California Fires

[Inusuit]

As an old Callie I blame the fires on not cutting the trees down enough. Our forests or over grown with brush & the US Forestry have closed the logging roads so when the firefights get there the roads are washed out. Thanks to Bill Clinton we live with this carp. California was rich coming from the timber industry once but not now. The tree huggers stopped that a while back. They the Forestry when good timber is burned to stop the recovery. Does this make sense? I rest my case.

At least some of the fires in California are not in forested areas, but in grass and chaparral. My son is a wildland firefighter. In the off season, he tries to work with the people who have built in fire prone areas. His crew will remove trees and underbrush to create a defensible space around homes. Many homeowners reject the offer because they want to keep the trees. Same ones scream for assistance when their residence is threatened by fire and firefighters put their lives at risk to provide that assistance.

 

[bigwheelzip]

One of the aforementioned cousins was allowed by police to make a short visit back to his home, and it was still there. The Devil Wind returns later today for another swipe at the area.

 

[JayFramer]

At least 25 burned alive as they tried to escape a camp forest fire today in Cali. Knee mail needed on this one guys!

 

[pharmer]

California is indeed a beautiful place, run by idiots. Believe me, during dry season Florida has 10X as much "fuel" for wildfires. Except they tear out underbrush with dozers, burn off zillions of tons of dead leftovers from summer rains and generally manage forestry in an aggressive manner. Something California would never do, might enlarge the "carbon footprint" dont'cha know. Like the present fires ain't doing that in a bigger way. Joe

 

[Rastoff]

Except they do that where I live.

 

[LVSteve]

At least some of the fires in California are not in forested areas, but in grass and chaparral. My son is a wildland firefighter. In the off season, he tries to work with the people who have built in fire prone areas. His crew will remove trees and underbrush to create a defensible space around homes. Many homeowners reject the offer because they want to keep the trees. Same ones scream for assistance when their residence is threatened by fire and firefighters put their lives at risk to provide that assistance.

Late wife#1 was raised in Simi Valley and they dreaded this time of year with the Santa Ana winds. They had plenty of fires back then, but there was less development to burn, no internet, no drones and no 24/7 coverage. She said the big worry back then was that the fires would cut off the only decent road out of the place.

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

I spent a lot of time in Paradise growing up. We have a few members from there and I pray they are okay. I have several friends down south that have been evacuated or have family members that have been evacuated. Besides prayers, all I have are tears... it is horrific.

 

[bigwheelzip]

... it is horrific.

I'm unfamiliar with that town and looked on Google maps to familiarize myself. I saw this aerial photo showing seemingly every structure in the town of Paradise on fire. It must be horrific.

 

[ladder13]

This is not funny and I hope she doesn't really believe it.

There has been more than one fire set by part time firemen trying to get more work. That was the case in the Arizona fire several years ago and one California fire earlier this year or last (I don't remember exactly). But these were isolated incidents.

I don't know how these recent fires started, but I can't believe that even the most desperate would intentionally do this.

They're not firefighters, they're arsonists.

 

[LVSteve]

I'm unfamiliar with that town and looked on Google maps to familiarize myself. I saw this aerial photo showing seemingly every structure in the town of Paradise on fire. It must be horrific.

Reminds me of an infamous WWII night bombing picture taken over Germany.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

This is not funny and I hope she doesn't really believe it.

There has been more than one fire set by part time firemen trying to get more work. That was the case in the Arizona fire several years ago and one California fire earlier this year or last (I don't remember exactly). But these were isolated incidents.

I don't know how these recent fires started, but I can't believe that even the most desperate would intentionally do this.

Nothing funny about it at all. I joke about California politics, but it is a beautiful state and I hate these fires no matter how a part of nature they may be, and pray for the minimum impact on everyone. It does show how extreme that at least some of our fringe media has become. Could be terrorism, rogue firefighter, but I do not believe it was set to get federal aid. I miss Walter Cronkite. God bless all here.

 

[arjay]

It's not only the fringe media,but the incredible gullibility of an audience that buys what they are selling

 

[Rastoff]

Satellite image of Paradise CA:

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

It's not only the fringe media,but the incredible gullibility of an audience that buys what they are selling

Maybe less gullibility than an eagerness to accept any negative accusation made against those on the other end of the political spectrum.

 

[BigBoy99]

My friend in CA called last night and on top of everything, there was a small earthquake yesterday. It was only a 3.5 but still an earthquake.

 

[JayFramer]

Watched a film on the YouTube where a man whom was nearly killed backtracked and filmed the burned out cars in the site he escaped from. Many charred alive and barely unrecognizable.

God help them all.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I won how much of this problem is due to MJ cultivation ?

 

[Wyatt Burp]

We're 88 miles south of the Camp Fire in NorCal. Of all places to move, my B-I-Law moved next to the now destroyed town of Paradise and his town is half gone. We saw a reporter next street over from him and there was no damage. But he's a Loner who hides from everyone on purpose. So don't know what's going on. We'd help him if he'd contact us but he always changes phone numbers and doesn't answer email even before all this happened.

 

[ggibson511960]

Too Many People, Too Little Foresting

Donald Trump usually gives his critics reason to ignore him, even when he has a valid point. Trump tweeted his scorn for California government's bad management of its forest resources and the resultant worsening of the fire problem. Turns out that California's Legislative Analyst Office agrees, citing bureaucratic obstacles to clearing hazardous accumulation of dead, dry fuel and normal logging. There is some good news. The federal government owns approximately 57% of California's forested land and has accelerated the pace of revenue producing logging operations. This year's harvest will be the largest in decades. Accelerated logging and clearing of fuel saves more endangered species than the bureaucratic obstructions that aggravate fires. The bad news is that 33% of forest land is under California state control. Governor Moonbeam and his acolytes can think up many reasons to not allow logging or burning of accumulated fuel on private land. SF 49ers fans at the Monday night game were wearing masks to filter out smoke particulates. Wonder if anybody fought the state bureaucracy for an air permit for all that smoke spread over millions of people.

 

[LVSteve]

The first lawsuit is in against PG&E for a sparking line.