Concept2 Forum

What is the size of the town or city that you live in or close to?

Santa Maria has 130,000 people including Orcutt. There were only 12,000 when my family moved here from Idaho in the summer of 1961. Then the winter of 1962 we moved to Great Falls, Montana... brrrrrr... it was cold.

Do you like living in a big town or a smaller one, or out in the country?

At this point I'd rather live in a much smaller town, 5000 people or less.

You don't have my category which is 500 or less.

Storm Petrel wrote:You don't have my category which is 500 or less.

Aha!

just the one!
in Petreltown, right?

Tyn wrote:

Storm Petrel wrote:You don't have my category which is 500 or less.

Aha!

just the one!
in Petreltown, right?

had me for a sec.
The stormy disposition keeps the rest of the flock at bay.

John Rupp wrote: Do you like living in a big town or a smaller one, or out in the country?

Right now, out in the country isn't all that great. An Inyo County sheriff's deputy came by with a bullhorn warning us to prepare to evacuate. The fire in the nearby eastern Sierra Foothills (about 4-5 miles to the west) is spreading and if the current gentle breeze from the west picks up, we may have a forced evacuation.

Size of Big Pine is reported as 1500, but I don't know if our subdivision, a couple of miles from the town center, is included.

Bob S.

Storm Petrel wrote:You don't have my category which is 500 or less.

That's included in 5,000 or less.

Bob,
Are there many trees there?
According to this picture there's not that much there to burn.
I hope you are safe from the fire.
John

http://seis.natsci.csulb.edu/deptweb/Sk ... 00757a.jpg

John Rupp wrote:Bob,
Are there many trees there?
According to this picture there's not that much there to burn.
I hope you are safe from the fire.
John

http://seis.natsci.csulb.edu/deptweb/Sk ... 00757a.jpg

Actually, there is a lot to burn. And, yes, it is burning in forested areas as well as in the desert shrubs. In Big Pine, we still have a potential evacuation and there has already been a partial evacuation of Independence, the county seat of Inyo County. Earlier this evening we were over at the stables to get the horses evacuated to other facilities in Bishop.

There are three major, lightning set fires going on along the west side of Owens Valley. Independence is 26 miles to the south of us and it was hit by a separate fire from the one in the foothills just west of us. Here is one report:

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/767/

In addition, the L.A. Times belated sent in three reporters and there is apparently a front page article that has been published which I have seen on the net. I don't have TV, so I haven't checked that source out. We were going to get a motel in Bishop and watch it there, but on the Saturday night after the 4th of July there is nothing available, so we decided to wait it out at the house unless they come through with the bullhorns routing us out.

We get quite a grand view of it from here. It looks like it stretches out about three or four miles along the line of foothills, the direction that the wind is now pushing it, i.e. from the south. If the wind picks up much of a westerly component, it will get serious here. We are all set to drive out if we get the call. It is only a small community, so there shouldn't be too much of a jam on the road out.

Bob S.

Last update on the link was 8 hours ago.

Hope all is well.

We live in a town,Monroe Township,NJ, whose population is 40000, with a total area of 42 square miles. This makes it one of the lowest population density towns in New Jersey.

We live in a "Active Adult" community which means 55+ years old. It is a gated community with 394 detached homes, and its own population of around 750 people.

Great town, lots of farms and open areas, great public parks, and awonderful development. My wife and I feel blessed to have found this place - we lived previously in northern,N.J. - excellent proximity to New York city, excellent restaurants, schools, etc, but very crowded - and too close to family .

Best regards

John Rupp wrote:Last update on the link was 8 hours ago.

Hope all is well.

Hope all is well!

Give us an update Bob!

Tyn wrote:

John Rupp wrote:Last update on the link was 8 hours ago.

Hope all is well.

Hope all is well!

Give us an update Bob!

Everything appears to be under control now. We never did have to evacuate — just be ready to. The saddle club members are bringing their horses back to the Big Pine stables today. I don't see any tendrils of smoke rising from the valleys hidden behjind the nearest hills.

However, I am not convinced that we are completely in the clear yet. I saw a quote that there were a total of 53 square miles burned in the three fires. Even with 450 personnel on the lines, it seems unlikely that they could have knocked out all of the hot spots. If one of the valley's typical stiff winds starts up, embers from those hot spots could be blown out to start new fires. One report from the Forest Service gave a date of July 21 for full containment.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/767/

Bob S.

edit: Here is a URL that shows some pictures. The first one shows one part of the fire near Big Pine. The other eight are of the fire to the south that forced an evacuation of the town of Independence (26 miles south of Big Pine).

http://www.sierravisionsstock.com/sierr ... lex-fires/