A Starry Night Aflame In The King's Glory

I absolutely love this image of the King Fire in El Dorado County shot sometime in the past few nights. I trow not who captured it as it was Tweeted by television news anchor Chase Cain sans photo attribution. All rights reserved.

Picture of the Day - King's Fire Smoky Sunset

Tonight I worked a wedding at Silver Horse Winery for Vino Vice Security in the countryside northeast of Paso Robles, CA, and witnessed this smoky sunset. The smoke came from the King Fire in El Dorado County up north state. Also of interest tonight: I witnessed numerous flashes and flickers of lightning from thunderstorms over the Sierra Nevada from my north-northeast to my east and all points in between. During the previous day I had espied a great many thunderheads just peaking over the horizon in that direction. These may well be some of the last such storms this year as the season for that is winding down. Tonight I also witnessed after dusk a satellite headed northbound across the face of the Milky Way when a fireball shot by it with all thee things, to wit, the satellite, the fireball, and the Milky Way all framed in the small quadrant of space above. I also witnessed two other satellites headed northbound after dark who seemed to be drifting next to each other in parallel tandem which I had never before seen either. Note the satellite uplink dishes on Camp Roberts left of center in the distance. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Scars Of A King's Fire

My friend and retired career firefighters Rick Bates of Cameron Park whose playground up Highway 50 until the advent of the ongoing King Fire had the burn area been, composed this poem about the fire.

The days are filled with stress and doubt
For firefighters have chased us out.
Our homes unsafe, we now must go
Can we return? We do not know.

Police say hurry, they cannot talk
But they'll be sure, your door to lock.
To leave so quickly, it does so chafe
But they all mean, to keep us safe.

We hear reports, we're filled with grief
We hear of things, beyond belief.
We rant, we rave, we wonder so
We want our homes, we love them so.

Now lightning crashes and thunder roars
We can't help pacing around these floors.
Firefighters are the ones that go
Into the storm, that they well know.

The sky now dark from all the smoke
We cannot breathe, it does so choke.
Firefighters do, what just they dare
Come home safely, our whispered prayer.

The trees, the plants, the animals keep
These are the losses, for these we weep.
We cry for JUSTICE, to soothe our pains
 The rocks themselves, show fiery stains.

The fire's cause, for this we've sought
A miscreant soul, who now is caught.
 He'll spend his life, in a concrete jail
 While we still hear, the forest's wail.

The forest may, be whole one day
When that will be, no one can say.
Of these foul days, one thing is good
For we are now, a neighborhood.

~ Rick Bates

King Fire Crowns Big Blow-up Day

This image was captured last evening as the sun set on the big 50,000 acre blow-up of the King Fire. I'm not sure where this was shot from but it is somewhere on the east side of the Sacramento Valley heading up into the Sierra Foothills.

Peléan-esque Eruption Of King Fire

This was the view from Lake Tahoe yesterday evening as the sun set on the King Fire in full Peléan-like eruption as it blew out to the north in a big way in route to growing by over 300% over the course of 24 hours (from about 18,000 acres to nearly 71,000 acres). Photo by Steve Ellsworth (all rights reserved).

Two King Fire Blow-up Timelapses

The top sequence below was captured today during the big blow-up of the King Fire in El Dorado County. No information was given on the location of the filming site other than the obvious that it is somewhere west of the fire. I would go so far as to say I believe this is somewhere in the vicinity of Auburn, CA, so perhaps a bit northwest of the fire. The bottom sequence below was also shot today  during the big blow-up of the same fire from the intersection of Highway 50 and Missouri Flat Road just west of Placerville, CA.

A King Of A Fiery Eruption

This is the view of the King Fire spectacularly blowing up seen from nearby downtown Placerville, CA, in the past couple of hours as the fire explodes in response to brisk up-slope winds. Note the pyrocumulus clouds atop the smoke bank. Photo credit unknown at present (all rights reserved).