California on fire again

Discussion in 'Anything Goes' started by duccmann, Nov 9, 2018.

  1. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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  2. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    yep, had some buddies working in Carson, they went out to the end of Balboa Pier to get a better view...should be raining on the West Coast by now....but nope.
     
  3. James Bond

    James Bond Member

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    It can only burn so much. When the fuel's gone, it will be a while before the next firebug is successful. Those people should be burned at the stake.
     
  4. bk94si

    bk94si Member

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    It doesn't take much to start a fire under the conditions there right now. Santa Ana winds are really bad for fires. It could have been anything - cigarette butt, homeless guy trying to stay warm, car with catalytic converter parking in tall grass...

    What they really need to do is more logging and controlled burns. The brush there is so overgrown, it is a disaster just waiting to happen.
     
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  5. VFR4Lee

    VFR4Lee Member

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    Most of what's burning is brush, not trees. That shit is flammable even when it is not dry, which it is.
     
  6. OCLandspeeder

    OCLandspeeder New Member

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    I blame this on over development preventing controlled fire burning, over population, bad environmental policies that prevent "trimming" of over dry brush and trees. Too many people all around, homeless, campers, hikers, riders, drivers, etc., who can easily spark a fire when the weather makes it so easy. We have only ourselves to blame. Nature is just doing what it's been doing for hundreds of years in areas like this.
     
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  7. A.M

    A.M Moderator Staff Member

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    Although devastating, I agree OC that we (the human race) only have ourselves to blame.

    Same issues in CO. Then people are ravaged by flooding and mudslides afterwards.

    Nature will always win over peons.
     
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  8. bk94si

    bk94si Member

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    The brush is overgrown too. It isn't natural for it to grow without burning for decades at a time. If you aren't going to do controlled burns or bull dozing it down occasionally, you are asking for trouble.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2018
  9. GatorGreg

    GatorGreg Honda Fanboy/LitiGator

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    Yikes - stay safe out there!
     
  10. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    Some forestry areas in the UK have switched to regular controlled burning off to manage this sort of risk. Where this has been done it may not look picture book pretty for a few months, but nature soon springs back, and a controlled fire ensures animals have ample time to move clear. However they have easy access to plenty of lakes with water. It looks like much of California is tinder dry, so even a minor fire can quickly get out of control and then it takes a lot of water to stop. In this day of high tech communications - it seems we still cannot get everyone to take the hint and move out of harms way. A lost property can be replaced, a lost life is gone forever.
     
  11. bk94si

    bk94si Member

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    In this case, the fire moved very fast and the roads did not have the capacity to handle all of the people fleeing the fire.
     
  12. Allyance

    Allyance Insider

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    We are finally forcasted to our first rain event since April 16th next week. A month over due. Not all due to humans, probably climate change to blame as well. The “Camp Fire” fire started last Thursday morning and has become CA’s deadliest fire in history. Good rains in the first few months made grasses and bushes flourish, then no rain since has made them perfect fuel for fires. The major factor in the extraordinary speed of how it spread were the 70 mph winds from the East, not the normal off shore winds. When they issued the evacuation for the town of Paradise, they tried to manage it by having people leave in groups, but the winds were too great, and the flames overtook them. 400 people still missing, my neighbor’s cousin lost everything.
     
  13. reg71

    reg71 Poser Staff Member

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    I have been following this Camp Fire closely since it's just north of us. We have received about 29 or so patients from the fire. The cause hasn't been officially announced, but it seems likely that it's related to PG&E having a dysfunctional (transformer or some such) that was close to really dry brush. As our firefighters say, though. Now is not the time to point fingers. 60% of our forests are National Forest and are managed by the national forest service. I believe our fireman do try and cut off dead timber, but they end up spending so much time fighting fires that they cannot get to clearing out the brush. I could be wrong on that, though.

    If Rich still hung out here, I'm sure as a firefighter he could give us more detail. I really hope the country doesn't try and make this about politics, though.
     
  14. Allyance

    Allyance Insider

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    I live in the East Bay, and the air quility is poor today, difficult to breath from all the smoke. I have to brush the ash off my bike before a ride. 160 miles away!
     
  15. bk94si

    bk94si Member

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    Glad to hear that they try to clear stuff out but, really, it isn't their job. They need to allow more logging, selective culling or even clear cutting. And when they clear cut, all the underbrush gets cleared out too. Logging roads make good fire breaks. I know it makes the environmentalists crazy but it isn't natural for the forests or the underbrush to be so dense.
     
  16. Allyance

    Allyance Insider

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    This is not necessarily true:
    "But, as we saw in the 2013 fire near Yosemite, known as the Rim Fire and one of the largest in California history, commercial logging and the clear-cutting of forests do not reduce fire intensity.

    In the case of the Rim Fire, our research found that protected forest areas with no history of logging burned least intensely. There was a similar pattern in other large fires in recent years. Logging removes the mature, thick-barked, fire-resistant trees. The small trees planted in their place and the debris left behind by loggers act as kindling; in effect, the logged areas become combustible tree plantations that are poor wildlife habitat."
     
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  17. bk94si

    bk94si Member

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    Interesting. What is the solution to overgrowth that is caused by aggressive fire fighting then?
     
  18. Doug7200

    Doug7200 New Member

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    "Who is We" that conducted this research?
     
  19. reg71

    reg71 Poser Staff Member

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    I think that the answer probably lies somewhere in between the different viewpoints and likely won't fit into a tweet that people will read...
     
  20. Allyance

    Allyance Insider

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    Update:
    The Camp Fire, which ignited Nov. 8 in Butte County, continued to grow slowly, reaching 140,000 acres on Thursday, with containment reported at 40 percent.

    The number of missing people continues to skyrocket, rising from 297 on Wednesday night to 631 on Thursday night, Honea said.

    The number of structures that have been destroyed stood at 11,862, including 9,700 single-family homes — about 1,000 than were reported on Wednesday.
     
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