CA Fires

[Tanis143]

I heard that the fires were caused by a campfire and that the state doesn't clear out underbrush and dead wood in the forests.
You'd think that if they subscribed to global warming that they'd do everything they could to prevent heating up the planet. Heck, here in Oklahoma a burn ban is issued by the government, no outdoor fires, no burning of trash, no open flames etc. If they'd try something like that in CA maybe it'd help a little.

I read earlier that they may have been caused by two different powerline failures. Though right now all they have is two power companies that registered failures of some type close to the same time and place the fires started. I'll try to find a link.

*edit*

Ok, found the link I read it from. I know ya'll will groan at the source, but here is where I read it:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/12/us/california-wildfires-woolsey-camp-hill-missing/index.html

 

[Shadowrider]

Major failure of leadership by Californian politicians. First you allow people to build in unsafe locations upslope of massive fuel loads, then you kowtow to environmental groups in not allowing the thinning or removal those fuel loads and finally you blame it all on global warming.

^^^ This. So much this.

 

[Okie4570]

Same discussion on another forum, lot's of folks that live in those areas of CA where the fires are. The political issues regarding fire prevention and suppression are knee deep, and go all the way back to the Clinton era.

 

[SMS]

Did we blame politics and liberal land management policies for our devastating wildfires in western Oklahoma recently? Or do we just like kicking California while it’s burning and people are dying?

 

[Dale00]

Steep hillsides are significantly more risky than flat ground when it comes to fires. Hillsides loaded with dry brush are in effect chimneys waiting to be lit. When you further consider that dense housing developments were allowed on those California hillsides while western Oklahoma has a low density of human dwellings, the need for safety and preventative measures was much higher in California.

I've been on those Chaparral covered hillsides in southern California a lot working as an undergrad for a researcher studying fire succession and the effects on wildlife communities. Black sage, manzanita and other oil-laden brush naturally mature into a "torch" of mature dry fuels waiting for a fire to come though so it will be opened up for new successional plants. The politicians for whatever reasons turned a blind eye to the threat.

Something similar happened in Australia a few years ago with loss of life. Tragic mismanagement.

 

[SMS]

I actually don't disagree that land management plays a role in fire suppression/mitigation, but tweeting out bullh$t like the President did while the fires are still raging and Americans are losing their homes and lives, just because they are Californians and liberals (some of them), is in poor taste and doesn't help one bit. It's politicizing a crisis, just like the Dems try to do after a shooting (and you know how we criticize them for doing that).

The discussion should be had after the crisis is over.

 

[Okie4570]

Did we blame politics and liberal land management policies for our devastating wildfires in western Oklahoma recently? Or do we just like kicking California while it’s burning and people are dying?

Actually Forestry management of resources or lack there of. We had two helicopters dropping water on hot spots NW of Woodward, while homes were burning down at the Rhea fire south of us 75 miles.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I actually don't disagree that land management plays a role in fire suppression/mitigation, but tweeting out bullh$t like the President did while the fires are still raging and Americans are losing their homes and lives, just because they are Californians and liberals (some of them), is in poor taste and doesn't help one bit. It's politicizing a crisis, just like the Dems try to do after a shooting (and you know how we criticize them for doing that).

The discussion should be had after the crisis is over.

Actually, we're having the discussion before the NEXT conflagration. In fact, this same discussion has been ongoing since long before these latest fires.

Funny, isn't it? On the left, common sense plays no part in the prevention and minimizing of these conflagrations just like no common sense plays a part in preventing and minimizing mass shootings and murders. Conflagrations can be minimized with proper forestry just like mass shootings and murder can be minimized with proper arming.

Woody

 

[Dale00]

his

I actually don't disagree that land management plays a role in fire suppression/mitigation, but tweeting out bullh$t like the President did while the fires are still raging and Americans are losing their homes and lives, just because they are Californians and liberals (some of them), is in poor taste and doesn't help one bit. It's politicizing a crisis, just like the Dems try to do after a shooting (and you know how we criticize them for doing that).

The discussion should be had after the crisis is over.

I agree to a limited extent, but consider that in the middle of this crisis the governor has outrageously blamed it on global warming instead of accepting any responsibility or recognizing any need to change his policies. Global warming is nowhere near as important as poor land management, driven by near willful blindness to the risk. When leadership lives in a world of misleading sloganeering concepts there is a big problem. I am a native Californian and love the state. I hate to see the ship being steered toward the iceberg.

 

[Shadowrider]

I actually don't disagree that land management plays a role in fire suppression/mitigation, but tweeting out bullh$t like the President did while the fires are still raging and Americans are losing their homes and lives, just because they are Californians and liberals (some of them), is in poor taste and doesn't help one bit. It's politicizing a crisis, just like the Dems try to do after a shooting (and you know how we criticize them for doing that).

The discussion should be had after the crisis is over.

I guess you aren't referring to this one.