Four Mile Fire Near Jamestown

Above, a zoomed view of the fire from Mesa Ridge Ranch. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A few minutes ago, I got back home from viewing (and photographing) the (now named) Four Mile Fire in the Cibola National Forest southeast of our community of Whispering Cedars.

Obviously, the fire wasn't extinguished yesterday and is looking worse than it did yesterday. 

One of our residents posted the following in our community Facebook page: 

 

At least it is moving away from Whispering Cedars. But we're going to keep an eye on it anyway.

Some photos:

Above, a zoomed view of the fire from the top of Mesa Ridge Ranch. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, a view of the fire from the top of Mesa Ridge Ranch. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, a view of the fire from Birch loop in Whispering Cedars. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the Jeep at Mesa Ridge Ranch. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, an emergency vehicle parked at the top of Mesa Ridge Ranch. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

A map of the fire's location:

UPDATE: 

We had some afternoon rain today, they appeared to have put out the fire. Hope so!

Fire Reported Near Jamestown

Yesterday afternoon, we had a fire "scare" (well, not exactly a scare, but something to be concerned about) in the Cibola National Forest that surrounds our Whispering Cedars subdivision in Jamestown, New Mexico.

It was a lightning-generated fire that was located to the southeast of the community. Upon hearing the news, I went outside but saw no smoke. 

Apparently, the fire has been extinguished as no further reports have been made.  Thanks to the McKinley County Fire Rescue and the U.S. Forest Service for the timely response.

Stage 1 Fire Restrictions

We're now at Stage One fire restrictions in McKinley County unincorporated areas. I am in one.

It is a good thing that I cut the brush from the back yard. It had gotten overgrown. I was thinking over the years that I would need brush clearing tools as I could not tell if there were big rocks or the ground wasn't level. 

As it turned out, my zero-turn mower did the job just fine. The inspector from the insurance company didn't have any problem with the yard, but they did with the roof. So that was remedied last week. 

I've noticed other neighbors have been cutting down trees and brush over the past few weeks in the subdivision. 

We're considered to be in drought conditions here. It has been a drier than usual winter. 

Home Preparation For Wildfires

Since it has been a dry winter, the Gallup/Jamestown, New Mexico can face wildfires like California. 

The Gallup Fire Department posted the following on Facebook (thanks to Victor Gomez for passing it on):

With the wildfires happening in California, your Gallup Fire Department has been getting phone calls on what citizens can do to protect their home in the event of a fire like that here. We wanted to share some tips with you that you can use at your home. If you have more questions please do not hesitate to contact us at 505-722-4195.

Trump's Present To Southern California: More Water

As promised, President Trump issued an executive order that would provide Southern California more water.

According to Western Journal:

Among President Donald Trump’s first executive orders issued on Monday was one directing that a plan be implemented to deliver more water from northern California to the central and southern parts of the state.

He argued lack of water was a reason the California wildfires did such damage.

Trump recounted in his Jan. 20 order — titled “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California” and directed to the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior Departments — “During my first term, the State of California, at the direction of its Governor [Gavin Newsom], filed a lawsuit to stop my Administration from implementing improvements to California’s water infrastructure. My Administration’s plan would have allowed enormous amounts of water to flow from the snow melt and rainwater in rivers in Northern California to beneficial use in the Central Valley and Southern California.”

It has been reported that Trump will pay a visit to the fire stricken areas on Friday.

To read more, go here. 

L.A. Mayor: Fire Victims Can Live In RV On Their Property For 3 Years

Above, during the time I lived in my RV while waiting for the movers. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When I moved to New Mexico seven years ago, I lived in my motorhome on the property for about 12 days while I waited for the movers to deliver my belongings. 

Although this wasn't disaster-related, I can sort of relate living in an RV for a bit with the following.

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles approved 3-year RV stays for victims of the fires. Finally, she's done something right!

RV Travel reported:

Los Angeles residents affected by the horrific wildfires haven’t caught too many breaks. But the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, has issued one that may help many with recovery efforts. Considered by some as a 180-turn in direction, call them LA fire RVs, the mayor says those whose homes have been wiped out by the fires will be able to live in RVs on their properties during the recovery process.

To read more, go here. 

Newsom Pleads With Biden To Censor Fire Questions

 

BREAKING: Gavin Newsome pleads with Biden to prioritize dispelling wildfire misinformation rather than actually, yknow, fighting the fire.

Gavin Newsom needs to RESIGN. pic.twitter.com/6ojFfpC585

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 10, 2025

Superman Excoriates Gavin Newsom

 

'FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP': @RealDeanCain excoriates California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state's response to deadly infernos. The actor, who moved out of California 7 years ago, believes the wildfires could start a rightward political shift in the liberal stronghold. pic.twitter.com/vvjKvtfjnd

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 13, 2025

Delta Smelt Fish Has Not Been Seen in Over a Decade

Leave it to the Democrats in Commiefornia to come up with policies for things that don't exist or are unnecessary.

Attention has been given to the Delta Smelt fish that the Democrats have given preference over the needs of the state's citizens. 

There's just one problem: the fish hasn't been seen in over a decade.

From the Gateway Pundit:

The tiny Delta Smelt fish have not been seen in the wild in California in over a decade.

And yet, California Democrats flushed annual water flow into the ocean to save this little fish that they can’t even find in its natural habitat.

Now several cities are burnt to the ground.

They sacrificed entire communities for a fish that doesn’t exist.

To read more, go here. 

"Buffy" Goes After Mayor Karen Bass

Above, Sarah Michelle Gellar at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 promoting Ringer. Photo by Rach.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and other celebrities who have lost homes in the fires this past week have turned against Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass over their incompetent handling of the disaster.

AOL posted (sourced from the U.K. Independent):

Sarah Michelle Gellar has expressed frustration with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over the city’s response to this week’s devastating wildfires.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 47, tagged the official social media accounts of Bass and the City of Los Angeles as she complained in a post on her Instagram Stories: “City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping.”

Gellar is just one of many celebrities to have been forced to evacuate by a wave of catastrophic fires sweeping across southern California.

Several have blamed local government for a lack of preparedness. Salvador actor James Woods, who lost his home in the Palisades, wrote on X that the devastation caused by the fire wasn’t due to “climate change” but because of “liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass.”

“One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs,” wrote Woods.

To read more, go here. 

BSA Camp Josepho Destroyed By Palisades Fire

Above, Boy Scouts at Camp Josepho circa 1941. Camp Josepho Facebook photo.

Back around 1965, my scout troop arranged for a weekend camp-out at Camp Josepho in the Santa Monica Mountains near Pacific Palisades. We had to hike to the camp. It was the first time I hiked to a camp with a full backpack.

It has been reported that the Palisades Fire destroyed Camp Josepho.

According to Camp Josepho's website:

LOS ANGELES – The Western Los Angeles County Council, Scouting America announced today that 84-year-old Camp Josepho, its Scouting Camp nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades Fire. Council leadership plans to assess the extent of the damage once the fires have been contained and decide on next steps then.

However, right now, they are dedicated to supporting families who have lost homes and livelihoods due to the wildfires that are still ravaging Los Angeles.

“The loss of Camp Josepho is sad, but the loss of life and homes throughout Los Angeles is devastating,” said Lee Harrison, Scout Executive & CEO of the Council. “Scouting families are among the thousands who have lost everything due to the fires, and our top focus is assisting them – in addition to other members of the community who have been affected.”

To read more, go here.  Please consider making a donation. I just sent mine in.

Democrats Fundraising In Guise of Fire Relief

 

Democrats fundraising via ActBlue in the guise of relief for catastrophes made exponentially worse by Democrat leadership. Classy. https://t.co/gnD9q1E6fa

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) January 11, 2025

James Woods Rips 'Blithering Idiot' Newsom

 

LA Fires Rest ‘Directly’ On Gavin Newsom’s Policies

OOPS! L.A. County Fire Goofed On Alert

Things sometimes get goofed up during emergencies.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department sent out a county-wide emergency alert telling people to evacuate, even in areas not affected by any fires.

According to the Daily News:

The Los Angeles County Fire Department mistakenly sent out an evacuation warning to all of Los Angeles County Thursday afternoon, Jan. 9.

Just before 4 p.m., people across the county received cell phone alerts ordering them to evacuate, even in areas unaffected by the ongoing fires.

“It was an error,” LACFD spokesperson Kaitlyn Aldana said.

The alert caused many residents, already tense from the ongoing fires raging across the county, to fear their homes were now in danger, too.

They sent out another alert rescinding the error alert.

To read more, go here. 

Gladstone's Survives Palisades Fire

Above, Gladstone's 4 Fish at PCH near Sunset Blvd. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It appears that Gladstone's 4 Fish in Pacific Palisades survived the Palisades Fire.

Eater L.A. posted this update yesterday:

Update: January 9, 2025: Gladstones is temporarily closed due to road closures and air quality. An outside storage area sustained slight damages from the fire, but the restaurant remains unharmed.

This is especially good news to me as I frequented Gladstone's when I lived in Los Angeles. I would like to go there if I should ever go back to Los Angeles for a visit.

For more on the restaurant casualties, go here. 

L.A. Slashed Fire Department Budget Before Fires

Above, Los Angeles City Hall from Little Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The following was posted on Facebook in a comment in The Adventures Continue page (the Adventures of Superman):

' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass oversaw a city budget adjustment which slashed over $17 million from the city's fire department months before Tuesday’s devastating wildfires, information shared by a city official shows.

Thousands fled the Los Angeles area Tuesday as wildfires swept across the area. The fast-approaching flames shut down multiple major roadways, forcing some people to abandon their vehicles.

Los Angeles City Controller Kennith Mejia in October shared to X adjustments made to the city’s fiscal year 2024-2025 budget. Mayor Bass signed the budget in June, according to a press release.

City fire services decreased by $17.6 million through those adjustments, the X post shows. Other impacted services included “street services,” which decreased by $21.4 million, and sanitation, which decreased by $15.1 million.

Among budget items which received extra cash was “zoo,” which increased by $27,000, the information shows. Also receiving increases were “library,” which jumped $14.6 million, and “cannabis regulation,” which increased by $1.8 million.

“As the City of LA goes broke, one of the many questions we get is: ‘WHERE ARE OUR TAX DOLLARS GOING?’” Mejia wrote at the time.

“The City just started a new fiscal year & if you want to know how the Mayor & a majority of City Council increased or decreased departments' operational budget, see below,” Mejia added.'

I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it wouldn't surprise me given that the Democrat Party controls the Los Angeles city government.

UPDATE:

It's true! Go here.

Palisades Fire

Above, Gladstone's 4 Fish. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The news coming out of Southern California is a grim one.

Many homes, businesses and landmarks have been destroyed by the three wildfires ravaging the region.

Moonshadows, a restaurant in the Pacific Palisades/Malibu area on Pacific Coast Highway has been destroyed. I used to dine there back in the 1980s.

So far, Gladstones 4 Fish in Pacific Palisades has been destroyed or damaged, according to a report in the Daily News. Another one report I saw said that it was "smoking". I dined there quite often before moving to New Mexico. Fox 11 News said it was not damaged. I hope so.

Above, Asya Lipovetckaia and I at Gladstone's in 2016.

Villa de Leon, mis-reported as the Getty Villa in the media, had brush burned around it, but the structure itself has been spared. 

Here's a photo of it:

Thoughts and prayers for those affected.

Smoke From Arizona Fires

When I headed out to Denny's for our coffee/breakfast gathering this morning, I smelled and saw smoke in the air. Obviously, it was a fire, but I didn't know where.

The map below indicates that the smoke was from fires in Arizona. The smoke stretches from fires below Flagstaff towards Gallup, New Mexico, including our area. 

The smoke has subsided a bit or the winds shifted a bit since around 11:00.

Source: The Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Service

Lassen National Park Closed Due To Park Fire

Above, Manzanita Lake Campground store in 2017. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It seems that just about every year there's a wildfire at Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California.

I visited there in 2017 during my Great American Eclipse trip. I also visited Crater Lake National Park.

During my 2017 trip, I stayed at Lassen's Manzanita Lake Campground. Now that campground is threatened by the Park Fire.

According to YubaNet:

MINERAL, Calif. – Three years after the Dixie Fire consumed much of the eastern portion of Lassen Volcanic National Park, the massive Park Fire is approaching the park’s western edge, prompting National Park Service officials to close the park. 

Visitors have been evacuated from all campgrounds, and reservations have been canceled. All park employees have been evacuated from park housing and their homes in the community, most staying in hotels. 

Fire officials speculate that the fire has potential to reach both Manzanita Lake and Mineral Headquarters. These are areas that were not hit during the Dixie Fire. 

The historic district at park headquarters in Mineral in the southwest portion of the park includes structures built by the California Conservation Corps in the 1930s. On the northwest side of the park is the pristine Manzanita Lake campground and historic district that was spared by the Dixie Fire during the summer of 2021. Staff are scrambling to save historic artifacts stored in the 1927 Loomis Museum.

To read more, go here.