So, for those of you who don't know, there are about EIGHT HUNDRED separate wildfires in northern and central california right now. I havn't seen blue sky in 5 days, and its about as bright as a november morning outside. And, its only going to get worse this weekend apparently. The air conditioners in my apartment clogged with dust overnight and overheated, blowing the breakers.LOS ANGELES — Firefighters battling more than a thousand wildfires across Northern California are bracing for weekend winds and lightning that threaten to spread the blazes, touch off new ones and force evacuations.
More than 12,500 firefighters were battling 1,088 fires across Northern California by late Thursday. The number of fires and acreage was growing so quickly that California state fire officials were hard pressed to keep their tallies up to date. Fewer than one-quarter of the fires had been contained.
"It is increasing almost hourly," said Carol Jolley of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire. "We have so many fires … there's a logistical problem just getting to them."
Nearly 159,000 acres had been consumed by the fires. Smoke and soot created poor air quality across much of Northern California and adjoining Nevada.
A 100-mile endurance foot race through the mountains of Northern California was canceled because of the fires and air pollution.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Monterey County to see the damage. He said he was calling in National Guard troops to help fight the fires.
One fast-growing lightning-sparked fire was at the Pacific Coast community of Big Sur.
About 500 homes were threatened and 16 destroyed, fire spokesman Curtis Vincent said. State and U.S. Forest Service officials counted 38 homes and other buildings destroyed in all the Northern California fires.
Weather forecasters said the threat of rainless thunderstorms with the potential for fire-sparking lightning will increase over the weekend across parts of Northern California and southern Oregon.
"The greatest threat for dry storms will be over the northern and central Sierras on Saturday and Sunday," said David Imy, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
Last weekend, an unusual amount of lightning sparked hundreds of wildfires across California. "This looks like it could be like last weekend's storms," Imy said.
Steve Kliest, information officer with a U.S. Forest Service team working with California fire officials, said the forecast was discouraging for the nearly 300 ground crews working around the clock.
"As if the news wasn't bad enough. That's a real serious concern," he said. Lightning can set off new fires that render useless the lines of cleared brush that crews dig to contain fires, he said.
Residents were ordered to evacuate homes in parts of Butte, Shasta and Trinity counties, according to the joint state-federal fire information center. Voluntary evacuations were advised in parts of several more counties.
State highways and local roads were closed in parts throughout the northern part of the state because of the fires.
Firefighters got one break Thursday when visibility improved, allowing the use of air tankers.
Suzanne Brady, an information officer with CalFire, said 14 air tankers and 68 helicopters helped fight fires.
The smoke was so thick that some fires in remote areas weren't immediately discovered, Jolley said. In Butte County, she said, firefighters first learned of one fire from infrared equipment from an airplane after the fire had consumed 2,500 acres.
Another big concern was the wind. Kliest said winds drove the Big Sur fire toward a larger complex of fires due east in the Los Padres National Forest. By Thursday afternoon, they were no more than 4 or 5 miles apart, he said.
"It's just a matter of time (before they meet)," he said. "We can't stop it from coming to the other fire. … It's going to leave an awfully big footprint in that area."
The rugged terrain made it difficult for ground crews to dig lines of containment, he said.
Smoke created hazy, polluted air across much of the northern and central parts of the state as well as Nevada.
"I've been working for this agency for 22 years, and I've never seen a level of pollution this high," said Andy Goodrich, director of the Air Quality Management Division of the Washoe District Health Department in Reno.
In Reno, air pollution was at its worst Wednesday, and Goodrich's division declared a "Stage Two" alert, which meant that everyone, not just people with respiratory conditions, was urged to limit outdoor activities and stay indoors, he said. Thursday, the alert was reduced to a "Stage One," he said, but the pollution was still considered "unhealthy for everyone."
Goodrich says the plume of smoke and pollution from the California fires extends into the Midwest.
The pollution has stagnated since Monday at levels from two to 10 times the federal standard for clean air, says Dimitri Stanich, spokesman for the California Air Resources Board.
In the Sacramento region, officials have not seen air pollution levels this high in more than a decade, says Christina Ragsdale, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. "We've got more than 1,000 fires burning," she says. "No matter what direction the wind is blowing, we're going to be getting some smoke from the fires."
Organizers of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, which was to take place this weekend on a rugged Sierra course, canceled the event because of health risks related to air pollution. It was the first cancellation in the event's 35-year history.
"Holding this year's race would pose too great a risk to our runners," Tim Twietmeyer and Greg Soderlund said in announcing the cancellation.
Contributing: Emily Bazar and Doyle Rice in McLean, Va.; Associated Press.
So, any of my fellow Californians thinking about heading for the mountains this weekend to get to the clear air?
, i had to, when i saw the thread title it just immediately came to mind. Seriously though, my heart goes out to you man.
