Tragedy At The Rat Farm !Update!

more about “Tragedy at The Rat Farm“, posted with vodpod

!Update! The men were identified by the Shasta County Coroner’s office as Noel Smith, 38, of Burney, and Nathan Smith, 32, of Citrus Heights.

Two men have died after falling through the ice Saturday evening trying to rescue a dog at the Big Lake boat launch in McArthur.

Paramedics were unable to resuscitate the two men, who had been submerged for several minutes under the icy water as firefighters and volunteers searched for them in a duck hunter’s boat.

Video footage posted on the Intermountain News Web site shows firefighters feeling around in the slush-covered, inky, black water with poles in the hopes of bumping into one of the men in the current.

Their identities haven’t been released by the Shasta County Coroner’s Office.

“I’ve had a lot of firemen call me up today before going to church wondering how to pray,” McArthur Volunteer Fire Department Chief Pat Oilar said today.

One of the men in the party apparently survived and swam to shore but he had severe hypothermia, Oilar said.

The other two men apparently had been submerged under the ice — one for about 20 to 25 minutes and the other for about 50 minutes, Oilar said.

Rescuers performed CPR on the two men before ambulances took them to the hospital.

The three men — all believed to be in their 30s and brothers — wound up in the water and ice after trying to get a dog that went through the ice first. “That was my understanding,” Oilar said. It’s also the chief’s understanding that the dog survived.

Oilar credited Jeff Stackhouse of McArthur for assisting in retrieving the two men.

“He was key in the rescue,” Oilar said.

Stackhouse had been hunting in the area, but unloaded his boat from a trailer to take several McArthur fire department volunteers on the lake to find the two men.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection received a call at 5:22 p.m. that three men had fallen into the ice at the Rat Farm boat launch, said Cal Fire Capt. Ed Almeda.

This time of year, the Rat Farm launch area is a popular duck hunting boat ramp as the Big Lake area remains one of the few marshy waterways not completely frozen over after cold spells.

But, Oilar said, he didn’t know whether the three men were part of a hunting party. At least one witness said the men may have been fishing.

Oilar said it was strange that the two men appeared to have stripped down to their T-shirts before going after the dog.

The ice was 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches thick, Oilar said.

Assisting at the scene were firefighters from Cal Fire, the McArthur and Fall River volunteer fire departments, and Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.

Sources: Record Searchlight and Intermountain News

My prayers go out to all involved.

Money Not Motive In Burney US Bank Standoff !Update! Shooter Identified

The latest from  The Record Searchlight.

!!UPDATE!! The shooter has been identified as Gregorio Enrique Estrada, 46, of Chico. Details Here

Dr. Timothy Kersten of Burney leaves US Bank in Burney after being shot in the back of the head at point blank range. Obviously in shock, (or the calmest man I've ever seen) he drove to the Burney Fire Station a few hundred feet down the road and now is in critical condition in a Redding hospital.

Police are calling a 47-year-old Burney man’s shooting spree from inside a Burney bank an orchestrated attack that left them no choice but to fire back.

“This was a clear, calculated ambush situation for officers and deputies,” Redding Police Lt. Scott Mayberry said today at a press conference.

Though many details are still unclear since bank tellers remain traumatized and the two customers the man shot have been in surgery, police say this is what they know:

His pockets stuffed with .50 caliber handgun ammo and a bag filled with dozens of 9 mm rounds, the gunman walked into the Main Street bank around 12:14 p.m. Tuesday.

He pointed a semi-automatic pistol at a customer’s head and pulled the trigger.

The gun misfired.

Still without saying a word, the gunman pulled back the slide on the black 9 mm Smith and Wesson and fired again, shooting Timothy Kersten, 53, of Burney in the mouth.

Remarkably, Kersten didn’t die.

Instead, bleeding from a wound in his neck, the Burney dentist managed to walk out of the bank. Witnesses said later that he appeared calm or in shock.

//

Related videos

• Video of Burney bank standoff
• Witnesses describe robbery scene
• Officers leave robbery scene
• Scene of U.S. Bank armed robbery
• Burney man describes shooting

Kersten got into his car and began driving west toward Redding. He was hoping to make it to an emergency room.

He got only as far as the Burney fire station, just a few hundred feet down the street. Firefighters took him to a Redding hospital, where he was listed in serious (critical as of 12-17) condition today.

Shooting Kersten was just the start.

Next the gunman walked up to a teller and told her to give him some money.

She did.

Then he asked the terrified woman whether she had activated the bank’s hold up alarm.

When she said no, he told her to push it.

At some point around the time the alarm went off, the gunman fired again at another customer, Gloria Brown, 64, hitting her in the wrist with a 9 mm bullet.

She would lie bleeding for three hours until two sheriff’s deputies took the gunman down.

Like Kersten, Brown is listed in serious condition today.

The first officer to arrive in response to the bank alarm was Shasta County Sheriff’s Sgt. Marc St. Clair. He got there within minutes.

Shots from the gunman’s silver .50 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver boomed, breaking out the bank’s glass storefront and hitting St. Clair’s truck.

St. Clair immediately called for back-up and dozens of on- and off-duty deputies, Redding police and California Highway Patrol officers flooded the town. They were joined by agents with the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the FBI.

As action inside the bank escalated, one employee inside was in the middle of a conference call with co-workers at the its Redding office.

The co-workers heard gunshots over the telephone and notified authorities.

The employee on the telephone locked herself in the bank’s ATM room, where she called 911 and gave dispatchers information about how many people were inside the bank and other details.

Meanwhile, as backup and SWAT team members from Redding continued to arrive, the gunman fired at least two more volleys through the front window.

The bullets from the cannon-like .50 caliber ripped two inch entrance holes in the sheet metal bodies of the deputies’s patrol cars.

In total, at least 21 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition were fired. He shot the 9 mm at least 11 times.

SWAT team members were ordered to fire if they had a clear shot that wouldn’t hurt any of the women inside.

The opportunity came after 3 p.m.

Two sheriff’s SWAT deputies saw the suspect through a window. He was moving aggressively toward the women. They fired at him at least three times. One shot hit him in the chest.

SWAT medics, including armed volunteer Dr. Jesse Wells, were among the dozens of officers who responded to the bank.

He treated the gunman’s wound and continued to treat him in the ambulance that drove him to Mercy Medical Center in Redding. The medics also patched up Brown before she was taken to Mayers Memorial Hospital in Fall River Mills.

Bad weather prevented using a helicopter to move the wounded to the hospital.

Officials say it’s doubtful a medical flight would have made much difference to the gunman as his wound appeared to be mortal.

He was pronounced dead Tuesday evening at Mercy.

An autopsy report Tuesday afternoon listed the man’s cause of death as a single shot to his chest.

The gunman’s name hasn’t yet been released, pending notification of family members.

The two deputies who shot the man remain on paid administrative leave, standard procedure in officer-involved shooting cases.

Meanwhile, Redding police, who are handling the investigation, kept several blocks of Highway 299, Main Street, through Burney closed this morning as investigators collected evidence and took photographs in and around the U.S. Bank branch.

One lane of the four-lane road was reopened in each direction about 2 p.m.

Traffic trickled by as many motorists slowed to look at the bullet battered Shasta County Sheriff’s SUV still parked in front of the bank.

Burney residents today talked about Tuesday’s standoff and shooting in the grocery line, at the cafe counter and in front of the deli counter.

The small town an hour’s drive east of Redding was still shaken by the dramatic scene of a SWAT team and the crushing roar of .50 caliber gunfire.

Lisa Wilburn, 19, said the shooting left the town of 3,000 people on edge.

“That was a pretty big thing to happen in Burney,” she said.

Rumors swirled around town about who the gunman might have been and whether he had help.

Sgt. Bruce Bonner of the Redding Police Department, said investigators were taking any tips seriously as they investigated the shooting and robbery, but it appeared this afternoon that the gunman acted alone.

“There is no indication that he came with anyone else,” Bonner said.

Evelyn Jacobs, Northern California regional president for U.S. Bank in Redding, said the tight-knit community has given the three bank employees a remarkable amount of support.

The bank has offered the women counseling, but she said the women are doing remarkably well thanks to the support of family and friends.

“They amaze me,” Jacobs said.

Wow, just wow. I don’t know the two who were shot but have probably seen them in passing in Burney. I wish them a speedy recovery. As for the girls in the bank, whom I’ve known for years, thank God for keeping you safe and I and my wife will see you soon. To the shooter, still unidentified, Rot In Hell, Bastard!

US Bank Robbery Attempt In Burney… Updated! Victims Identified

!!LATEST NEWS!! Shooter Identified, Money Not Motive , More Info… !!!

It has just ended as I post this. Last report is suspect down and 3 hostages,  Sherry, Charlene and Lisa, taken away in squad cars. This is our bank and my wife and I know these people.

!!Update!! Record Searchlight reporting the gunman is dead. (still no name) Great video HERE from Intermountain News.

!!!UPDATE!!! Victims Identified. Gunman NOT!??

A lockdown on Burney schools has been lifted after a bank robbery suspect was reported down after a two-and-a-half hour standoff in Burney.

What sounded like four shots rang out in the armed robbery stand-off at the U.S. Bank just after 3 p.m.

Onlookers also heard what sounded like a high pitched scream.

Three women were escorted away from the bank in squad cars and appeared to be OK. The women’s first names are reportedly Sherry, Charlene and Lisa.

Dianna Fischer, principal at Burney Elementary School said the school was in lockdown after the robbery was first reported.

School was out at 2:35 p.m., but sheriff’s deputies told her that no one is to go in or out of the school until they notify her. Buses were not able to take kids home and parents were not able to pick up their kids from school until sheriff’s officials released the school from lockdown.

A bank customer was reported shot and bank employee was reportedly taken hostage and held in the bank vault, according to dispatch reports.

Authorities have confirmed at least one suspected robber, a male, said Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

CNN reports that when police arrived on scene shots were fired and they witnessed a female customer fall to the ground and they believe she is injured, CNN reports.

“Numerous” shots were fired, including several out a bank window into a sheriff’s deputy patrol car, Bosenko said, adding he did not know exactly how many. No deputies have been injured in the gun fire, he said.

Authorities say three to four people are inside the bank building, but they don’t know how many are employees and how many are customers, Bosenko said.

More Here

I’ll be updating as I get more…

A suspect involved in an armed robbery at the U.S. Bank in Burney has been arrested and transported to a hospital.

One person was been taken away in an ambulance after a two-and-a-half hour standoff this afternoon.

~~~~~~~~~
Latest from KRCR7 in Redding.

Tue, 12/15/2009 – 17:11

A bank robbery turned into a hostage situation in Burney, and the suspect was shot by law enforcement officers inside.

It started around 12:15 Tuesday afternoon at the US Bank on Main Street in Burney.

Exact details about what happened inside the bank are still sketchy, but here is what authorities who were there have told us: they say a man fired his weapon at least three times inside the bank. One customer and four employees were inside at the time.

The customer, a woman, was shot. Authorities have not confirmed where she was shot, but they say she had non-life-threatening injuries.

After what officials tell us were numerous attempts to negotiate, a sniper shot the man inside the bank. Officers from both the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department and Redding Police were there, but they say only the sniper fired, not any of the officers.

He has been seriously injured and has been taken to a Redding hospital. One other person has been questioned. It is not clear if that person was involved.

Highway 299 is closed because of the shooting, but a detour has been set up. Officials are not giving us an estimated time when it will reopen.

~~~~~~~~

Latest from Redding Record Searchlight

A suspect involved in an armed robbery at the U.S. Bank in Burney has been arrested and transported to a hospital where he is in serious condition.

Capt. Mike Ashmun said the robbery was reported at about 12:14 p.m. The suspect was in the bank and shot a woman customer in the arm but her injuries are not life threatening, he said.

She was taken to Mayers Memorial Hospital in nearby Fall River Mills.

There also were three or four employees in the bank, one of whom was in the middle of a conference call with co-workers at the bank’s Redding office. Those people heard gunshots over the telephone and notified authorities. The woman locked herself into the bank’s ATM room, where she called the sheriff’s office and fed them information about how many people were inside the bank and other details.

Since she was inside a locked room she was unable to provide details of what was going on in the bank lobby.

As deputies, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers and police surrounded the bank, the robber grabbed one of the other tellers and dragged her into the bank vault.

The suspect fired at officers at least three times during the three-hour stand-off, shattering all the windows on the Main Street bankfront. Witnesses reported that up to 20 rounds were fired during the stand-off.

“Officers didn’t return fire until the suspect was shot,” Ashmun said.

He did not identify what kind of gun the suspect had used.

The bank was surrounded by deputies, police and CHP officers, and when the Redding SWAT team arrived they took over those duties.

Ashmun said deputies repeatedly tried to reach the suspect. The telephoned the bank, they talked to him through a public address system and they threw a radio phone into the bank through the shattered windows.

“The suspect never picked up the phone,” Ashmun said. “He never negotiated.”

Finally, a little after 3 p.m. two sheriff’s deputies “engaged” the suspect, Ashmun said. At least three shots were fired and the suspect went down, he said.

An ambulance took him to a Redding hospital. Ashmun said his condition was serious.

The two deputies who shot at the suspect were placed on administrative leave, Ashmun said. In addition, a chaplain was called in to counsel the hostages from the bank.

Meanwhile, deputies are trying to sort out what role, if any, a second man might have played in the robbery attempt.

A witness told deputies that he had seen the man, identified as Steven Bautista, outside the bank making hand signals to someone inside. That occurred around the time the first shots were fired and before deputies arrived. Ashmun said there were conflicting reports about what Bautista’s role, if any, but Bautista was arrested and was being questioned.

Identity of the alleged bank robber was not available.

Obama’s Govt. Motors pulls plug on longtime Fall River Chevy dealership

McARTHUR – Lawrence Agee and his family have sold Chevrolets in eastern Shasta County for 60 years.

It’s that kind of loyalty Agee thought would be rewarded when General Motors Corp. in May started advising dealers nationwide who was in and who was out.

But to his dismay, Agee was pink-slipped, which ends a run of 85 years for Hiway Garage as a Chevy dealership.

One vehicle – a compact Cobalt – remains on the lot.

“We’ve been taking care of customers forever. It’s a kick in the belly” we won’t be able to do that, said the 72-year-old Agee, whose father bought the garage in 1949. “We didn’t push cars. … We don’t sit here and hammer them from one guy to the other like a lot of the big dealers.”

GM notified about 1,100 dealers, or nearly 20 percent of its U.S. network, that it would not renew their contracts when they expire in 2010.

Hiway Garage wasn’t a high-volume dealership – 10 sales was a good month – but it was the only one in about an 80-mile radius. Now folks in the Fall River Valley will have to drive to Redding or Alturas to buy a new vehicle.

“We are just down-home people. We do what has to be done. We don’t try to sell you the whole store,” Agee said.

Hiway Garage will continue selling gasoline, doing repair work and offering tow service.

“He was pretty pissed; he wasn’t in a good mood for about two weeks,” Agee’s 44-year-old son, David, said. “It was a shocker to him. He was hoping they would (renew) because of how far he is out here.”

When Lawrence Agee took over the Hiway Garage in 1959 after his father, Lester, died of cancer, he was the youngest owner of a Chevy dealership in the West.

Residents of the Fall River Valley over the years have embraced Agee and his family. His allegiance to his customers and the community hasn’t gone unnoticed.

When word spread that GM would not renew Hiway Garage’s franchise agreement, letters urging the company to reconsider were sent out.

“It seems to us that appreciation could be best demonstrated by not closing what is more than a Chevrolet dealership here, but rather an historic institution that feels more like family than just simply a business,” Denise Rouse of Bieber wrote.

“Hiway Garage is an essential part of the Fall River Valley with its unstinting support of all social service groups within our community,” wrote Ed Siegel, president of the Fall River Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Ironically, Agee stopped selling Chevrolets in 1978 after General Motors persuaded him to sell the business before bringing in somebody the company felt could pump up sales in the Intermountain region.

The experiment bombed. The Hiway Garage lost its Chevy franchise for a short stint; Agee had to foreclose on the property. It took him years to rebuild the business after taking it over again.

“These farmers and loggers are set in their ways. You don’t take care of them, you just lost their families and their friends,” Agee said in a 2004 Record Searchlight story.

Agee has no desire to pick up another franchise. He said he’s finished selling cars and trucks.

“I am getting too old to start all over again,” Agee said.

On a personal note, I have had the pleasure of meeting and doing business with the Agee family and they are very fine people. I hope the auto repair part of the business can keep them going and I urge everyone in my neck of the woods to do some business with them.

more about “GM pulls plug on longtime Fall River …“, posted with vodpod

Chalk Fire Update

Taken at the Pit 5 Dam.

Taken at the Pit 5 Dam

To give some perspective as to the size of the fire, in the smoke on the left side of the bottom picture, that little speck about a third of the way up is a double blade ‘copter with a bucket.

Fire officials relied on bulldozers, air tankers and helicopters at the Chalk Fire on Friday to prevent the 6,923-acre blaze from breaching containment lines and closing in on 11 structures.

Lori Mathiesen, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the Burney-area fire grew about 100 acres from Thursday to Friday and mandatory evacuations remained in effect for 10 residences along Skunk Ridge Road near Big Bend.

River Road remained closed at Pit 5 Dam.

Crews so far have kept the fire within their lines and, if weather permits, more firing operations would be under way this weekend, she said. Windy conditions Thursday and Friday blew embers that created spot fires, but none fell outside the contingency lines, she said.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Pit 4 powerhouse along the Pit River also was threatened by the fire, officials said.

As of Friday evening, the Chalk Fire had settled at 6,923 acres. The fire is one of 40 started by an Aug. 1 lightning storm.

Fire officials on Friday began releasing some engines and crews for fire duty elsewhere in the state, Cal Fire spokesman Brent Saulsbury said.

The SHU Lightning Complex of fires has burned 17,623 acres, and crews continued their efforts on the Chalk, Cassel (6,097 acres) and Goose (3,949 acres) fires.

The whole complex of fires was 70 percent contained Friday evening with mop-up operations continuing where containment lines have held.

Full containment was expected Sunday.

Nineteen minor injuries have been reported on the fire complex with suppression costs amounting to $26.8 million.

Some 1,580 people are working on the fires, of which 1,332 are Cal Fire personnel.

The 9,356-acre Sugarloaf Fire, part of the Hat Creek Complex to the southeast near Old Station, was reportedly fully contained by Friday morning, and mop-up efforts continued there throughout the day.

Lightning-sparked fires in the Trinity River Management Unit Complex have all been extinguished, but crews continue to monitor hot spots, said Rita Vollmer, a U.S. Forest service spokeswoman.

She said all the TRMU fires were less than 40 acres.

Source

Do You Really Need To Be Told?

Hat Creek/Pit River Fire June 2008

How much money do we, the taxpayers, have to spend on dumb people? If you can’t figure out it’s smokey outside when the whole forest around you is burning, maybe you shouldn’t be allowed to live unsupervised.

And just how much is this costing me to move in equipment to tell me the obvious?

A pair of air sensors are now monitoring the air in Eastern Shasta County near ongoing wildfires.

Information from the air monitors is available at the Shasta County Air Quality Management’s Web site at www.co.shasta.ca.us/html/ResMgmt/AQ/aq_map.aspx.

Scroll the map to Burney and Fall River Mills to see readings from the temporary monitors.

After a story in the Record Searchlight and on Redding.com Thursday, the state Air Resources Board hauled the monitors to the Intermountain Area to augment the county’s permanent monitor in Anderson, which wasn’t monitoring pollutants from the fires because they were too far away. That monitor is the only one of the three maintained by the county that gauges particulate pollution, such as ash put off by wildfires.

This afternoon the Burney monitor showed good air quality and the Fall River Mills monitor indicated unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups. Source

I am so sick of this Nanny State bullshit I can’t even put it in words. If there’s miles of forest burning in your immediate area, do you really have to be told the air quality might be bad?

Shasta/Lassen County Wildfire Update 8-7-09

Officials backed off Thursday on their estimate for containment of a series of lightning-sparked fires that has burned more than 14,000 acres in eastern Shasta County.

A day after saying the SHU (Shasta-Trinity Unit) Lightning Complex could be contained by Saturday, state officials now aren’t saying when the fires will be contained.

Told ya so.

Containment means there’s a line around the fire to the point that it’s not expected to grow any larger.

Meanwhile, a barrage of lightning – some 885 strikes – pounded Northern California on Thursday, creating at least a dozen small fires in Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

The lightning strikes were recorded in a 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service reported.

Most of the lightning activity was concentrated on the west side of the forest, and eight fires were confirmed from Weaverville to Big Bar.

Firefighters contained five of those fires, with a quarter-acre fire being the largest.

Weather permitting, spotter planes will take surveillance flights this morning to see if more fires turn up, Assistant Fire Management Officer Lance Noxon said.

Elsewhere, the fires around Burney and Cassel began to settle down Thursday as a storm system moved through the area.

“The higher humidities and lower temperatures allowed firefighters to make very good progress on the fires,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Hope Barton said Thursday night.

The windy and overcast conditions grounded air tankers that were battling the blaze, Cal Fire spokesman Dick Goings said early Thursday.

While air tankers weren’t flying the fire line because of the poor visibility, 18 helicopters continued to battle the blazes Thursday.

“Those winds get squirrelly when those thunderstorms come over the variable terrain – the winds go crazy,” Goings said.

The series of 40 fires burning in the Intermountain area grew to 14,454 acres and was 25 percent contained on Thursday, Barton said. Fourteen of the fires have been controlled.

The largest fire in the complex is the Goose, which nearly doubled from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning to 6,000 acres. The Cassel Fire grew to 5,000 acres and the Chalk Fire increased to 2,800 acres, Barton said. The 250-acre Backbone Fire near Ingot has been 100 percent contained, Cal Fire reported. The Goose Fire was 10 percent contained, the Cassel Fire was 50 percent contained and the Chalk Fire was 35 percent contained.

Meanwhile, the 404-acre Gomez Fire near Glenburn is 100 percent contained, and the 50-acre Cave Fire near Fall River Mills also is 100 percent contained.

There have been two minor injuries reported, but no structures have burned. There are no current evacuations in effect for that complex.

Highways 44 and 89 were reopened late Thursday night after being closed intermittently since the fires began, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A fire burning off Backbone Ridge near Jones Valley north of Lake Shasta had burned 250 acres but was 100 percent contained Thursday, Goings said.

Meanwhile, the Hat Creek Complex of fires, including the Sugarloaf and Brown fires, grew to 9,978 acres from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, and was 40 percent contained as of Thursday evening.

Clouds dumped “a good amount of rain” on the fires, U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Richard Hadley said. “That’s helped quite a bit,” he said.

As of Thursday night, the Sugarloaf Fire was at 8,037 acres and 25 percent contained. The Brown Fire was at 1,893 acres and 90 percent contained.

Evacuations continue in Old Station and the Rancheria RV Park.

A combined 3,114 firefighters are battling the two complexes in eastern Shasta and Lassen counties.

Firefighters from across the state and as far south as Los Angeles and Riverside counties have come to the area to help.

Source: Record Searchlight

Shasta/Lassen County Wildfire Update 8-6-09

A quick update of the fires around my neck of the woods.

A series of 40 fires burning in eastern Shasta County around Burney and Cassel grew overnight to more than 12,000 acres, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported today.

The SHU (Shasta-Trinity Unit) Lightning Complex has burned 12,704 acres since Sunday and is 20 percent contained.

Winds that picked up as a system moved through the area Wednesday night helped fan the complex.

“The weather in conjunction with the topography (steep terrain) moved our numbers (acreage) up,” Cal Fire spokeswoman Linda Galvan said.

The largest fire in the complex is the Goose, which nearly doubled overnight to 6,000 acres. The Cassel (4,100 acres) and Chalk (2,700 acres) fires didn’t grow overnight, while the 250-acre Backbone Fire near Ingot has been 100 percent contained, Cal Fire reported. The Goose Fire is 10 percent contained and the Chalk Fire is 30 percent contained.

Meanwhile, the 404-acre Gomez Fire near Glenburn is 100 percent contained and the 50-acre Cave Fire near Fall River Mills also is 100 percent contained.

There have been two minor injuries reported but no structures have burned. There are no current evacuations in effect.

Highway 44 five miles west of Highway 89 to Highway 36 remains closed this morning.

Highway 89 remains closed to all traffic except for residents between highways 44 and 299.

Meanwhile, the Hat Creek Complex of fires also grew overnight to 9,978 acres and is 20 percent contained.

Evacuations continue in Old Station and the Rancheria RV Park.

A combined 3,114 firefighters are battling the two complexes in eastern Shasta County and Lassen County.

Firefighters from across the state and as far south as Los Angeles and Riverside counties have come to the area to help.

Last evening I took this picture of the Chalk fire from my front yard. That’s not a thunder storm, it’s a fire storm making it’s own thunderheads. It is the opposite side of the picture that starts this Update.

It's not a thunder storm

Shasta/Lassen Wildfire Upate 8-5-09

The series of fires burning in eastern Shasta County around Burney and Cassel are expected to be contained by Saturday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said today.

Dubbed the SHU (Shasta-Trinity Unit) Lightning complex, the 40 fires have burned 7,678 acres since Sunday.

Containment means there’s a line around the fire to the point that it’s not expected to grow any larger.

“It’s basically safe, it won’t cause a problem,” Cal Fire spokesman Mike Witesman said. “We still have people on the fire, cooling it down and putting out the hot spots.”

The three largest fires in the complex are the Cassel (2,800 acres), Goose (2,000 acres), and Chalk (2,200 acres). There are no evacuations in effect at this time.

Meanwhile, the Hat Creek Complex of fires nearly doubled overnight, going from 4,606 to 8,558 acres today, Cal Fire said. The lightning-sparked fires are burning in the Hat Creek and Old Station areas in eastern Shasta County and Lassen County.

The largest of the series of fires is the Sugarloaf near Old Station, which has grown from 2,678 acres to more than 6,600 acres. About 300 residents near the Sugarloaf fire are without power, Cal Fire said.

At least one outbuilding has been destroyed by the Hat Creek Complex of fires and one firefighter has suffered a minor injury, Cal Fire reported this afternoon.

Evacuation advisories remain in effect this morning for Old Station and the Rancheria RV Park in Hat Creek on Black Angus Lane, according to Cal Fire. Approximately 130 residences are threatened.

Containment of the Hat Creek Complex is expected by Aug. 17, said Jeff Fontana, spokesman for the Susanville Interagency Fire Center.

Highway 44 west of Highway 89 in Shasta County to the Highway 36 junction in Lassen County reopened today. Highway 89 from highways 44 to 299 also is closed.

The road between Cassel and Chaffey Roads is closed, and north of Chaffey Road is only open to residents.

Courtesy of The Record Searchlight

Don’t bet on the Goose or Chalk fires being contained by Saturday. Thunder storms are already starting new fires west of Redding as I type this. The wind and dry lightening heading this way do not look encouraging.

Click to enlarge.

Li’l Smokey: The Next Step

Li’l Smokey, a now not-so-little American black bear cub rescued last summer from a smoldering north state forest, was returned Thursday to new digs in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County.

The exact location of Li’l Smokey’s new home is being kept secret by state Department of Fish and Game officials.

But wildlife experts said it is considered to be excellent bear habitat.

DFG personnel placed the tranquilized cub in a cozy den, one ear tagged with an electronic transmitter.

That device will allow them to monitor him for about a year.

Li’l Smokey won the affection of countless animal lovers throughout the world after his rescue last year.

He was quietly picked up Wednesday from a South Lake Tahoe wildlife care and rehabilitation center, where he had been housed since July while recovering from severe paw and other injuries suffered during last summer’s Moon Fire in Shasta County.

Tom Millham, secretary-treasurer of nonprofit Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, who was one of those on hand for the bear’s release, wrote earlier on Li’l Smokey’s Web site blog – www.ltwc.org – that the black bear seemed to be more than happy to finally be on his way to freedom.

“We were able to get Smokey (Wednesday) into his transport crate without sedating him by placing the door of the crate against the door of the ‘Igloo’ that Smokey’s been denning in for the past several weeks,” Millham wrote.

But it appears that Li’l Smokey, who’s now about a year old, wanted to make sure that he didn’t leave some of his favorite toys behind. The toys were placed in the travel crate for the long trip ahead of him.

“He was very calm when he was loaded up and just seemed to be ‘hanging out’ waiting for the next chapter,” the Web site read.

A Li’l Smokey webcam that was popular with those who liked to get a glimpse of the bear these past few months today showed site visitors an empty straw-filled enclosure and a small sign that simply read, “Gone home.”

Also on hand when Li’l Smokey was released was California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection forester Adam Deem of Anderson.

Deem spotted and rescued the injured and badly dehydrated Li’l Smokey as he was scouting the western flank of the Moon Fire near the border of Trinity and Shasta counties

Hibernation lasts about three months, but bears don’t sleep the entire time, Millham has said.

“They’ll get up and move around a bit,” he has said. And though they will also continue to drink a bit, they won’t eat.

The average life expectancy of a black bear in the wild is about 18 years, and Millham has said he has nothing but confidence that Li’l Smokey will survive and thrive in the wild.

In fact, wildlife experts said, they would not have released him back into the wild had they been uncertain he would survive.

Shasta County Scrooges Target 86 yr old

They have nothing better to do than prevent an 86 year old disabled veteran from making a little extra money to survive.

Jack Melton

Eighty-six-year-old Jack Melton, who has been baking and selling his pecan-laden fruitcakes from his Churn Creek Road home for the past 10 to 15 years, has been told to stop by Shasta County Department of Environmental Health officials.

Melton, a disabled World War II Navy veteran, has been told to quit selling his popular word-of-mouth fruitcakes from his home because state law forbids the operation of an unregulated retail food business from one’s private home, said Fern Hastings, a senior environmental health specialist.

Although disappointed, Melton is not crushed by the bad news.

“At my age, I probably need to quit anyway,” Melton said Tuesday “This was probably the last year I was going to do it anyway.”

But, he said, he’s sure that his customers, many of whom look forward every holiday season to tasting his fruitcakes, won’t be too happy.

Hastings said Melton can continue making his fruitcakes for family and friends.

But if Melton is selling the cakes to the public – or even giving them away – he must make them in a commercial bakery kitchen that has passed a health inspection, Hastings said. Melton could rent space in such a bakery, she said, noting that Country Entrees Take & Bake and Homemade Treats by Jan and Norene got their start that way.

Melton, who turns 87 next month, received a telephone call from county officials about two weeks after a county inspector spotted a small sign outside his home advertising his homemade fruitcakes for sale.

“I think it was the sign that got them,” Melton said. “I’m going to burn that sign.”

Source

Shasta County has a very selective Law Enforcement Policy, especially the Health Department.

The story even made it to Fox News

And NRO’s the corner

!!Update!! Two  businesses offer free kitchen space

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas from Northern California. We have about 28 inches of snow on the ground as of 6:00 Christmas eve, and still snowing. A wonderful White Christmas. Traditional ham dinner with all the fixen’s on Christmas Day. Hope your day is filled with joy.

Save The Planet! Just NIMBY

Mt. Shasta Ski Park

A power company’s plans to amplify snowstorms in the north state have sparked a debate about cloud seeding.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has installed seven propane-burning cloud seed “generators” – collections of equipment that propel silver iodide particles into the air – atop ridges in Siskiyou and Shasta counties.

The generators are set to go into use by the end of winter and should enhance storms over the Pit and McCloud river watersheds, said Byron Marler, a supervising meteorologist for the San Francisco-based company.

“It’s like having a whole new Burney Falls added to those rivers,” he said.

The cloud seeding, which will be done 40 to 50 times a winter, should more than match the amount the water that flows over the north state’s signature waterfall, said Paul Moreno, company spokesman.

He said it will produce 130,000 acre feet of water per year, enough to flood 130,000 acres a foot deep in water, or 1.2 times as much as flows each year over the falls near Burney.

Now that sounds like a great idea. More snow in a water and snow recreation area, more water for clean and green hydro-electric power, more water in our drought stricken lakes, more water for the farmers, and yes, even more water for those SoCal city dwellers. What could be wrong with that? Well…..

But the company’s plans also have caused a flood of concern, especially from people in Siskiyou County, where much of the snow would fall.

Already involved with the McCloud Watershed Council, Angelina Cook of Mount Shasta said she’s starting to organize a group of people with questions about cloud seeding.

Most people first heard of the PG&E project in October through newspaper notifications, and Cook said she now has an e-mail list of 50 people who are actively involved.
“And that’s just a fraction of the people who are concerned about it,” Cook said.

This is the same person who has effectively shut down the new water bottling plant planned for McCloud using the excuse there’s not enough water. Now she will try to shut down a project that will make more water. I know she said people have questions and concerns. That’s code for, Not In My Backyard. They will try to shut it down, mark my words.

Key concerns are cloud seeding’s effect on overall climate, impacts to systems set to handle only the current amount of precipitation and introduction of silver iodide particles to the environment.

Among the concerned is Rene Henery of Mount Shasta, who is directing climate research at nearby Castle Lake for the University of Nevada at Reno.

He said he’s worried that PG&E’s cloud seeding could skew the data at the heart of his work and is concerned that there don’t appear to be any regulations on seeding.

Set to handle only the current amount of precipitation? We’re in a DROUGHT!

How would it skew his data? Facts are facts. Does he mean it would make it harder to promote the Global Warming Lie? Wouldn’t more snow slow that dreaded Global Warming?

Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the State Water Resources Control Board, as well as with both Siskiyou and Shasta counties, said they don’t regulate cloud seeding if it is done on private property.

PG&E’s generators are on private land, mostly owned by Anderson-based timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries, Marler said.

Although PG&E did not have to obtain permits or complete environmental documents about the cloud seeding operation, Marler said it’s working with Siskiyou County officials so they understand what will be happening in the skies.

Lifted aloft in the exhaust of burned propane, the silver iodide particles – which he said are harmless to plants and animals – trigger the development of ice crystals within clouds, Marler said. Those ice crystals fall as snow rather than blowing away as moisture in the wind, he said, increasing snow production by 5 percent to 10 percent.
“It doesn’t create snowfall where there wasn’t snowfall,” Moreno said. “It just enhances snowfall.”

Moreno said cloud seeding is used throughout the state, and PG&E has had an operation to boost the snowfall around Lake Almanor for more than 50 years.

Along with providing heavier water flows at the company’s hydroelectric dams along the McCloud and Pit rivers, Marler said the cloud seeding also will provide more water for drought-stricken grazing land and forests.

“We are not the only ones who are going to benefit from this,” Marler said.

These are all good things from PG&E.

NIMBYs and Gloworms, there is just no pleasing these people.

And on a personal note, I do live in the effected area, right on the banks of the Pit River. More snow? Bring it on!

Source

Hatchet Ridge Wind Project Gets Boost From PG&E

In a bit of belated news, our local wind project has entered into a long term contract with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) for electricity generated from it’s wind turbines.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced today it has entered into a long-term agreement with Hatchet Ridge Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of Babcock & Brown, to purchase up to 103 megawatts (MW) of renewable wind energy. The project will generate up to 303 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy annually. This would be equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve nearly 44,000 residential homes on an annual basis.

“This wind energy project will provide our northern and central California customers with clean, emission-free power,” said Fong Wan, senior vice president of energy procurement for PG&E. “Our agreement with Hatchet Ridge Wind is another important step to increasing our diverse renewable energy portfolio.”

The Hatchet Ridge Wind project will be located on a portion of Hatchet Mountain in Burney, Calif. Deliveries are expected to begin by December 31, 2009.

Computer Generated Image. Click to Enlarge

“We look forward to working together with PG&E to create a new, homegrown and sustainable source of carbon-free energy in Northern California,” said Hunter Armistead, head of Babcock & Brown’s North American Renewable Energy Group.

Since 2002, PG&E has entered into contracts for more than 24 percent of its future deliveries from renewable sources. On average, more than 50 percent of the energy PG&E delivers to its customers comes from generating sources that emit no carbon dioxide, making the company’s energy among the cleanest in the nation.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG – News), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to 15 million people in northern and central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com.

Source

This is the right way to utilize wind power. Private funding and selling the power into the grid. Plus the county receives the tax dollars, without anyone being forced to create “Green Energy”.

Background on the Hatchet Ridge Project

Supervisors Approve Hatchet Ridge Project 5-0

Burney Falls

The park is within the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau natural region, with forest and five miles of streamside and lake shoreline, including a portion of Lake Britton.

The park’s centerpiece is the 129-foot Burney Falls, which is not the highest or largest waterfall in the state, but possibly the most beautiful. Additional water comes from springs, joining to create a mist-filled basin. Burney Creek originates from the park’s underground springs and flows to Lake Britton, getting larger along the way to the majestic falls.

The park’s landscape was created by volcanic activity as well as erosion from weather and streams. This volcanic region is surrounded by mountain peaks and is covered by black volcanic rock, or basalt. Created over a million years ago, the layered, porous basalt retains rainwater and snow melt, which forms a large underground reservoir.

Within the park, the water emerges as springs at and above Burney Falls, where it flows at 100 million gallons every day.

Burney Falls was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived in the area in the 1850s. The McArthurs were pioneer settlers who arrived in the late 1800s. Descendants were responsible for saving the waterfall and nearby land from development. They bought the property and gave it to the state as a gift in the 1920s.

More about McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park