This morning the Napa news conference reported that we have 3 times as many 'resources' in play for these fires as we did yesterday -- that means planes, helicopters, trucks and personnel. Once the So Cal fires were handled they sent everything up north to us.

AND, that has certainly shown itself in the field. Wayne and Chris both reported hundreds of helicopter water drops in our valley, as well as multiple payloads coming from planes. Wayne described it as though he were on the ground in Viet Nam. Constant fly overs. But very welcome.

Now the helicopters have completed their mission and the roads are full of quads racing around checking everything out before dark.

The video attached is one of the planes today flying over Foss Valley dropping retardant and also the sunset over the Meritage where I'm staying. The sun flying seems to be at half-mast as it sets. The plane is a much more welcome sight than a Blue Angel any day.

The far valley mountain over the Shepps/Manfrees area seems to be smoldering quite a bit, but other than that -- relatively quiet on the fire front.

Has Foss Valley escaped the worst of it? Way too early to tell, but I'm feeling cautiously optimistic today. For the first time.

One of the new names I added this morning is Kim and Clint Jones. They closed on their home on lower Soda Canyon 3 weeks ago. OMG what a welcome to the community. They've been out of the country and are coming home on Friday or back to Napa at least. They lived through the Lake County fires, but lost their home there also. I can't even imagine losing one home, let alone two to fire. They are looking forward to getting to know the Soda Canyon neighbors.

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