Hot one in Denver.

[russau]

Well I see that the Denver area is 100 degrees today! That ought to make them cold water's of Colorado feel good for them dredger's today! I wish I could have been one of them !

[russau]

HOT here in good ole Misery also ! 103 today & HUMID as all get out !

[Jim_Alaska]

105 here for the last two days, makes me wish I were in Alaska, or under water dredging, but we all know the likelihood of that.

[russau]

I hear you Jim .BUT we all can wish !

[russau]

Well here in good ole Misery it's either hot , drought , really wet ,or lots of killing's going on , other than that , not much going on around here ! How is everyone else doing ?

[Joe S (AK)]

Russ -

Once we're finished with this 81 degree high today we'll send it to you.

[Jim_Alaska]

Here I was, complaining about the heat.....little did I know.

July 30, 2022. at 2 am, I just got home from a hair raising trip. Late afternoon it rained hard with thunder and lightning. It felt so wonderful because it cooled off the air outside. Then the good stuff changed to really bad stuff. We got a call from friends inYreka to ask if we were OK because they had heard there was a wildfire near us. We told them we were fine and we had not heard of any fire. They called back and told us where they heard it was, which was back towards Horse Creek and Klamath River.

Sooo, I thought I should go and see if there was one and how bad it was; I won't ever do that again. I actually got caught by and in the fire, it was terrifying to say the least. No problem going to see it and saw that it was consuming the forest across the river from hwy 96. It looked pretty bad; it was flaring and crowning and moving extremely fast from the wind it created. OK, so I saw it and had no need to stay, I was a half mile from it and could not roll the window down in the truck because the heat from it was so intense. No fire at all on the north side of hwy 96, it was all across the river to the south.

I turn and head back home. I get less than a half mile and stop because there is a wall of fire coming across the road 50 feet high and being pushed by a tremendous wind that it created. The wind actually rocked the truck back and forth violently. All of a sudden it was raining fiery embers all over the truck, like haIl, only it was on fire. I hit reverse and just in time, the fire changed direction and was now burning on both sides of the road and keeping pace with me backing up at about 30 mph, Now I see a wall of fire behind me and burning embers raining down on the truck. I cut the wheel hard left and hit the brakes, turning the truck in its own width. Floored the gas and hoped I could get through the wall of fire and out the other side, if there was another side. Fortunately there was, but even inside the truck with the air on the heat was almost unbearable, I don't think I would have lasted long if I had to go through any more fire before getting out of it.

So Linda is back home probably worrying about where I was. I couldn't get through the fire to get back home so decided to go to Yreka where I could call her and see if she was OK, because I had no idea if the fire had changed direction and gone down river to my place.

I went to Yreka and had just enough gas to make it. My plan was get gas and come back and see if I could wait out the fire crossing the road and then get home. But on the way to Yreka I decided against coming back down 96 and decided instead to go from Yreka to Scott Valley and down the Scott River Road, which would get me to hwy 96 about a mile from my house. I made the trip OK, it took about two hours on a very winding road, But I have driven it many times and it was not new to me.

So, I am back home now, still not sure if we will have the evacuate. I'll know more tomorrow I hope. When I got to hwy 96 from Scott Valley they had hwy 96 closed right there. So, that's how my day went and I hope to never have another one like it. Scared is a mild term for what I went through; almost being fatally trapped by fire is not something I ever want to experience again.

https://www.facebook.com/649802718/videos/468700511315263/

https://www.facebook.com/SiskiyouCountySheriff/photos

[Joe S (AK)]

Now Jim, That was a hair raising story - and we older folks realize that telling a story like that is always better the second time told ----------------------- but ---------------------------- 4 times in a row?

Never Done Seen anything like that a'fore.

Just stay out of those kinds of things in the future - OK?

Joe

[Jim_Alaska]

I'm sorry, I didn't proof read it. It must have been a duplicate copy and paste problem. I'll fix it

[russau]

Jim I'm SORRY to hear of your scary trip !!! My thoughts and prayers are with you on the new weather events possibly coming your way !