"2:15 I do have some images here. This one shows a guy's neighbor's house fully engulfed and it looks like it's burning rather evenly from the inside out... when they zoom out here, you can see that the home is the only thing burning and the trees are not even on fire 3:37 "What Ignited CALIFORNIA's Massive Grass Fire Near Yosemite: Lightning or Something Unexpected?" Brush Junkie video and Transcript:
Hello everyone. I'm Tracy Derwin and I'm
0:04
here with Shane Buell. In today's video,
0:07
we're going to be going over the fire
0:09
near Sonora in Northern California. The
0:13
specific area is called Ch Chinese Camp.
0:18
Chinese camp. It's an old mining town
0:21
that was established in the mid 1800s
0:24
and it's right at the beginning of
0:27
Yoseite National Park. So, if you're in
0:29
California, there's a good chance you've
0:31
been there. It's one of the most
0:33
beautiful places to go visit. Um, but it
0:36
is
0:38
um being hit with a lot of fires...
today,
1:34
we're going to go over the fire behavior
1:37
and then some of the reasonings for what
1:41
caused this fire.
1:44
All right. So, yes, uh um two days ago
1:49
on September 2nd, there was a lightning
1:52
storm that came through and allegedly
1:55
there was 10,000 plus lightning strikes
1:57
in Northern California and over a dozen
1:59
fires were allegedly started by these
2:00
lightning strikes. The largest of which
2:03
is called the 65 fire, which is burning
2:06
near a place called Chinese Camp in
2:08
California. And this town has actually
2:11
been very heavily impacted with dozens
2:13
of structures that have been destroyed.
2:15
I do have some images here. Um, this one
2:18
shows uh this guy's neighbor's house
2:20
fully engulfed and it looks like it's
2:22
burning rather evenly. So, it's like
2:24
hard to tell if it, you know, caught
2:26
from one side to the other or if it was
2:28
burning from the inside out. There was
2:30
also another historic building that
2:32
burned down. I think this might have
2:34
been like a bank or something. It was a
2:37
building that was almost 200 years old
2:39
and uh it was basically completely
2:41
gutted from the inside out. And then
2:44
here's another image of the inside of
2:46
that building. And I also have some
2:49
videos as well that we're going to go
2:51
through to show some of the fire
2:53
behavior. The most interesting of which
2:55
is this video from a helicopter that
2:58
knew exactly where to look to catch the
3:00
fire whirls springing up from this
3:01
firefront here. So you can see in the
3:03
middle of the screen uh several small
3:05
fire whirls that are springing up and
3:06
they're very straight and narrow and
3:09
they are kind of moving from right to
3:10
left a little quicker than the rest of
3:12
the fire is. So I thought that was a
3:14
little bit anomalous. So we've seen an
3:17
uptick in firewall behavior and most of
3:20
these fire whirls are also very long and
3:22
skinny which I thought was kind of
3:24
strange. All right, so now we have some
3:26
more fire behavior to show. This is a
3:28
home that's completely fully engulfed.
3:31
However, when they zoom out here, you
3:33
can see that the h the home is the only
3:35
thing burning and the trees are not even
3:37
on fire. So, how did this home catch on
3:38
fire if nothing else around it is
3:40
burning? And then we have other
3:42
structures like this one you can see
3:44
where none of the trees around the
3:45
structure are on fire, but the structure
3:47
itself was on fire. It almost looks as
3:50
if the in some cases the grass caught
3:53
the homes on fire, which I find to be
3:55
unlikely, but then in other cases it
3:57
looked like the homes caught the grass
3:58
on fire. And then we have another video
4:00
here that shows structures. Basically,
4:04
it's only the structures that are
4:05
burning in most of these images. And the
4:08
trees, which are hard to see here, but
4:10
the trees are mostly okay. You can see
4:13
that, you know, it's it's only a
4:15
structure and grass fire basically. And
4:17
then I have another house here that they
4:19
zoom in on and you can see it's in an
4:21
area of burned grass. All the black is
4:23
the burned grass. The green spots are
4:25
the trees. But then in the middle of all
4:27
this, you have this house that's burning
4:28
evenly all the way around. It almost
4:30
looks like this house caught fire from
4:31
the inside out. And I don't think the
4:34
grass started this home on fire. It
4:35
almost looks like the home started the
4:37
grass on fire. And it looks very much
4:40
like this home possibly started from the
4:41
inside out. And once again, I'd like to
4:44
point out that it's very unlikely for a
4:46
small grass fire to actually catch a
4:49
structure on fire. Grass only burns at a
4:51
few hundred degrees. And most of the
4:54
materials in a in a home actually take a
4:58
few extra hundred degrees to actually
5:00
ignite. All right. So now I have another
5:03
video I want to play. This is a home
5:04
that's burning right among the trees.
5:06
And you can see that not a single leaf
5:08
on the tree is burning. It almost looks
5:10
like, you know, the once again somehow
5:12
the grass caught this structure on fire,
5:15
which I find to be highly unlikely. But
5:17
as it continues to burn, none of these
5:19
trees around it actually catch fire. And
5:21
that's probably why we see in the
5:23
aftermath, which we will look at here
5:24
soon, most of the trees actually still
5:26
have their leaves. I only found one or
5:28
two trees that had actually burned.
5:32
All right. So now I have another image
5:35
that or video I want to show. And this
5:37
is where it looks like the grass exposed
5:39
the structures. So all of the black is
5:41
the grass which has burned. And then you
5:43
can see all of the gray are already
5:45
burned structures. And then most of the
5:47
flames that we see here are structures
5:49
only. So, I see almost no grass burning,
5:51
no trees burning. It's nothing but
5:53
structures that are on fire.
5:56
All right. And then we have another
5:59
video of the fire. And this is just
6:01
another example of the trees that are
6:03
still not burning. So, we see one home
6:05
that's fully engulfed. And then the home
6:07
next to it has caught fire on the side
6:09
next to the burning home, which actually
6:11
does make sense until you look around
6:13
and you see all the trees are still
6:14
green. So, it looks like the only thing
6:17
that could have caught the first house
6:18
on fire would be the grass. And I find
6:20
that to be highly unlikely. So, what is
6:23
it that actually caught the first house
6:24
on fire? Because the first house is
6:26
probably what caught the second house on
6:28
fire, but I have no idea how the first
6:30
house got burning. All right. So, now
6:32
we're going to go through a little bit
6:33
more of the fire um and the fire
6:36
behavior and then go into the aftermath.
6:38
Now, there's nothing particularly
6:41
suspicious about this except for the
6:42
leaves that are still not burning. And
6:45
then most of the structures here, you
6:47
can see every flammable piece of the
6:49
structures are completely gone. And all
6:50
that's left is basically bricks and
6:52
steel and the leaves on the trees. And
6:55
uh this truck here, how did that patch
6:57
of grass do that to the truck? I don't
6:59
think that's possible that the truck
7:01
that the grass did that to the truck. No
7:02
way. So yeah, if you had a grass fire
7:05
underneath the vehicle, it should just
7:07
burn right past it underneath it and it
7:08
shouldn't even start the tires on fire
7:10
or anything else.
7:12
Okay, so now we have some more uh videos
7:16
here of the aftermath. So this is an
7:19
area that had burned. Even some of these
7:21
vehicles burned. This bug under the
7:23
trees has burned. And I will show that
7:25
up close a little bit later, but you can
7:27
see most of the structures along this
7:28
street have burned down to a white ash,
7:31
but all the trees still have their
7:32
leaves. All that's burned is the grass
7:35
and the structures. And so I find that
7:37
to be highly anomalous. Why did the fire
7:40
not climb any of these bushes or trees?
7:42
You can see one tree is missing its
7:43
leaves there. So, that's one. And I
7:46
think there might be one more tree in
7:48
one of these clips that actually is
7:49
missing its leaves right there. And I
7:52
believe what's next to it might have
7:53
actually been a pole or a post. Now,
7:56
this red planter or whatever that is is
7:58
sitting in a patch of unburned grass.
8:00
So, I don't find that to be very
8:02
anomalous. But when you look at, you
8:04
know, it looks like just the grass
8:06
burned, but where the grass burned, if
8:08
there was any structures or metallic
8:10
objects, they were pretty much
8:12
completely destroyed.
8:15
So, yeah. All right. So, yeah, lots of
8:18
leaves and uh only structures burned, it
8:20
looks like. All right. So, now I'm going
8:22
to go back to that car and I'm going to
8:24
show you the car underneath the trees.
8:26
So, the trees look totally fine. Even
8:28
the grass looks mostly okay. It's only
8:30
scorched in patches, but somehow it
8:33
completely destroyed that car which was
8:35
sitting in the parking lot.
8:37
All right. Uh let's see here. Um I do
8:40
have some more aftermath images to go
8:42
through. So this is the historic
8:44
building. I think it might have actually
8:47
been a bank building.
8:49
And let's see, there was also a post
8:51
office which was impacted.
8:54
And the one thing I really thought was
8:57
unique was this car. So, we've seen this
8:59
time and time again, but this doesn't
9:01
look like a normal flame, especially
9:02
from a grass fire. So, you can see that
9:04
not only is the aluminum rim melted,
9:06
which would require over 1,200 degrees
9:08
Fahrenheit, but the back window is also
9:11
melted, and that would require over
9:13
2500° F. And I just want to remind
9:16
people that the normal forest fire
9:18
maximum burns at 1500 degrees. All
9:21
right, so now what I wanted to show in
9:24
this image is the trailer in the back
9:26
left. This is another one of those sheet
9:28
and post style trailers which we've seen
9:30
several times before where the steel is
9:32
actually still intact, but the sheet
9:34
aluminum on the sides has pretty much
9:36
completely melted away except for where
9:38
there's just a little bit attached to
9:39
the steel post.
9:42
And then here's a house. All of which
9:44
the all that's left of it is the bricks
9:46
and maybe some steel. Um, and even some
9:49
of the bricks are missing. I thought
9:50
that was unusual. So, if you look at the
9:52
top of this window here, even a couple
9:54
of those cinder blocks are missing from
9:56
the home as well. And then I have one
9:59
more image to show of a boat that
10:02
somehow survived when pretty much
10:04
everything around it has burned uh
10:06
except for the leaves on the trees, but
10:08
everything else around this boat has
10:09
pretty much burned up. And I think
10:11
perhaps the reason that the boat didn't
10:13
burn is because of its color, which you
10:16
may notice is blue.
10:19
All right. And that's pretty much all I
10:22
have except for a couple of news clips
10:24
that go into the phenomenon of dry
10:26
lightning. So, they're trying
10:29
Can I just mention um before I forget
10:33
these historic towns with a lot of
10:35
historic structures that can't be
10:37
demolished to rebuild or to redevelop.
10:41
It seems to be um very common that these
10:44
fires do destroy historic towns and
10:48
destroy historic buildings like we saw
10:49
in Lahina and uh a number of different
10:53
places like in California. Um because if
10:56
you think about um the redevelopment
11:00
of areas
11:03
having historic buildings does get in
11:05
the way because you can't just legally
11:08
you can't just knock it down and build a
11:09
new structure. But if it does burn down,
11:12
then you kind of have to.
11:15
Um, and also it's called Chinese camp
11:17
because a lot of the miners back then
11:19
were Chinese. And this town is plagued
11:23
with a lot of violence. There was a lot
11:25
of like race wars and um these like um
11:30
outbreaks of violence and people were
11:32
killed. So this area does have a very
11:35
long history. not all, you know, good
11:38
things, but um it's these kind of areas
11:41
that I feel when you do wipe them off
11:44
the map, it does often like wipe the
11:48
history along with it.
11:51
So, I just wanted to mention that.
11:53
Yeah. Yeah. It's just like Lahina pretty
11:55
much when it comes to these historical
11:57
areas.
11:59
All right. So, yeah, the phenomenon of
12:01
dry lightning. So, dry lightning is
12:02
another one of those terms that I had
12:03
not really heard until maybe a year ago.
12:06
And then we heard it again during the
12:08
Alaska and Canadian fires that were
12:11
being blamed on dry lightning. So, um I
12:14
was like, what is dry lightning exactly?
12:17
And uh there is a couple of news clips
12:18
that go into it, but I don't necessarily
12:21
buy their story, but I'm going to let
12:23
you hear it.
12:23
Hey, I learned a new term, dry
12:24
lightning. Well, it's just that when you
12:26
get a lightning strike, not associated
12:28
with a good drenching rain, which would
12:30
put out a fire, a lightning strike just
12:32
like this, and this is just outside of
12:34
Yusede, which is a pretty good landmark
12:36
for a lot of people to to recognize. And
12:37
currently, that's where this cluster
12:40
fire is burning. So, there were dozens
12:42
of these dry lightning strikes, igniting
12:44
about six different fires. They've now
12:45
converged into one. 13,000 acres have
12:48
been burned over 13,000 with 0%
12:51
containment.
12:53
So, yes, there are over 13,000 acres
12:56
that have burned. However, the fire has
12:59
only been merged from an operational
13:01
standpoint. Uh, the fires didn't
13:03
physically merge, but the fire
13:04
department is treating them as if they
13:06
were one fire. All right, so now I have
13:08
one more news clip that goes into this
13:10
phenomenon of dry lightning, and then
13:11
I'm going to give my rebuttal
13:12
afterwards.
13:13
Lightning could even be seen from the
13:15
Bay Area. This video was recorded early
13:18
Tuesday morning in Belmont, but viewers
13:20
told me they saw lightning or heard
13:23
thunder in Kulma, Pittsburgh, Clayton,
13:25
San Jose, and even Paluma. While the
13:28
lightning threat has subsided, fires
13:30
from those past strikes are still
13:33
possible. Lightning strikes are super
13:35
unpredictable. Uh and we will generally
13:38
see uh fires begin of course immediately
13:41
uh but up to a week maybe two weeks
13:44
sometimes especially out in the forests.
13:46
Sadly here in Chinese camp the damage
13:49
has already been done.
13:53
Now I don't necessarily agree with that
13:55
fire battalion chief. uh lightning
13:57
strikes are somewhat predictable and
13:58
most of the time they don't start fires
14:00
even when they do strike like a dry or
14:03
even dead tree but for some reason he's
14:05
trying to say that you know these
14:07
lightning strikes from September 2nd
14:10
could end up causing fires a week or two
14:12
down the road. Now I don't buy that
14:14
story. Um if you did have a lightning
14:16
cause fire it would go out relatively
14:18
quickly and I doubt that it would
14:20
smolder for two weeks before flaring up.
14:22
So, I think that's part of the story
14:24
that they're trying to push and get
14:26
people to believe.
14:28
You know, something else I just
14:29
remembered. Um, this area is known to be
14:33
heavily sprayed with planes. And that uh
14:38
video we did about the woman confronting
14:40
the pilot that was, you know, flying a
14:42
plane that was spraying. It was in, I
14:45
believe, over Sonora over this area.
14:48
Actually, I think you're right. Yeah. So
14:51
if you think about if this this area and
14:54
I believe she said um titanium,
14:57
aluminum,
14:58
barerium, like a bunch of metals that
15:02
she actually measured and found that
15:06
that's what was coming out of these
15:07
planes. If you think about this area
15:09
being sprayed with nano particles of
15:12
metal, I mean, I don't know for sure,
15:15
but it kind of makes sense that it would
15:17
make this area prone to plasma and
15:21
lightning because it's kind of
15:24
electrified, right? There's metal in the
15:26
air that's conductive to lightning and
15:30
plasma.
15:31
Well, yeah. Not only does it make the
15:33
air more conductive, but then when the
15:36
trees soak that up, it makes the trees
15:38
more conductive and reactive to um you
15:41
know electromagnetic frequencies as
15:42
well. Not only that, but aluminum is a
15:45
desicant which will dry things out and
15:46
make it easier to burn as well.
15:49
Yeah. So I do think this the Sierra
15:51
Neadas is an area and Yusede is an area
15:56
that's being really hit with these types
15:59
of uh of of events and even Yoseite is
16:04
becoming harder to visit for different
16:07
reasons. Um, I remember I looked into
16:10
going there a few years ago and they had
16:13
closed down a huge area because they
16:17
said the the rats or the mice were
16:19
spreading like the plague or or some
16:22
kind of norovirus, some kind of really
16:25
serious virus.
16:27
And so, of course, I thought I'm not
16:29
going to take my family there, right?
16:30
There's these infected mice. But now
16:34
that I'm seeing this, it it kind of
16:36
seems like there's a a kind of a push to
16:41
get people out of this area.
16:45
I don't know. It seems to be getting
16:46
more and more frequent that there are
16:48
deterrence from visiting the Sierra
16:50
Neadas.
16:51
Yeah. And uh Robert has actually told me
16:54
that they're making it harder to get
16:55
hiking passes for the Sierras as well.
16:58
So they're forcing people to go online
16:59
and sign up for a hiking pass. You can't
17:01
just show up and pay money anymore.
17:04
Yeah. So, um yeah, that's really sad
17:07
because I have memories as a kid going
17:09
to this area and um yeah, I don't really
17:13
see myself going there anymore,
17:17
you know, when you hear about all these
17:19
infected
17:21
rats,
17:22
you know, but
17:24
um I guess that's kind of the world we
17:27
live in now. Was there anything else we
17:29
wanted to bring up? Uh that's all I have
17:32
for today.
17:33
Okay. But I really got attracted to this
17:36
story because I'm really interested in
17:38
this area. Um uh some of you might know
17:42
what the Sierra sounds are. Uh I'm not
17:45
going to play it, but if you're
17:47
interested, uh there's a man named Ron
17:49
Morhead, and in the 70s he recorded what
17:52
we call the Sierra Sounds. And though
17:56
when I heard that recording, I wish I
17:58
had it, but it actually got me
18:01
interested in learning about cryptids.
18:04
So, if you're ready to go down that
18:06
rabbit hole, uh those recordings were
18:08
made in the Sierra Neadas, and from what
18:10
I hear, that area has been hit with
18:12
fires.
18:13
So,
18:15
okay. So, is that going to do it?
18:17
Yep.
18:18
Okay. So, if you haven't subscribed yet,
18:21
please do so before you leave. And
18:23
please like, comment, and share this
18:25
video so we can let as many people know
18:28
because I don't think this event is
18:29
really getting a lot of media. I hadn't
18:32
heard about it till you told me about
18:33
it. So, um, let everyone know. Thank you
18:36
guys so much for being here and we'll
18:38
see you all soon.
18:42
Bye.
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