California Wildfires running thread

[SixToe]

Let's say LAFD has double what it has now -- staffing, money, equipment, all the things. Even triple what they have now. They have three times as many helicopters, aircraft, hoses, trucks, people, gear, everything.

Mother Nature would've laughed. She is undefeated.

Whether LAFD has what it has now, or has three or five or 10 times the amount, a fire blowing on 80-100 mph winds through fuel-filled canyons that are hard to access is going to burn the ship out of a lot of stuff. And while all of the three or five or 10x LAFD attention is focused on putting out that Pallisades fire because it's big and threatening, what about the Eaton fire that pops up 40 miles away (or whatever) and now they have to divert? Or the fire that starts up north?

Mother Nature is going to do her thing. Floods, tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, whatever.

If Asheville and that area in North Carolina and over in east Tennessee had double or triple the protections for flooding and river surge, it wouldn't have mattered when that storm hit last September. You'd literally have to channelize the scenic, beautiful river like the Army Corps of Engineers does with canals and concrete and ugly ship, and even then Mother Nature still wins.

LAFD probably needs more of everything - money, gear, trucks, all the stuff. Would that help curtail or manage a bit? Yes, to a degree. But out there, in that mix of urban and wild rugged land, they're going to always have fires, floods, landslides, earthquakes and no amount of money can stop those.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Add that climate change has shifted rain/drought patterns. Early rain means a lot of brush grows, followed by drought which dries that brush to the point where it burns very easily. That's bad enough, but with the wind at 60+, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

We won't even talk about arsonists or idiots who are careless with fire.

 

[I Should Coco]

Honestly those arsonists they've caught trying to start fires in SoCal over the past week should be tied up and dragged to their death behind a fire truck. Humanity at its worst.

 

[Twirling Time]

Add that climate change has shifted rain/drought patterns. Early rain means a lot of brush grows, followed by drought which dries that brush to the point where it burns very easily. That's bad enough, but with the wind at 60+, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

We won't even talk about arsonists or idiots who are careless with fire.

Texas has been very fortunate the last decade with this weather pattern. Spring and even early summer can be really wet and cause brush and grash growth which then dries out quickly in the hell of July and August.

Spring is the biggest season for these fires because it gets warmer and the wind really whips out of the south. The Panhandle had a mashive brush fire last year that covered over a million acres. There are exceptions, of course: The Bastrop fire in 2011 (which happened in September in a really bad drought year) took more than 1,000 homes and the entire town of Ringgold was lost in a fire that started on New Year's Day 2006.

 

[Songbird]

I figured but the image leaves much to the imagination.

Burnett with the previous and current owners of the bus which apparently was parked there during the fire and sustained only minor damage.

 

[MileHigh]

Calling total BS on that.

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[MileHigh]

Likely paywalled, but a gut-punch of a read by Plaschke.

Plaschke: The unbearable guilt of losing nothing — and everything — in the Altadena wildfire

 

[Batman]

She wants to help them with their hoses.

 

[micropolitan guy]

She wants to help them with their hoses.

She probably knows how to handle a hose, too.

 

[HanSenSE]

She wants to help them with their hoses.

Special rate for Engine Company 6?

 

[Patchen]

I know this is their thing and they love it, and I know it's been said a million times, but the cruelty of Trump and his cult to attack during these fires is astounding. The sad thing is, amplifying lies during the North Carolina floods that made it harder for FEMA and other officials to do their job is worse. Just horrible people and it's so disheartening so many follow along.