This is the the SoCal Steemit Fire Report. The main goal is to provide information about the numerous fires during fire season. Additionally, our mission is to report any natural disasters and provide a hub for supporting any steemian displaced by a natural disaster in Southern California.
They say do something you are good at, well Sothern California is good at catching on fire. So we at 
Temperatures have stayed steady near Triple digits much of the month but this last weekend they cooled quite a bit due to all the cloud cover from the smoke. It is a big relief that was much needed. The heat is expected to stay for quite some time, with this subtle cool down ending by friday.
The state continues to burn, with this fire season turning out to be the worst in California history. The New York Times has an article written by Tim Wallace, Ash Ngu, Denise Lu and Mathew Bloch, AUG. 10, 2018 titled
Three of California’s Biggest Fires Ever Are Burning Right Now that breaks it down:
California is in the middle of yet another record-breaking fire season with 820,000 acres across the state already burned — more than twice the area that burned by this point last year. In the northern part of the state, the Mendocino Complex Fire has grown to more than 300,000 acres, becoming the largest fire ever recorded in California. In fact, three of the largest California fires since 2000 are burning right now. In addition to the Mendocino Fire, firefighters are battling two more massive blazes in other rural parts of the state. The Carr Fire, near Mount Shasta, has burned more than a thousand homes and caused eight deaths, according to CalFire. And the Ferguson Fire, near Yosemite National Park, is the largest fire in Sierra National Forest history.
The Carr Fire near Redding started when a driver with a flat tire drove on the rim. Fox news has an article by Amy Lieu titled California's Carr Fire more than 50 percent contained, but still growing that gives insight:
California's two-week-old Carr Fire -- which has killed six people and burned more than 1,000 homes -- is now more than 50 percent contained, even as it continues growing, state officials said Friday. "Firefighters continue to build and improve containment lines, and perform building operations in more active portions of the fire," the officials said in a statement, adding that "mop-up and patrol efforts continue throughout the less active areas."
South of the Carr Fire is the largest of them all, the Mendocino Complex fire. This set of fires merged to be the largest in California history. The single largest fire being named the Ranch Fire. The Sacramento Bee has an article by Gabby Ferreira titled Ranch Fire, one of Mendocino Complex fires, is now largest in state history, Cal Fire says that breaks down the numbers:
The Ranch Fire scorched 282,479 acres by Sunday morning — bypassing the previous record holder, December’s Thomas Fire, which burned 281,893 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, according to Lynne Tolmachoff, a Cal Fire spokeswoman. The Ranch Fire is 62 percent contained as of Sunday morning, according to Cal Fire. Last week, the Mendocino Complex fires together became the largest blaze in the state, burning a combined total of 283,800 acres. However, the Ranch Fire is the largest individual fire to break the Thomas Fire’s record. More than 3,000 firefighters are working on the Mendocino Complex fires, which together have burned 331,399 acres as of Sunday morning, according to Cal Fire. No one has died in the fires, which together have injured two firefighters and destroyed more than 200 structures.
The burning near Yosemite has started to lighten up with firefighters getting a hold of the fire. During the rush of tourism this has been a very difficult year for the park. The Fresno Bee has an article by William Ramirez and Jessica Johnson titled Full containment on Ferguson Fire looms near, but Yosemite area businesses still feeling the burn that details the economic impact:
The wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park was 83 percent contained as of Sunday, bringing the total burned acreage to 95,947, according to a news release. The National Park Service says Yosemite Valley will reopen to visitors 9 a.m. Tuesday and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias will reopen 9 a.m. Monday. Joshua Fritz, manager of the Happy Burger Diner in Mariposa, said the park closure has “absolutely gutted” their usual summer income. He estimated revenue had gone down 50 to 60 percent during the closure. He hopes the reopening can help recover what was lost. “It’ll be slow to get back to normal. Hopefully these last few weeks of summer help us get back some of what we lost, but it’ll be slow to get back to normal,” Fritz said.
SoCal has not been without its own large fire. A large fire in the Cleveland National Forest has caused chaos, darkening the sky on an apocalyptic scale. This fire is known as the Holy Fire and it started in Holy Jim Canyon. It has burned a huge portion of Lake Elsinore and frightened its residence to the core. This fire was started by a crazy guy that wanted to burn down his neighbors. There are recordings of him before he was arrested and you can clearly tell from his ranting he is completely out of his mind. ABC7 has an article by Greg Lee titled Holy Fire suspect charged with felony arson, criminal threats that details the arrest:
A 51-year-old man was charged Thursday with felony arson and making criminal threats - among other counts - in connection with the Holy Fire. The Orange County District Attorney charged Forrest Gordon Clark with aggravated arson, arson of inhabited property, arson of forest, criminal threats, resisting and deterring an executive officer and arson burning multiple structures. Clark's arraignment was delayed because he refused to come to court Thursday morning, officials said. Of the 14 cabins in the area of the fire, Clark's is apparently the only one still standing.
The Holy fire is becoming a serious burden on an already thin and worked line of firefighters, but there is hope. ABC 7 has an article titled Holy Fire containment rises to 41 percent; 22,714 acres burned in Riverside County that talks of the progress being made:
Fire officials on Sunday announced that containment of the massive Holy Fire has reached 41 percent, offering more hope to residents of Riverside and Orange counties even as thousands of homes remained threatened. The wildfire's acreage inched upward to 22,714 with more than 1,500 firefighters on the front lines of the inferno that has already destroyed 12 structures in the Cleveland National Forest. Heavy smoke and ash has forced weather officials to extend a smoke advisory through the weekend for Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
The fires in California have created an air quality nightmare. Smoke from the fires is settling in the valleys disturbing the lungs of those that reside there. Smoke from the fires is also reaching New York. But Sources are saying that the worst of the California fire season may be behind us.
These are the latest fires taking their hold on California. Please be vigilant and stay safe during these hard times. Thank you for reading the report and be safe out there!
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