Thoughts and prayers to everyone out west in the fire zones. The devastation and destruction is so heartbreaking.

Better stock up on wines now! The fires are going to have a big impact on Ca. wineries. Much of this year's harvest is being ruined by either fire or ash.
The weather has been cooperating with the So. Cal fire...they hope to have it out by Sat., but the ones up north are not anywhere close to being stopped. So much devastation, and lost lives and property up there.

Carol
it is not uncommon for the wine industry to loose a year of wine, usually from a bad weather year
the wine to be sold for the next 3 to 4 years is sitting in barrels in their cellars underground
the problem might be some of the vines will get damaged
i haven't heard any news of vineyards catching fire has anybody ?
if you run out just come up and pick some from my cellar
i have more than i will drink in my life time

Sue & Zu you keep on your toes and be ready to run if need be
we had friends stay here from the evacuations up in Brookings last month
and they brought their cat, we have 2 guest rooms

Winery fires:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/1...

One of them posted that a couple of the wineries got burned down, this morning. I think it was Sue. Those fires are a long way from being over. In any case this year's crops are about ready for harvest, so most will surely be lost, and with the damage to the infrastructure any wineries that are left will be struggling. It will take a long time to get things working again in that area.

We cross posted, Karen. Thanks for that link. It is very informative.

Wow
that is sooooo sad for those people

zuzu is very near one of the fires, we are actually talking on the hurricane irma thread...fl forum. You all stay safe, Very scarey.
The thread "Hurricane Irma" in Florida Gardening forum

Thank you, Pam!

@Zuzu and I are 2 miles apart. Our town is part of a safe zone for evacuees and we have new mandatory evacuations this morning for the eastern parts of Santa Rosa in the hills. (the Oakmont, Rincon Valley, & Skyhawk communities should anyone wish to map it.
The Santa Rosa neighborhood fire was about 15 miles away from us but we were never in any danger.

This is a granddaughter of friends of ours, the photo was taken by a SF newspaper photojournalist that was there when her family came to see what was left of her home. It was a bike she got the week before.

No evacuations in Sebastopol, and now the fires are burning in the other direction, so we might be out of danger.

I'm trying to get essential gardening chores done today. Shifting winds have brought the air quality index in Sebastopol down to 50 (rated "Good" on the AQ scale). Tomorrow the index will rise again to 153 ("Unhealthy").

I got some watering done and let the chickens out.

I hope those winds don't blow the fire back your way. The winds haven't happened here yet, but I just watered...in case.

Stay safe and listen to the local news for possible evacuations. Then GO if they so advise. Easy enough to come back home if nothing comes of it.

I hope so too, Carol. A group of night owls keeping watch over Sebastopol have seen a couple of fires start here in the last few days. They were extinguished before they could spread, but as a night owl myself, I'm going to go outside every hour or two to watch the skyline. A friend in a retirement park about 5 miles from here (near Harmony Farm Supply, @Calif_Sue) was almost evacuated a few days ago as part of the projected Forestville evacuation. She was alerted to be ready to evacuate, but then the order was canceled.

Saw the footage on the Weather Channel. So heart wrenching and devastating! Y'all stay safe in CA.

I got one of those alerts on my cell phone. About jumped out of my skin! I'm guessing they do those by zip code, and worst case it could have reached Santa Ana, but lots of development between here and there, and all those lovely hill to burn up. Ours is almost out as of this morning.

There are currently over 14 active fires in Northern California, approx. 5,700 homes and buildings destroyed, over 10,000 firefighters from 7-8 states and Canada, and currently 40 confirmed deaths.