down chemtrails over South Fork mountain as I type this.! The first time conspiracy and theory were put together was with the JFK murder, coming from the AGENCY! What about the Gulf of Tonkin incident which got us into a war and changed my life forever. That lie was not proven until 20 years later! What about the first Gulf War, that was another lie that got America into another needless war that TRUMP is now getting us out of. And jumping into the winter of 97-98 when I started seeing big fat chemtrails that did not move or spread out like they do now. It’s still a conspiracy theory to this date, how I don’t know why? All you have to do is look up once in awhile and watch these jet trails go off and then back on over and over again; guess they are just trying to save fuel? Then of course we have next 9/11 which is still a conspiracy theory. If anybody believes the official government explanation on what happened that day is the real ding bat!!! Then we have vaccinations that they/them tell us are safe and effective. If that is true then why is autisum (spelling) expanding at the same time with all these shots, and at such an early age they are given. Hep “B” at birth!!!. I know one thing DK, if the government says such and such, I look in the other direction! What do governments and most politicians do best; LIE!!!!!!!
It’s obvious something is going on up there if you work outside and look up day after day, year after year. They hammered the sky this afternoon, I’d wager a walnut and a five dollar bill we get a spit of rain in the next 3 days.
🕯🌳Silver Oxide.
Hello Willie: I stand corrected, I was going from memory.
They have been seeding clouds since the 60s if memory serves. No one has ever thought that a conspiracy that I know of. But there are alot of conspiracy theories surrounding chemtrails. I happen to believe one of them, that since the 90s they have been experimenting with ways to deflect suns rays. But it isn’t really a conspiracy theory, not like the one where they are putting all kinds of weird stuff to inoculate and kill off the human race. There are degrees to everything. I also believe that there were people inside our own gov that were involved in 9/11, (too many elements can not be explained otherwise) and the towers were a controlled demolition. But thats just me.
The fact of the matter is that conspiracy does happen and all the time. Nobody, except maybe the unabomber, works alone. All thru history we have had to deal with conspiracys. If you discount all conspiracy theories you might be missing something.
Then you have idiots like Qanon. Oh……My…….God. Can stupid be stretched any further. Anyone like a slice of pizza.
Pepperoni please!
Researcher.
” and the towers were a controlled demolition. But thats just me.”
And, the 19 people that hijacked 4 airplanes to crash into the buildings were just to cover up the clever plot to blow up the buildings.
Let me guess, you used science to come to this conclusion. Your ancestors used the same science to prove that the earth was flat.
I am always amazed at what people will accept as science, and think of themselves as critical thinkers”
There are enough nefarious government plots out there without inventing more.
There were 19 hijackers.
And the 3 buildings (1,2 and 7) were not destroyed by jet fuel, or a natural collapse.
These two facts do not rule each other out.
I would encourage “researcher” to leave out the possibility of WHO was maybe involved. There is zero evidence of who, but overwhelming evidence of how.
And Ernie, you should read about Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid Mindar. They were in San Diego for over a year, and they were wanted by the FBI. The CIA knew they were here, and did not alert the FBI.
Richard Clarke speculated why George Tenet did not tell him about those two shitheads in our country:
https://youtu.be/_mC_FeS8rgo
https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-uscellular-us-revc&source=android-browser&q=richard+clarke+says+fbi+hid+hijackers
It’s tantalizing and beyond simple comprehension.
Remember, George Bush (most likely Cheney via Bush) wanted Henry Kissinger to head the underfunded 9/11 Commission.
Once victims family’s started raising questions about his business ties to the Saudis, he was turned away from the position.
Then we protected the Saudis from lawsuits.
And also….nevermind. Back to the buildings.
David Chandler, a simple physics teacher, was instrumental in forcing NIST to revise statements on the “collapse” of WTC 7.
https://youtu.be/JK2vgi82f_c
Check it out E. Branscomb.
Ernie, Ive gone over the footage numerous times of the collapse and the scientific reports. No one has come up with a plausible explanation otherwise. If they do I’ll check it out. Until then I will still consider the unthinkable.
And Im not inventing anything. Have you ever researched the collapse. There is a wealth of information and analysis on the web and it all points to one thing. Controlled demolition. But that has nothing to do with fires. I just wanted to point out that conspiracys do exist. And no I don’t believe 99% of the conspiracy theories. But I do believe Oswald didn’t act alone, there were people in high gov positions that could have averted Pearl Harbor but didn’t, and most importantly that the Russians hacked voting machines in 2016 and will do it again in 2020. But once again, thats just me.
Namaste
I say your theories are spot on.
I remember hearing, too, there were tons of people who didn’t show up for work that day.
I remember hearing, too, there were tons of people who didn’t show up for work that day.
That is false.
Thanks, Brian. Are you 100% sure about that?
I ask because, it was pretty difficult at the time, to tell between fact and fiction. (I’m sure you remember…) There were so many people who were convinced that it was an inside job, and well… rumors were circulating. Even if that particular piece of information was erroneous, there was much to convince people of the basic premise.
Hello Guest: Here are some theories about 9/11. Remember this women news reporter standing in from of the camera saying now building 7 has also collapsed with building 7 in plain view behind her. What about flight 93 crashing in Pennsylvania leaving a small hole in the ground with no plane wreckage or burnt areas; those planes were full of fuel. And then there is the Pentagon with a small hole in the building and again no plane wreckage or huge fire from the thousands of gallons of fuel it had in its wings.
Hey, Poor Farmer. Yeah, there was so much shady stuff with everything! The way I remember it, there were lots of folks who could tell that *something* very suspicious was going on…
The rumors back then were that thousands of Jews had not showed up for work in the towers.
The rumors were started by pro-Palestinian agencies and perpetuated by anti-semites.
There was never any evidence of Jews being alered beforehand, and infact, Jews (and Muslims and Christians and atheists) were killed in the towers.
Huh. How ugly. I should have realized that they would make it into something so ugly. I know for a fact that all different people were killed, as you said, Jews, Muslims, and atheists, too. I guess that I hadn’t totally discounted it, because, in my mind, I imagined that it was elites who were spared… you know the owners and bosses. I didn’t realize this particular rumor was all about trying to smear Jewish people.
Ugh. I really don’t understand it. They’re bashing Jews as we speak right now on another thread. So tiresome. I have Jewish heritage, and I grew up on matzos, but I am not religious. And, I’m poor like dirt. They can all go to hell.
Thank you for clarifying this issue for me. I greatly appreciate it, as I will never again be repeating it.
I just have to add that, regardless of WHO started the rumor, it IS possible to be pro-Palestinian without being an anti-Semite. And there are plenty of Jewish people who are pro-Palestinian, (even if it isn’t obvious from the likes of Netanyahu).
Furthermore, there’s enough anti-Semitism homegrown here in the US to sideline any Palestinian influence. I notice that most anti-Semites don’t give two shits about Palestinians, either.
My friend Bill B**#%@!s worked in the restaurant on the top as a chef. It was his scheduled day off that day. He has PTSD and survivor guilt from it.
Glad he made it, but it’s still so sad 😥
This is a must read. It talks about how even the worst of fires are actually healthy burns over much of the area, and that photographers that look to capture fire photos, walls of flames, houses burning, etc have to drive for hours to find an area that makes it look like all hell is breaking loose.
Though fires today are different and much more destructive and need active suppression, its not all doom and gloom. In fact right now almost all acres that will be consumed from now until the rains come will be healthy burns.
https://www.propublica.org/article/what-the-photos-of-wildfires-and-smoke-dont-show-you
On Edit; I just saw the weather forecast that calls for 95 to 100 degree temps next weekend inland. That could cause serious problems, so the season may not be over.
Researcher is right: the dramatic photos of holocaust are not representative. Light underburns that take out shrubs and saplings, and moderate fires that kill some trees and open the forest more, are benefical. They are built into the ecosystem, and our forests respond well to them. Here’s a view of the Meagram fire in the western Trinity Alps, fairly typical. Scattered seed trees will quickly sow the next generation:
On the other hand, thousands of acres look like this. Possibly a Forest Service backburn; they are notorious for burning too hot and getting out of control. The brush species Ceanothus veutinus grows quickly in disturbed or burned places, becoming almost impenetrable to humans, including fire fighters:
Thanks so much for that, researcher, and Susan Nolan, too, for adding more perspective and photos! That article is a real eye-opener.
Let’s not forget that the Camp Fire in Paradise, which killed 85 people, occurred in November.
I remember talk about cloud-seeding for more rain when I was a kid in the 50’s. It actually didn’t seem to work all that well, at least not in a naturally dry climate like most of California. I think– correct me if I’m wrong — that Vietnam is in a largely tropical or subtropical area where there’s a lot of ambient moisture in the air. The “seeds” provide a nucleus around which water can condense and fall. So there has to be enough moisture in the air to begin with. I just Googled “cloud seeding” and there’s lots of articles pointing out that in general its effectiveness remains unproven. Various different substances are used for “seeds,” including carbon dioxide in the form of dry ice.
I love my Nupla McLeod but the handle and blade are both a bit light .. looking at the lede picture I thought, wow that guy has a much nicer McLeod! I like the slight axe-style taper and bend on the shorter handle, and it looks stout. Searching around just now I think I found it:
http://www.nationalfirefighter.com/j-r-fire-tools-mcleod-40.aspx
Thank you Kym for ongoing comprehensive coverage of the August Complex! You rock our world