Santiago Fire/South OC FIRE

I went to a park above Whiting and got some photos.

Looking across to the STT entrance on Modjeska grade:


Fresh Flareup:


Smoke rising on the left; Modjeka and Santiago Peaks on the right:


This is probably outdated by now but you can tell which way the fire's going and has been:



I want to say something about Nature needing to replenish and refresh things, but as everyone is aware, this was some piece of s#!t arsonist and that just pisses me off.

 

Unfortunately your comment about the extent of the fire being outdated is right.... the fire has definately progressed further up towards the main divide and is approaching the north flank of Modjeska Peak. I just took a look out from my home right above trabuco canyon (where I have a straight shot of Modjeska to the north) and I can see a red glow just below the main divide on the north side of Modjeska (that bit of the main divide between 4 corners and the cell tower building where the main divide turns 180 degrees).

 

Not to be confrontational.. but..... Old Camp has not burned yet. The fire is heading east-ish so it is possible (although not likely ) that old camp might survive

Lets all keep our fingers crossed [-o-]

 

I don't think they are gone yet. Look at this map just posted which is a thermal overlay. Four Corners and Old Camp are not touched yet.



If I had to venture a guess I would say Joplin and Old Camp will survive untouched.

From my vantage point in wester RSM I can just barely see any flames tonight and they appear to be in upper Harding Truck Trail area. The firefighters have stopped the eastern spread of the fire on the south face of the mountain along the STT using airpower.

The weather is much cooler tonight and much more humid. Let's hope this helps them kick the fire's butt tomorrow.

KeepsWhatHappens

 

Thanks for the awesome link!

KeepsWhatHappens

 

I have to agree, as long as the weather holds, 8pm heading back home up Los Alisos, you could see some pretty hot sections to the north of the Joplin area. BUT from the glow in the sky, there's a pretty broad front for those tired forestry and fire dept guys to struggle to contain.

Hopefully the cooler, calmer and more humid weather patterns hold.

 

Just read this on the OC register website.... http://www.ocregister.com/

Fire to reach Silverado by Saturday afternoon ... - 9:35 p.m. Firefighters predict that the Santiago fire will burn into Silverado Canyon and reach houses by Saturday afternoon. An Orange County Fire Authority team is perched on one rock and a Los Angeles fire team has set up a lookout on the opposing ridge to watch the progression of the fire, fuel supply and weather around the clock. Once the fire gets too close, the firefighters plan to escape, said Ray Valenzuela, batallion chief for the Orange County Fire Authority. The heavy canopy of trees over the canyon, coupled with the narrow road, create a dangerous situation for the firefighters, Valenzuela said. “It’s very beautiful to live in and to look at. It’s a very dangerous fire situation in terms of construction and in terms of fuel supply,” Valenzuela said.

 

Whiting Damage as of 10_26 at 3pm

Took a while to post this, but this afternoon I took a drive around Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch to get a better look at the extent of the damage in Whiting.

First I have to say that I am still amazed that no homes were lost here. The combination of smart construction, effective brush clearing, well-maintained green belts, and of course the amazing work of the firefighters is a testament to what can be done to give people a fighting chance against an overwhelming force of nature.

A few things still look pretty normal.





Looking into Borrego Canyon from Portola Parkway, across from Outback Steakhouse





But you don't have to look far up the canyon before the damage becomes evident. That fence is the edge of Foothill Elementary School, just above Ralph's.




Going further up the canyon, this is the view looking back towards Portola from Borrego View Park in Foothill Ranch. The trail at the lower left is an illegal one:




As bleak as that looks, it's even worse below at this spot. Hard to see through the lingering haze, but some areas are absolutely scorched bare:





Apparently the local kids had a spot among some bushes on the edge of the park where they snuck their beers and left the bottles. They won't be able to do that so easily now that most of the bushes are gone!





In the park, the mulch was ignited around the base of several trees, toasting the trunks a bit. But this is another area where the firefighters did an incredible job. The canyon walls are steep with heavy growth to fuel the flames, but no houses were lost. I haven't even heard of any major damage.




Down below, there are some spots that give hope, as many of the old trees still have green leaves. It seems like where the fire had room to move, it stayed mostly along the ground, burning the shrubs and grass but leaving the canopy intact. This is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way to the beginning of Mustard Rd.




More to come....

 

Whiting Damage as of 10_26 at 3pm

One more look up Borrego Canyon toward Mustard Road. Nice to see some greenery in the bottom, despite the bleak canyon walls. Makes me wish I'd taken more time to look beyond the trail below my tires when I rode this beautiful canyon:





After Borrego, I moved to the base of Water Tank Road, which runs from the west side of Dreaded Hill down into the neighborhood above Ralphs. This is the tank and the ridge that the road runs along:





Looking at the summit of Dreaded from the gate at Water Tank Road. Monday evening we had watched from the east (opposite) side of Whiting as the fire crept slowly over Dreaded. If only we could have got a few water drops then...






Many homes line the area below the tank, but the road and a good fire-resistant greenbelt apparently helped hold back the flames:





A scorched Dreaded Hill creates a twisted version of the California Dream, in more ways than one:




Still more coming...

 

Whiting Damage as of 10_26 at 3pm

From Water Tank, we checked out lower Serrano Canyon, where Serrano Road and Live Oak Trail come out near Portola and Glenn Ranch Roads, across from Oakley.

Obviously not all the old trees fared well. This one is still smoldering. I'm assuming that why it's taped off.





Among the stranger sights were the many melted cholla cactus:






Looking up Lower Serrano Canyon towards the charred Dreaded Hill Road. Those are more illegal trails in the foreground:






Looking through the gate of the pay lot off Glenn Ranch Road, across the street from Oakley:





Get used to seeing a lot of these signs for a while:





At the intersection of Glenn Ranch and Saddleback Ranch roads, looking north into Portola Hills. Monday night we'd seen a homeowner who was out in the dark with a chainsaw, doing some last second brush clearing along his fence as the fire was moving into Lower Serrano Canyon. Turned out to be a good move! Fortunately there wasn't much brush in this spot, which was cleared and leveled a while back for potential construction.




A few more in a minute...

 

Whiting Damage as of 10_26 at 3pm

Up in Portola Hills, things got quite hot Monday night as the fire crested Dreaded Hill and swept across Upper Serrano Canyon between 10pm and 2 am. But again, many of these homes were pretty well prepared, and the firefighters did another heroic job. No structural damage that I've heard of, despite stories of flame arcing clear over 2-story homes!

From Concourse Park, looking north toward Sage Scrub trail and the charred STT/Luge route in the distance. Obviously that little plateau and the fire-resistant plantings just below the homes, along with a favorable wind pattern that pushed the flames more toward Sage Scrub really helped these homeowners:





Looking NW from Concourse Park towards 4 Corners, Cactus, and the lower stretch of Sage Scrub:





Looking down Serrano Canyon - the Serrano Cow Trail section - and west toward Dreaded Hill:





The devastation is severe, but again there's some hope in the form of many of the old oaks that are still relatively intact. After watching 50-foot+ flames in this canyon on Monday night, I never would have expected anything to remain standing down there. Look closely and you can see the trail marker where Sage Scrub ends at Concourse Road.





Just above Concourse Park is a water tank. A friend who lives nearby watched as flames wrapped over this tank. Rumor is that the pumps were damaged: The equipment at the right center seemed to be a generator and temporary pump that was running constantly while I was there.





Not so much anymore, at least not at that spot: There's almost nothing left to burn!






Over near O'Neill, at Upper Oso Reservoir, the helo's were going like gangbusters. At least 5 copters that I counted, and they were making round trips in about 7-8 minutes.





They had the big ones in there today. There were two of these that said "Carson" in big letters on the side. Carson County in Nevada? We also counted at least 3 or 4 fixed wing aircraft.





One great bit of inadvertent (?) comedy in Foothill Ranch:



Clearly it'll be a long time till Whiting looks anything like the park that we all knew, but there are nuggets of hope out there. I'm disturbed by the total lack of animals other than a few birds, but I'm encouraged by the remaining trees and a few small unburned bits of ground. Now I'm just hoping for luck in containing these remaining blazes, and wishing for some slow, soaking rains to start the recovery.

 

Well done Waldo, well done! Hope is good....

 

Thanks Waldo - glad to see some of the trees.
At least that artichoke thistle problem is no more.....:-s

 

Not sure wha'ts going down on the north side of the fire (Silverado) but as of 9:00 am today (saturday) there is a slow moving finger of fire moving due south from the south flank of the ridge below the santiago truck trail toward the joplin boys camp. (I can see it from my place in RSM overlooking trabuco canyon) The finger is just to the north of the joplin trail (the lower fire road section of joplin below santiago truck trail) where it takes the big sweeping bend back to the south.

I'm listening to he helicopter and airplane traffic on a ham radio and they are prioritizing drops in silverado first, main divide second and the south flank towards joplin last. The joplin finger of fire is moving real slow downhill so there is no huge threat here.

9:23 a.m. The fire along the ridgeline near Silverado was still burning this morning but had not descended into town, Orange County Fire Officials said. Flames are estimated roughly to be about three miles up Maple Springs road from the checkpoint at the end of Silverado Canyon road, about 3,000 feet above the town. Fire officials said that they are seeing "up-canyon" winds during the day, that tend to push the flames away from town. But houses in the town had been sprayed with fire-retardant and residents are under mandatory evacuation order. To the northeast, the fire was still moving towards the main divide and the Riverside County line but had not crossed county lines overnight. Fire officials said that 18 bulldozers crews dug about five miles of firebreak lines overnight near the Orange County and Riverside lines but had another ten miles still to dig. Air drops of flame retardant reinforced about 2.5 miles of fire lines near the county border.

 

It's starting to rain lightly in Irvine right now. Hopefully that helps out the firefighters...and also clean away the ashes and other junk in the air.

 

Got rain on the way home to Fullerton from Turnbull this AM. Let's hope South OC is getting the same if not more! Either way I'm sure the moisture is a welcome relief.

 

WOW...that's great news. I just looked at the weather doppler site George had posted and it's showing all the rain passing through.
http://www.abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather&id=5314438

This is great news for the firefighters if anything just to cool things down a bit. Didn't hear anything about rain coming. Thank God for little miracles.
I have to get back to work now but HAVE to get a ride in today!! YEA !!
Enjoy your weekend.

 

unfortunately, i think most of that isn't even hitting the ground. it was more spit than sprinkles in costa mesa and it looks like it's just about over. the fred ride today shouldn't be affected.

 

Great report Waldo - thanks man

11.30 and its raining here now - so jsut a few miles away and at a higher elevation we can expect it to be the same but more so chubby rain (yeah i saw the movie too) drops but quite light.

 

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap: to Waldo for all the pics...although depressing...very informative!