Today has been a bad day for wildfire in the California Wine Country. The San Francisco Chronicle says:

A swarm of fires supercharged by powerful winds ripped through Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties Monday, killing at least 10 people, injuring dozens of others, destroying more than 1,500 homes and businesses, and turning prominent wineries to ash.
Starting in the middle of the night, the fires hopscotched across neighborhoods, raced across fields and jumped freeways. Wind gusts up to 70 mph pushed walls of flames nearly 100 feet high, throwing embers ahead like hot fingers into strip malls and subdivisions. Many people who fled the surge had enough time to grab car keys, perhaps a pet, but not much more.

URJ Camp Newman, site of the San Francisco Folk Music Club's post-Christmas Camp New Harmony, is in the middle of the area that has been evacuated, and it is not known yet whether the camp has been damaged. Here's a message from the camp's Facebook page:

Dear Friends and family of Camp Newman,
You might have heard there are numerous fires in Northern California, including near Camp Newman. We wanted to share that everyone who lives on the property has been evacuated and is safe. We were also able to remove the Torahs from camp. Firefighters are working hard to contain the fires and currently we do not know the status of the buildings and the grounds. Thank you for your love and concern. We will communicate when we have more information and ask that you refrain from calling the office.

Guess we'll have to wait and see. Wish us luck.


I'm a hundred miles away in the Sierra Foothills, while the fires are in the Wine Country. We had clear skies and very high winds all last night. A source of ignition would have caused us a lot of trouble, as it did two years ago. But so far, no fire in my area.

We moved to Camp Newman in December, 2008, and Camp Harmony became Camp NEW Harmony. Clever, eh? If we're able to have camp there this year, this will be our tenth year at Camp Newman - but prospects look dim.

-Joe-