I didn’t learn much at the informational meeting tonight that I didn’t already know. Oh, except that Paul and I probably should have gotten reverse-911 calls about the various stages of evacuation, but didn’t. That’s very bad. So I’ll have to call the Sheriff tomorrow to see if that can be fixed. Otherwise, I’ll make arrangements with a neighbor who is getting notified properly.

The winds are actually supposed to shift back towards us on Saturday, not Tuesday, as previously blogged. That wind shift is part of a system that will likely also dramatically lower the humidity. In the words of the firefighters at the meeting, such winds and low humidity would likely cause “adverse fire behavior.” In short, I’m not looking forward to the weekend.

Below is the latest map, current as of this evening. The fire as a whole hasn’t grown or shifted much today, gauging by the map. And our recent calm weather has allowed firefighters to go on the offensive on the north side today.

Two notes about the meeting:

There was a semi-lunatic at the meeting who kept bellowing “You are a servant, not a master!” to the public officials. He was (perhaps justifiably) angry at not being allowed back to his home after being evacuated, as it does not seem to be in immediate jeopardy anymore. A police officer almost had to haul him out. People need to be firmly attached enough to their manners such that they do not lose them in difficult times. That, after all, is when we need good manners the most.

The head of the Type I team for the north side of the fire seemed to be a genuine, knowledgeable, and skilled guy. He said the following, which echoes some of my comments about man versus wildfire without the cooperation of nature: “There is absolutely nothing that man can do to deal with that kind of fire; we can just get out of the way.” “That kind of fire” is the type that was raging on Sunday, the kind that probably set a record by growing 19 miles and 55,000 acres in one day.

Let’s hope we don’t return to “that kind of fire” this weekend!