*Sigh* We're on Fire...Again!

3113

Hello Summer!
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
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Why can't we have one heatwave without bursting into flames?

Scorching temperatures continued to stoke wildfires across Southern California on Friday, creating anxious moments in the mountains north and east of Los Angeles where thousands of residents fled flames that skipped through canyons, edging toward one neighborhood after another.

More than 2,700 firefighters and a small air force of water- and fire retardant-dropping planes and helicopters managed to stop the blazes before they swept into hillside housing tracts. But smoky air from the fires continued to create unhealthful conditions in parts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, disrupting schools, horseback riding programs and day camps near the fire areas.
Rest here.
 
'Cause that's what the chaparral does. A lot of those plants can't even seed until they've been properly scorched. Haven't you seen the chaparral exhibit at LACNHM? Unfortunately, newcomers with bucks don't realize that and insist on building houses at ground zero. D'uh!


However, it should start to cool down slightly Sunday. Now if we could only get a monsoon when we need one! :mad:
 
Have to get rid of that annoying grass somehow, got to make room for the winter mudslides!
 
Highly insured houses with a view, midslope, adjacent to draws; wonder how many are secondary homes. Still...doesn't change the hazard of the structure protection or access.
 
So far we've avoided the fire season here. But I've been through it living up north. We had to evacuate a couple of times.

I'm so sorry for all you CA residents who are going through it.

Even though it may be nature's way, it's still tough on the humans.

:heart:
 
And country bears. Us suburban types with the good sense to live near the ocean are more sanguine. Did I ever tell you how great-grandpa got that job with the Forest Service?
 
Stay safe, 3. *HUGS*
Many thanks, though my area is in no immediate danger. We did head into the valley and saw the smoke billowing. And I mean billowing. It was scary. Air quality is very bad. The heat very intense, very dry. Like being in an oven. Odd that kind of heat; it doesn't sap your strength like humid heat. But boy do you feel it.

And country bears. Us suburban types with the good sense to live near the ocean are more sanguine. Did I ever tell you how great-grandpa got that job with the Forest Service?
And did great-grandpa prevent forest fires? :cattail:
 
Many thanks, though my area is in no immediate danger. We did head into the valley and saw the smoke billowing. And I mean billowing. It was scary. Air quality is very bad. The heat very intense, very dry. Like being in an oven. Odd that kind of heat; it doesn't sap your strength like humid heat. But boy do you feel it.


And did great-grandpa prevent forest fires? :cattail:

Funny that you should mention that . . . :D
 
'Cause that's what the chaparral does. A lot of those plants can't even seed until they've been properly scorched. Haven't you seen the chaparral exhibit at LACNHM? Unfortunately, newcomers with bucks don't realize that and insist on building houses at ground zero. D'uh!


However, it should start to cool down slightly Sunday. Now if we could only get a monsoon when we need one! :mad:

So true. Same is true for various pine forests in Florida. It's gut wrenching and hard to accept, but sometimes a forest needs a good fire. Yet, property gets in the way and complicates everything. :(

I wish fire breaks were coded fifty years ago within every community in Southern California. :confused:
 
So far we've avoided the fire season here. But I've been through it living up north. We had to evacuate a couple of times.

I'm so sorry for all you CA residents who are going through it.

Even though it may be nature's way, it's still tough on the humans.

Nah. Humans, being intelligent creatures, wouldn't build homes in places with a high natural fire or flood risk. That would be a foolish thing to do.
 
Nah. Humans, being intelligent creatures, wouldn't build homes in places with a high natural fire or flood risk. That would be a foolish thing to do.

I actually propose we do it because of the challenge. We're wired that way. "Where can we live that we shouldn't? The top of a mountain? Sounds good. I like snow. In a Florida swamp? Who minds a little dampness. Alaska? Hey, I hear there's gold up there! A boat on the ocean? I love to fish!" :D

See. We're born to do it.
 
Not just in the South!

Today a fire in Auburn, CA, burned 30 or more homes in an afternoon of flames. It was 100 degrees in the foothills when the fire started. We won't find out how many homes burned in the "Greenbelt" area north of Auburn until daybreak. :eek:
 
I feel for you. The fires have started already in Australia, even before the end of winter. We had two windy 28c days last week. It was scary. It is shaping up to be a very dangerous season here.
 
The weird thing about fires in SoCal when I lived there back in the late 60's and 70's was that most of them were arson. Is it the same today or are more of them acts of nature?
 
The weird thing about fires in SoCal when I lived there back in the late 60's and 70's was that most of them were arson. Is it the same today or are more of them acts of nature?

Current suspicion is either arson or stupidity.
 
As long as it brings rain, we'll take it!
Damn right! Here's the latest:

A massive fire in the Angeles National Forest nearly doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes Monday in a 20-mile-long swath of flame and smoke and surging toward a mountaintop broadcasting complex and historic observatory. The fire had burned at least 18 homes and was moving north, south and east through the rugged foothills northeast of Los Angeles. Despite the lack of wind, it surged without letup by running through steep granite canyons and feeding on brush that had not burned for 40 years, fire officials said.

"It's burning everywhere," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dianne Cahir said. "When it gets into canyons that haven't burned in numerous years, it takes off...."

The fire had burned 134 square miles of brush and trees by early Monday and was just 5 percent contained. About 12,000 homes, as well as communications and astronomy centers atop Mount Wilson, were threatened by fire.
More here.

Again, my area of SoCal is in no immediate danger, but we can see the smoke and the air is really bad. We're all red-eyed and coughing, suffering headaches. And we know several people in the evacuation areas. Scary and terrible.
 
Damn right! Here's the latest:


More here.

Again, my area of SoCal is in no immediate danger, but we can see the smoke and the air is really bad. We're all red-eyed and coughing, suffering headaches. And we know several people in the evacuation areas. Scary and terrible.
I just wish you'd keep your second hand smoke out of the high desert. :p There is an air quality warning for sensitive people because of smoke from the southern california wildfires her in Las Vegas today.

I noticed last night that the air smelled like a sagebrush barbeque -- which could have been the homeless people in the vacant lot next door except for the all encompassing haze that went with it.
 
Jimena?

winds...its always the winds
stability, directional flow, w/possible opposing fronts
let's not dare the fire funnel in certain topographies

perhaps ill check forcast now

smoke? .........i was blowing south myself
 
Day 7...and we're still on fire :(

It's like one of the biggest fires in L.A. History, and yep, it was Arson.

From Yahoo News:
The U.S. Forest Service says arson is the cause of the wildfire north of Los Angeles that killed two firefighters. Deputies have launched a homicide investigation. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is looking for the person who set the fire that's destroyed more than five dozen homes and burned 226 square miles.
 
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