The Terrible California Fires
A tweet -- as I look over at the painting my bubbie gave me, and glance at pretty yellow fake flowers on a ledge by my writerdesk that Nancy Rommelmann took from her writerdesk and sent me for my 50th birthday.
Beyond how terrible it is to lose a home, even if you and your loved ones and pets are safe, the small things of "no value" are actually so valuable -- the painting nobody would ever buy that your late grandma did that you reminds you of her. https://t.co/zRblUE61xr
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) December 7, 2017
Yes, we are probably the politically stupidest state in the Union.
However, I love California and the melange of people who have come here -- sometimes from way across the world, at great hardship -- because they want a part of the magical landscape and the social, intellectual, and business opportunity.
Not all are pioneers, but probably more than in many other places.
It ain't just the people, the natural world finds many of her finest expressions here. California has beauty to burn.
(Ask me about the fulfillment I've found in each region of that photograph)
Crid at December 7, 2017 9:25 AM
What's happening is terrible. There's no two ways about it. Let's round up whatever resources are needed to put out the fires. We can argue about root causes later.
Cousin Dave at December 7, 2017 10:46 AM
Quintuple greens fees to pay for the damage
lujlp at December 7, 2017 12:17 PM
Keep in mind that when the rains actually do start to fall, those areas will be subject to mud slides.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 7, 2017 12:24 PM
I've read from several different sources, but especially from Victor Davis Hanson, that one problem is that Environmentalists have decided it unnatural to clear dead wood from the flora in the forests and surrounding LA. This means that those areas are practically tinderboxes just waiting to burn up. Thoughts?
Ally at December 7, 2017 12:27 PM
There is also a type of brush out there - I believe it's called chaparral - that secretes a type of flammable oil. Terrible danger when it's dry.
mpetrie98 at December 7, 2017 12:53 PM
> called chaparral - that secretes
> a type of flammable oil
✓ Verily.
The natural history of these hill & mountainsides is composed around the virtual certainty of a fire every few years to clean out the underbrush and polish the food chain. These oils, after five or ten years (or as many years as people can delay them, permitting ever-more profitable Real Estate sales) are the chemical equivalent of a cute read gas can sitting every twenty-five feet on the ground.
Yeah, people shouldn't start fires. We should all be careful with our cigarette butts. And people who willfully start fires deserve our harshest prosecution.
But let's not kid ourselves about who've running the show on this planet... And it ain't Jerry Brown.
This is an excellent read.
Crid at December 7, 2017 1:51 PM
that one problem is that Environmentalists have decided it unnatural to clear dead wood from the flora in the forests and surrounding LA.
The problem isnt the moronic environmentalists who fail to mention that while clearing brush is unnatural so is putting out fires, & the lack of enough wild herbivores to eat the underbrush before it dies, & the number of humans living in a desert by the sea.
The problem is the moronic citizens who listen to the environmentalists and demand the government "do something"
lujlp at December 7, 2017 1:52 PM
I can't imagine what blessing gave that book for me to read the year before I moved here, but it did a lot to make California comprehensible.
This presumably includes some of the text from the book.
Crid at December 7, 2017 2:05 PM
Hmm.. I thought that these messes was to homeowners against controlled fires because it would either ruin the scenery and/or have a negative impact on the value of their properties.
Sixclaws at December 7, 2017 3:13 PM
As I understand it, the main problem caused by the enviro weenies is that one can't clear brush to establish a safe zone around their own house. Although I understand that is changing, or maybe people are just doing it anyway and the law is looking the other way.
Here in the East, forest fires burn on the ground. Some trees may fall in a fire, but most will remain standing and will still be alive. The fire burns off underbrush. If underbrush is kept clear, a fire usually won't propagate very much. So except for extremely dry weather, forest fires are usually not that hard to contain. The usual approach is to allow them to burn in undeveloped areas and just put up a perimeter around them.
In California, they get crown fires, where the fire gets into the tops of the trees. Crown fires are horrendous. They burn very hot and kill everything; they spread rapidly and can jump highways and cleared areas, so they are really hard to contain. To add to the problem, they have species of trees like eucalyptus that are basically oil bombs, much more flammable than any tree that grows in the East. Our ground fires over here on this side of the Mississippi are very tame by comparison. Occasional events like Gatlinburg are products of extremely dry weather and the specific terrain.
Burning off fields is a time-honored way of getting rid of weeds and replenishing the soil here in Alabama. No way could you do that in California.
Cousin Dave at December 8, 2017 7:00 AM
... and I can't believe that I managed to spell "eucalyptus" right the first time. Today must be my lucky day.
Cousin Dave at December 8, 2017 7:02 AM
Used to work with a guy who saw his house burn down - on CNN. He was on vacation and watching CNN at the airport awaiting his return flight. There was a story about a fire in his city. Then, he realized the house they were showing burning down was his.
At that moment, he realized that everything he had with him was everything he had.
His roommate had about five minutes to grab some things. He used most of them to get the cat and a change of clothes before running for his life.
Conan the Grammarian at December 8, 2017 8:39 AM
We also get rain 12 months out of the year in the East. In California, it may not rain at all between May and November. By August, things are pretty dry.
Conan the Grammarian at December 8, 2017 8:46 AM
"As I understand it, the main problem caused by the enviro weenies is that one can't clear brush to establish a safe zone around their own house. "
Checking with CalFire:
"In January 2005 a new state law became effective that extended the defensible space clearance around homes and structures from 30 feet to 100 feet."
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 8, 2017 10:56 AM
Gog, thanks. I didn't realize it had been that long ago. I remember the controversy about homeowners and firebreak zones being talked about in the Oakland fire, from back around 1998.
Cousin Dave at December 8, 2017 11:35 AM
This is natural, you know. California is just fighting its most invasive species.
Radwaste at December 10, 2017 9:32 AM
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