California Fires-Cause?

[SWFan27]

According to several news outlets, no specific cause has been determined yet. The reason it has spread so fast is partly because of the usually dry conditions in SoCal this time of the year and the unusually high Santa Ana winds. Then it delves into why there is no water available to fight the fire and not enough firefighters to battle the blazes, but that enters a vicious political arena and best not to go there.

That is just their "it's Climate Change" spin. I have lived in California over 60 years. This is our normal and historical Southern California weather pattern. Some years we get a lot of rain, and sometimes we go several years with very little rain. And Santa Ana winds are normal too at certain times of the year.

LA suspended clearing dry brush and dead trees to spend money on political pet projects, and to please the environmentalists who donate to the politicians. That is also another reason they no longer do controlled burns to get rid of the fire hazards. This is the reason State Farm canceled so many policies recently in Pacific Palisades. Calmatters.org states that 95% of these wildfires are human caused.

 

[LVSteve]

Late Wife#1 was raised in Simi Valley. She had lots of stories about the Santa Ana winds and wildfires from the 1960s to the 80s, all long before conspiracy theories were a thing. She said that the causes of the fires were old power lines brought down by the wind, carelessly discarded cigarettes, camp fires, and the occasional hot catalytic converter.

 

[4T5GUY]

Hopefully the forensic fire experts will figure it out. I have my own opinion which has been mentioned by others in above posts. (The "politically correct " term in Oregon is Houseless.)

One thing that I've not heard explained is the power issue. "The wind took the power out so there was no water available."

I've spent most of my working years being part of constructing, plumbing, and maintaining water/wastewater pump stations. ANY critical station was required to have an independent emergency GenSet. I find it hard to believe that Cali doesn't require this when even years ago remote sites in AK did.

Jim

 

[LVSteve]

Hopefully the forensic fire experts will figure it out. I have my own opinion which has been mentioned by others in above posts. (The "politically correct " term in Oregon is Houseless.)

One thing that I've not heard explained is the power issue. "The wind took the power out so there was no water available."

I've spent most of my working years being part of constructing, plumbing, and maintaining water/wastewater pump stations. ANY critical station was required to have an independent emergency GenSet. I find it hard to believe that Cali doesn't require this when even years ago remote sites in AK did.

Jim

You probably cannot run a GenSet in SoCal because of the pollution laws.

Whether the above will just go down as a smartass comment or the staggering truth remains to be seen.

 

[Tom S.]

Good time for California to fall into the ocean, at least it'd put the fires out

Gee, thanks for wishing for the death of my sister, her daughter, three granddaughters and three great granddaughters.

 

[fordson]

A once great state turning to ashes………what a shame. My prayers for those affected…….

 

[venomballistics]

Ya know how you were taught to make a fire by rubbing sticks together in the boy scouts?
Replace the boy scouts with the wind and you have your answer

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

In the Boy Scouts in my day we had fire safety drummed into our heads.
I wonder how much of their water shortage problem is due to MJ cultivation
? That absorbs a lot of water, a few years ago they were trying to bully farmers into not cultivating things such as almonds-"too water intensive."

 

[Heinz]

A note on some observations of people setting gas cans in the fire areas. Setting "backfires" to control the spread of brush fires is an effective method used by wildland firefighters. Those photos may be of that activity.

There are a lot of good people in California. I pray for them.

 

[curtmini14]

you folks need to call a spade a spade and get over that bleeding heart BS.they caught a homeless man or migrent setting a bunch of fires.stick that in your crawl.

 

[sceva]

Good time for California to fall into the ocean, at least it'd put the fires out

A rather broad blanket statement. Not everyone in California are of the same ilk.

My son and daughter in law live in Ca and I would not want them to fall in the ocean.

 

[SMSgt]

You probably cannot run a GenSet in SoCal because of the pollution laws.

Whether the above will just go down as a smartass comment or the staggering truth remains to be seen.

But they've got solar panels . . .

 

[375hh1973]

Direct Energy Weapons

 

[CalifEd]

I saw something on the news this evening that some jail inmates are being released to help fight the fires. Not sure that is a good idea.

Yes, there are inmate hand crews being used to fight these fires but are available for other natural disasters. These groups are commonly known as fire camp crews, several states have them.

The program is run by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations (CDCR), CAL FIRE and local FD's. It is a popular program, if you qualify.

They have strict standards as to who can get in, your behavior while there, and passing the boot camp, education and field training.
Once you get in, you get a measure of freedom; you are still monitored 24/7, get trained and are paid.
After you complete your time and training you are certified as a wildlands firefighter. All of this is a big deal.

With that ticket, you can get a job as a firefighter. Meaning you can get a respectable job, earn money, pay taxes and basically you can get back into society; not an easy task for someone that has been in prison.

 

[Puller]

A once great state turning to ashes………what a shame. My prayers for those affected…….

My greatest concern is that this may increase the great migration east as the flow of Californians out of the state increases dramatically. We have not been pleased with the ones that have already showed up in our neck of the woods with their weird ways and expectations.

 

[Jeff423]

According to several news outlets, no specific cause has been determined yet. The reason it has spread so fast is partly because of the usually dry conditions in SoCal this time of the year and the unusually high Santa Ana winds. Then it delves into why there is no water available to fight the fire and not enough firefighters to battle the blazes, but that enters a vicious political arena and best not to go there.

I heard a report on the radio that mentioned that previous 2 years were unusually "wet" meaning there was a higher level of grass and other vegetation to act as as fuel source. This aggravates the situation mentioned above.

 

[Rudi]

Hopefully all that are responsible will be punished.

 

[ggibson511960]

The company that sells the Ting ground fault/arc fault detectors says it had thousands of hits when the wind picked up Bad omen for utility company.

 

[pawngal]

There are pictures taken by residents close to the Eaton fire showing the fire starting at the base of one of the big transmission towers in the valley.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I am pretty sure CA has a training program to teach fire fighting.

Excellent idea and I am guessing there is some vetting and pretty tight supervision.

I would applaud a group of inmates putting their lives on the line and giving back to help make up for things they may have done.

Apparently been around since 1915.and there are 35 camps throughout the state.

As far as cause I will wait for the experts to tell me.

I see no problem with inmates fighting fires. First of all they're not going to use violent offenders for this. Government agencies already use inmates for many kinds of work with few problems. It's really a win-win situation for everyone involved. The inmates get out and get some exercise, and the local governments get free labor saving them a lot of money.