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Close Topic OptionsCalifornia Fires - Page 2 of 14
Was it a kid playing with matches who started - Page 2 - Politics, Business, Civil, History - Posted: 31st Oct, 2007 - 11:10am
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Anything to be learnt?California Fires - Page 2
I was watching the clips on CNN and in one instance they were interviewing a family that lost everything. I can't even begin to think how it would feel to be carrying on life normally and then suddenly your home and all in it is gone! If this is an arsonist then I hope they catch him and make him pay for all that happened!
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Post Date: 28th Oct, 2007 - 5:52pm / Post ID: #
NOTE: News [?]
Fires California
CONDITIONS IMPROVE AS FIRES BURN ON
Firefighters battled stubborn wildfires across Southern California on Saturday, but scattered showers brought a welcome improvement in conditions.
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,...22599,00.html
California Fires History & Civil Business Politics
I heard a newscaster on TV say that we may have more Santa Ana winds in store for us. I truly hope not, because that would just stir up the embers that are dying down. Here's a link to the Los Angeles station:
https://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=weather&id=5317849
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Page 2 Fires California
Well FarSeer this should give you greater confidence in what FEMA can do for you there in California:
| QUOTE |
| FEMA Admits It Held Fake Press Conference about California Wildfires; FEMA Staffers Posed as Journalists On Tuesday, FEMA staged a fake press conference with agency staffers posing as news reporters. One FEMA staffer who pretended to be a journalist has since been promoted to become head of public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/29/140259 |
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Post Date: 30th Oct, 2007 - 10:21am / Post ID: #
Fires California
Some of my classmates and I have been following the California fire storm issue with quite a bit of interest. Year after year the same thing happens in the roughly the same areas. Why are preventative measures not being taken? All of the information I've found says that controlled burns can help with the issue, so why isn't this being done?
California Fires
| QUOTE (Secruss) |
| controlled burns can help with the issue, so why isn't this being done? |
Controlled burns *are* done, but this is not the only answer to the problem. These can often become out of control, and they have to have optimal weather conditions to even begin. In addition, due to air quality issues, there are limits to how many can be done each year.
Part of the problem is clearing brush. Each homeowner has to take responsibility for doing this, but some don't, and in some cases they aren't allowed to because of some "environmental" issue. I read an email recently about a family that was prevented from clearing brush because of some endangered species of butterfly - yet their multi-million-dollar house was completely destroyed by fire because of their close proximity. You may have read about the problems they had in Lake Tahoe due to their regulations about not clearing trees.
We also fail to realize that fire is part of the natural cycle of life here. There are some species of trees, such as redwoods and lodgepole pines, that can't even reproduce without fire! It isn't something that can be controlled - just like the earthquakes that we have every single day.
With flooding 2-3 years ago and a couple of very, very dry winters in between, we had perfect conditions for brush fires this year. The intense Santa Ana winds exacerbated the problem, however, and pushed the fires into residential areas rather than being contained in the open.
And don't even get me started on sick arsonists who get some kind of thrill from killing by fire.
Part of the problem is clearing brush. Each homeowner has to take responsibility for doing this, but some don't, and in some cases they aren't allowed to because of some "environmental" issue. I read an email recently about a family that was prevented from clearing brush because of some endangered species of butterfly - yet their multi-million-dollar house was completely destroyed by fire because of their close proximity. You may have read about the problems they had in Lake Tahoe due to their regulations about not clearing trees.
We also fail to realize that fire is part of the natural cycle of life here. There are some species of trees, such as redwoods and lodgepole pines, that can't even reproduce without fire! It isn't something that can be controlled - just like the earthquakes that we have every single day.
With flooding 2-3 years ago and a couple of very, very dry winters in between, we had perfect conditions for brush fires this year. The intense Santa Ana winds exacerbated the problem, however, and pushed the fires into residential areas rather than being contained in the open.
And don't even get me started on sick arsonists who get some kind of thrill from killing by fire.
Rather off topic, but...
 What makes you think I had any confidence in them to begin with? This just reinforces my original opinion of FEMA. |
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California Fires - Page 2
| QUOTE |
and in some cases they aren't allowed to because of some "environmental" issue |
Precisely.
The Sierra Club and environmental groups like them have been restricting the clearing of overgrown dead brush because they thought that they were keeping the natural order of things. But the natural order of things is to let the brush burn. Before we got here the brush was naturally removed by lightning every few years by fire. Now, well meaning individuals have been allowing the dead brush to accumulate for decades creating a tinderbox and have tried to stop every fire that has started in the forest.
The mantra "Only you can prevent forest fires" actually was one of the reasons that these fires are so large. As a national policy we stopped any natural fire from clearing dead brush. We now have several feet of tinder that usually was removed from the forest by fire. Fire is actually a good thing for the forest if allowed to naturally occur.
An interesting treatise on this
Mega forest fires -- caused by global warming or the Sierra Club?
Mary Mostert
| QUOTE |
So, what has happened in those largely conifer Western forests in the meantime? They have been largely overrun by brush that creates the kind of mammoth fires we are now witnessing in the West. Fire is nature's way of keeping conifer forests healthy, as even the Sierra Club is now belatedly beginning to comprehend. Without the small regular fires that we have been putting out in our forests for the last 100 years what we now have are forests overrun by brush that not only strangles the conifers but also changes the ecology of the conifer forests. |
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California Fires Politics Business Civil & History - Page 2
Was it a kid playing with matches who started this whole nightmare?
| QUOTE |
| SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A prosecutor will be asked to consider the case of a boy accused of starting a massive wildfire by playing with matches. Fueled by ferocious desert winds, the fire quickly spread, burning more than 38,000 acres and destroying 21 homes. The boy, whose name and age were not released, admitted to sparking the fire on Oct. 21, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Diane Hecht said Tuesday. "He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," she said in a statement. The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. It was not clear if he had been arrested or cited by detectives. The fire began in an area near Agua Dulce and quickly spread. It was among 15 or so major wildfires that killed 14 people, destroyed some 2,100 homes and blackened 809 square miles from Los Angeles to the Mexican border last week. Authorities arrested five people for arson during that period, but none have been linked to any of the major blazes... |
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TOPIC: California Fires