There's actually quite a few notable fires in November or October. It's not a rare occurence in the state but I can understand how odd it might be to some. It's the winds that mostly fan this stuff to begin with. If we didn't have those it would probably be fine.
4% humidity! Fun! I can't feel my fucking nose cause it's so dry!
death toll in the 40s now, haven’t even started search and rescue yet
This all could've been prevented or not be as awful if there was proper federal funding. It's a fucking atrocity.
October to mid december is fire season in California. This is the point in the year most fires start.
This big fire is from a lack of management over the last few decades. These ares are meant to burn every 5 to 10 years, but don't get the opporitunity to due to development. To go along with the development, clearing and controlled burns are nessecary to prevent bit out of control firees from happening. However, they've been niglecting to do clearing and controlled burns for the last decade. Firemanagement has been sorely lacking, and this is the result.
It's worth noting, that virtuall all the native plants in California are made to burn, and many need to burn to properly grow or reproduce.
I understand this can be a part of a functioning ecosystem but this will never not horrify the everloving shit out of me.
Intentionally setting small, controllable fires in forested residential areas to cut down is something people already do, in places like national parks where the remote and sparsely-inhabited conditions also limit collateral damage to people and property.
In California, there has been an effort to increase the frequency of controlled fires for years, but it's not just a question of funding, federal or otherwise. Conditions on the ground and in air have to be just right for any potential fire to be controllable (if it's too hot, wet or windy they have to cancel). Permission is required from state and municipal authorities for the proper permits to allow for the infrastructure and time for fire control teams to work and have to be planned months in advance (closed streets, water mains, etc.).
The most important factor is the smoke. There is danger locally of course, but the geography and forest cover of central and southern California are arranged just so to perfectly funnel smoke and pollutants right towards very densely-inhabited areas like LA or the central valley, and it can be carried a long way. To note, I live near LAX (southeast corner of map) and the air quality is terrible enough that I can't be outside for long without a mask, and the sky has a persistent yellow haze.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/20181112/PIA22816-16.jpg
Controlled fires produce less harmful air conditions than uncontrolled ones do (by their smaller and shorter-lived nature) but the fact that even a small fire will produce smoke that will be carried a long way and be a hazard to public health is undeniable. The state has tried to balance the need to cut down on dry plant litter with the harm to public health any fires cause, but the fires are happening with such increasing regularity that people here are beginning to normalize them as just another thing you have to deal with, like earthquakes. I'm concerned people will treat them like they do earthquakes, as something we can't do anything about so they don't bother preparing for them. The difference is that there are preventative measures that can greatly reduce the severity and the harmful impacts of these fires. I hope that people will at least come together to understand a few controllable, small fires periodically are for the common good.
The alternative is they'll continue to be pricks who move into forested areas and complain that nature is ruining their vineyard.
https://twitter.com/jacknicas/status/1062162154906742784?s=19
There's more pictures in the thread. Absolutely insane that the truck survived this, massive testament to the build quality.
Toyota reached out and they're giving him a new truck for free.
That's a big help alone to anyone who's lost everything to the fire.
I can't even begin to imagine how many people are left with nothing to their name and nowhere to go.
I wondering what happened to all those people whos cars caught fire suck in gridlock
You don't want to imagine what happened there, trust me.
There's a video from Paradise where your queries can be answered.
Trump is threatening to cut our funding again because we're being mean to him and didn't vote for him
it's 48 now
I hate that vile man beyond words.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
