Thursday Morning report from Linda

Good morning,

This is day number 6 of the fires. It was much more clear this morning than any other day with white moon and stars when I got up. I can't see any flames anywhere this morning.

First of all, I feel nothing but gratitude to the CalFire people. They are stretched so thin and are working so hard, and it's exhausting work! Yesterday, Chief Mark Tolbert described the Jack Smith Creek/Singley Ranch fires as a sleeping dragon, and that certainly is an apt description. And in its sleep it's creeping over the west side of Radical Mountain, around the east side of Radical Ridge, down the face of the mountain, and down Redwood Creek Canyon.

Yesterday afternoon got a little dicey (sp?) with the wind kicking up more than I can remember over the last 5 days. A heliocopter showed up yesterday afternoon during those high winds and spent at least an hour dumping buckets of water on the Running Springs fire every few minutes.

Here's a weather site for NOAA Weather for 2398' elevation NW of Ukiah and S of Willits: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=EKA&llon=-124.081247&rlon=-122.691247&tlat=40.097084&blat=38.707084&smap=1&mp=0&map.x=134&map.y=149 This is my approximate location in Mendo County. You can click anywhere on the map and it will give you a different website with slightly different weather information depending on elevation, location, etc. If you know your elevation, you can click around "my" red dot till you get your approximate elevation and you'll probably get more accurate informaiton for your exact location. It's pretty amazing. Of course it's not always 100% correct, but it's right a lot of the time.

Here's some info on the Running Springs fire:

Paula Ondov of Running Springs Ranch reports that the fire has not crossed Running Springs Road or Orr Springs Road, and so far no houses have been lost up there, though fire has come close to some outbuildings. The fire crested the ridge above the cliffs that are directly over Orr Hot Springs Resort and as of this morning it hit a fire break and there are no flames, just a little smoke and charred grass.. Paula drove down to Montgomery Woods last night and saw no sign of fire from the road. As far as she knows the big trees are still standing.

Randy Wood, who lives on Orr Springs Road west of Orr Hot Springs, mobilized a group of his employees and put out a small fire that had been smoldering in the canyon below his house from the beginning. YES! *** This is really great news. This is the fire that Jenn and I saw on Monday on our drive down toward the Hot Springs:

I haven't heard anything yet this morning from Lynn or Meca about how things went yesterday during the winds at ground zero.

- Linda