California Wildfire Season 2019

It seems the California wildfire season has started already. About a month ago, there were no wildfires showing the map. NWS has just issued heat advisories and red flag warnings for our area and it’s only June. Looks like it’s going to be another long hot summer.

https://ucweather.org/firewx.php

PG&E has proactively turned off the power in some areas.

I fear it will be a bad one this year. I am shocked that many of my neighbors have not more actively cleaned up their properties after the fires we had last year 8O

I saw that notice from PG&E too. I’ve signed up get to get power outage alerts on PG&E’s website just in case. But, some people just don’t want to learn. They think just because they dodged the bullet last year that they don’t have to worry about it happening to them this year. Anyway, in case you haven’t see it yet, the link below has some good info you can pass on to your family, friends, and neighbors to stay connected with Cal Fire. I downloaded the Ready for Wildfire App and signed up for the SMS alerts. I can’t say how good the Ready for Wildfire App is as I haven’t gotten any alerts yet but, right after I signed up for the SMS alerts yesterday, I must have gotten about 6 alerts for new fires and updates as you get alerts on all fires whereas with the app, you can limit the areas you want to be notified for.

http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/socialmedia

Thanks Harry, useful info.

[quote]To follow a specific Operational Unit, text: follow (Twitter handle

That’s strange. According to their instructions, it should have worked. All I did was text follow CAL_FIRE to 40404 and I’m getting everything.

If you can’t get it to work, you can add counties in the app by going to Home, tap the settings gear, select Wildfire Alert Settings and after you enter your zipcode, city, and phone, tap on Next and there you have the option to add more counties.

Was your phone already signed up with twitter?

I guess it was. The only messages I got before from 40404 was in 2016 that has my Twitter confirmation code and another message saying my phone has been activated but, I have no idea how I did that.

Technology is not my friend today :roll: I tried to add two different phone numbers to twitter and persistently get the message “US and Canadian phone numbers must have 11 digits. Please enter a valid phone number.”. I may only have 10 fingers but I can certainly count to 11 #-o

Did you get it to work? According to this https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/sdcfa/documents/prevention/text-message-alerts.pdf you don’t need a Twitter account. And on another Twitter Help page, follow is still valid https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/sms-commands

Nope, tried again with two phones on different carriers and google voice, same “follow command no longer supported” error message on all of them. Per some forum posts that message may indicate an unsupported carrier, but twitter’s own info says all U.S. carriers and google voice numbers are supported. I guess I’m just gonna burn :onfire:

I guess I figured out what I did to get my phone activated. Did you go through this procedure?

https://www.dummies.com/social-media/twitter/how-to-set-up-twitter-text-messages-sms-delivery/

Just the kind of news you didn’t want to hear.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/federal-officials-warn-the-upcoming-wildfire-season-could-be-even-worse-than-last-year/70008552

Nuts! Cal Fire https://www.fire.ca.gov/ has remodeled their website. The state map and current incident page and RSS feed is no longer available however, they do have a new map https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/ that you can also embed on your website. Sigh, more work to do.

For Southern California, they say this is the first time NWS has issued an Extreme Red Flag Warning.

[size=83]Event: Red Flag Warning Alert:

…EXTREME RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM TUESDAY THROUGH
6 PM THURSDAY PDT FOR MUCH OF LOS ANGELES AND VENTURA COUNTIES
DUE TO STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS AND VERY LOW HUMIDITIES…

.A strong Santa Ana wind event is expected tonight through
Thursday, and could be one of the strongest of recent memory.
Damaging wind gusts between 50 and 70 mph are expected over most
of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, with isolated gusts to
around 80 mph likely. Although the air is cold, humidities will
lower to the single digits nearly everywhere by Wednesday or
Thursday, and down to 1 or 2 percent in the driest windiest
locations. Overnight recoveries Wednesday night will be near
zero. This all adds up to an extreme fire weather threat, meaning
that conditions are as dangerous for fire growth and behavior as
we have seen in recent memory. Use extreme caution with any
potential ignition sources, and residents in high fire risk areas
should be ready and set to evacuate if emergency officials say so.

…RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO
6 PM PDT THURSDAY FOR STRONG WINDS AND VERY LOW HUMIDITY OVER THE
MOUNTAINS OF LOS ANGELES AND VENTURA COUNTIES AND THE VENTURA AND
SANTA CLARITA VALLEYS…

  • Winds…Northeast 30 to 50 mph with gusts to 70 mph. Isolated
    gusts to 80 mph possible. Strongest on Wednesday.

  • Relative Humidity…As low as 1 to 5 percent. Very poor to no
    overnight recoveries.

  • Impacts…If fire ignition occurs, conditions will be
    favorable for extreme fire behavior, long range spotting, and
    very rapid fire spread which would threaten life and property.
    The strength of the expected winds could result in downed
    trees and power lines as well as power outages.

Instructions: An extreme Red Flag Warning means that conditions are as dangerous for fire growth and behavior as we have seen in recent memory, due to the combination of strong winds, very low humidity, long duration, and very dry fuels. Use extreme caution with potential fire ignition sources. Residents in high fire risk areas should be ready and set to evacuate if emergency officials say so.
Target Area:
Los Angeles County Mountains, Angeles National Forest
Santa Clarita Valley
Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area
Ventura County Coastal Valleys
Ventura County Interior Valleys
Ventura County Mountains, Los Padres National Forest[/size]