~ ¿ why is california always catching on fire ? ~


all the other exmos in u s american states an canida an mexico seem to be doing jus fine ~


( in b 4 ~ except tennessee exmos ) ~


in b 4 ~ mudslides ~


in b 4 ~ earthquakes ~



~ asking for a frend ~


in b 4 ~ in b 4 ~


in b 4 ~ Hurricane Harvey ~ ( RIP ) ~

Probably has something to do with water...or the lack thereof.

Wood loading. Dead wood accumulates until it’s a wildfire waiting to happen. Normally, nature starts small fires to burn out this underbrush. We inhibit these fires until a fire starts that we can’t put out. One way or another, there’s gonna be a fire.

If Nature could talk (which it can't...at least, not using spoken language), I think Nature would say that wildfires are the natural way that growth is renewed.

In the year or so following wildfires, and assuming that it is a normal rain year, the plant growth on the land is spectacular: green fields and sagebrush and miles and miles of California poppies in particular (the poppies are what is most often photographed to show California at its best)...

...but, since I grew up on that land, what I like best is the "watermelon grass"...the tender individual stalks you pluck out from the rest of the plant (these grasses that only grow in "good" years). The closest-to-the-root, white part of the stalks taste like very good quality watermelon, and they have the texture of creamy tiramisu, and they are a sure signal of California's "good-year" bounty.

All of that growth is well appreciated by our native animals then, too...especially the rabbits and all of the other herbivores, who then begin reproducing at much higher levels...

...which (unfortunately, sadly) means that there is then abundant food for the mammals of prey and the birds of prey, whose numbers also grow rapidly compared to other years.

In the year or two following wildfires (and, again, assuming that it is a good rain year), everything that is best about California begins growing, thriving, and reproducing abundantly, and in intensified-over-"normal"-years colors, throughout those areas.

Photographers come and take gorgeous pictures of land and mountains and desert-like areas that look (and ARE) like dream pictures to people from most other places...

...which prompt more people to move to California (or move to "better"/more beautiful areas of California), and they build houses and streets and stores and schools...

...and then, at some point, the wildfires come again...

...only this time, most of what they burn is those houses and stores and schools, because too much of the beautiful natural field areas have been bulldozed...

...and the cycle begins again.

But the unbuilt hillsides and fields will (assuming that the next rainy season turns out to bring good rain) be beautiful, and frequently something close to unbelievably beautiful, next year, or possibly the year after...

...and among those still remaining, burnt-out, foundations of houses and stores and schools, the California poppies will bloom once again...

...and then the photographers will come and take beautiful new pictures of the gorgeous plants and the newly-renewed and abundant wildlife, and those pictures will be published in books and magazines all over our planet...

...and film production companies will swerve their productions to take full advantage of this spectacular visual bounty, and those films will be seen all over the planet...

...and the cycle will begin once again.

If this sounds bittersweet, it is.

It is also the true story of the Alta California I love.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2017 10:54PM by Tevai.

We have extremely dry summers in California. After a good wet winter (like last one) the vegetation is thick in the hills. In southern California the Santa Ana seasonal winds drive the wild fires. In northern Cal it's the dry north winds. Every time we suppress a fire we are accumulating fuel for the next one. Wildfires are natural to the state.

Also, we're soft on the gays.

donbagley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, we're soft on the gays.

:D :D :D :D :D :D

Also: there are some plants (and I don't know exactly which ones) which ONLY grow after a wildfire.

Something about the fire splits open their seeds, and allows germination to take place. (This is my recollection, anyway---does anyone know the specifics of the California plants that ONLY begin growing, or re-growing, after that area has burned?)

"Also, we're soft on the gays."

Oh man. You had to write that? You just know that some right wing religious zealot is actually going use a statement just like that for God burning California. And, a bunch of low IQ Americans are going to take it as gospel. Don, there's a lot more stupid Americans than we'd like to think.

I'm starting to wonder if there would be a way to build houses that are relatively fire-proof, in the same way that houses in other parts of the country are built to withstand hurricanes, or are elevated against floods, etc. If the interiors of houses can have sprinkler systems, why not the exteriors?

Ever been to Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, etc? The Europeans laugh at our 700K Mcmansions in the US. We use cheap materials that rot and burn. Our homes are built to last 40 years. Their homes are made to last centuries. They build roofs with tile or slate (won't burn). Interior walls are solid concrete, not drywall. Floors are tile, marble or hardwood over concrete base.They don't have closets and kitchen cabinets and appliances are not included in the home. When you move, you take your kitchen with you. Most European homes are passed down from generation to generation. They have a different mindset. We can build homes that don't burn. We just have to change building codes to do it.

As a European who's never been to the States, I have to admit that the frequency of fires in US homes is strikingly higher than anything I've ever experienced in the UK or France, even as reported in this forum, and I've wondered why this is.


This may be the reason.

Tom in Paris

I lived in a high rise in Eschborn, Germany that was entirely concrete. I remember when one fool set his apt. on fire and burned everything within. The apt doors were steel, so the fire never got outside the apt. Another bonus was the quiet. You couldn't hear a peep from an adjoining unit.

doesn't everything melt/ doesn't the metal melt? When a fire storm blown by wind rolls through. Check the temperature out. It isn't a kitchen fire or normal electrical wiring fire , one man who returned to the home he'd lived in for thirty years and noted that all his jewelry had melted. What temperature melts silver and gold and brass?

This temperature is more like a furnace or forge that melts things. Are the metal rebar in cinderblock structurlly sound (to lifting or holding a XX ton load secure again, or to earth quake code) after everything around them burns over?

A relative in nor Cal foot hill country and one in high Sierra put on a metal roof so embers might not take hold in shake. Others pay extra for structural supports to put on heavier ceramic tiles so embers can't start a roof fire. one relative sheeted the outside of their home in metal siding hoping to minimize risk. your fire insurance is lower in foothills mid state at least if you own a tank of water. I was wondering about dome homes but foam melts insulation burns and melts very disappointing. Concrete set in metal sounds strong however metal melts. Big wind like a a prairie fire talked about in laura ingalls Wilder books. Even melts the jewelry pots and pans.

You see no hot tubs left so apparently fiberglass burns or melts. How about graphite? does it melt>

Wildfires raging out of control is a fairly recent phenomenon on a timeline, for the west coast, and northwest.

So are the prolonged droughts and dry seasons that spur them on.

Burning infernos in Los Angeles and up north from there in Marin county (wine country,) destroying homes and taking lives I don't remember them ever being so out of control as they are this year.

There was even a fire which evacuated thousands in British Columbia and burned a western town. So you can't move north to avoid fires. Checking out temperatures on the west coast strangely similar temperatures at certain times of the year. Much colder temperatures northward are imaginary. Drought and warmer seasons stretched acrost thousands of miles

Yes, here in SoCal we used to control our fires and we planned on the gentle destruction they wrought. For the life of me, I don't know how we lost our previous control!

Here's a list of the top 20 CA fires:

(As I type and paste, I can't tell how it's going to look.)

FIRE NAME (CAUSE) DATE COUNTY ACRES STRUCTURES DEATHS

1 CEDAR ( Human Related) October 2003 San Diego 273,246 2,820 15
2 RUSH (Lightning ) August 2012 Lassen 271,911 CA / 43,666 NV 0 0
3 RIM (Human Related) August 2013 Tuolumne 257,314 112 0
4 ZACA (Human Related) July 2007 Santa Barbara 240,207 1 0
5 MATILIJA (Undetermined) September 1932 Ventura 220,000 0 0
6 WITCH (Powerlines) October 2007 San Diego 197,990 1,650 2
7 KLAMATH THEATER COMPLEX (Lightning) June 2008 Siskiyou 192,038 0 2
8 MARBLE CONE (Lightning) July 1977 Monterey 177,866 0 0
9 LAGUNA (POWERLINES) September 1970 San Diego 175,425 382 5
10 BASIN COMPLEX (Lightning) June 2008 Monterey 162,818 58 0
11 DAY FIRE (Human Related) September 2006 Ventura 162,702 11 0
12 STATION FIRE (Human Related) August 2009 Los Angeles 160,557 209 2
13 ROUGH (Lightning) July 2015 Fresno 151,623 4 0
14 McNALLY (Human Related) July 2002 Tulare 150,696 17 0
15 STANISLAUS COMPLEX (Lightning) August 1987 Tuolumne 145,980 28 1
16 BIG BAR COMPLEX (Lightning) August 1999 Trinity 140,948 0 0
17 HAPPY CAMP COMPLEX (Lightning) August 2014 Siskiyou 134,056 6 0
18 SOBERANES (Illegal Campfire) July 2016 Monterey 132,127 68 1
19 CAMPBELL COMPLEX (Powerlines) August 1990 Tehama 125,892 27 0
20 WHEELER (Arson) July 1985 Ventura 118,000 26 0

Here's the linky-dinky: http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/fact_sheets/Top20_Acres.pdf

I guess Idaho schools don't teach this bit of local history:

Great Fire of 1910
St Joe Idaho Fire 1910.jpg
Little North Fork of the St. Joe River, Idaho
Location Northeast Washington,
North Idaho,
Northwest Montana, U.S.
Statistics
Date(s) August 20–21, 1910
Burned area 3,000,000 acres (4,700 sq mi; 12,100 km2)
Cause not officially determined
Land use logging, mining, railroads
Fatalities 87


SL Cabbie was onto something...