SoCal fires

[mancroft]

Anybody affected by the SoCal fires?

[Ghost-Girl]

Yup, so far we've just got some people holing out in our house, but if it keeps going like this, we'll probably get an evacuation warning later on today.

[bluebell]

Yup, so far we've just got some people holing out in our house, but if it keeps going like this, we'll probably get an evacuation warning later on today.

Eek. Hope it all turns out ok.

[Anonymous]

Still want to move, Hustler? But really, this does suck. Hope everyone down there is ok. Wasn't it just last year that this happened, or was it two years ago?

[Ghost-Girl]

Wasn't it just last year that this happened, or was it two years ago?

The cedar fires were in 2003.

I'm glad that I'm a bit more out of the way this time. Before, the fires reached right up to the back of our property, and we watched 100 year old oak trees goes up in seconds. Very scary.

The current map:
http://www.cbs8.com/misc/fires_oct_07/wildfire_map_0900am.jpg

[Sollas]

I'm currently at work right now. But i do live in the San Marcos area. Depending on how things are in the next couple hours or so i might make a run out to the desert.

Breathing the smoke really isn't helping much.

[Lateralus]

Isn't is great how California has to absorb all the water from hundreds of miles around (viaducts), yet it's still on fire? :rolleyes:

I really don't have sympathy for people threatened by the wildfires in California. It's not like this is a new phenomenon. I wonder if I could build a house on a volcano, in California, and demand that the fire department protect me from eruptions.

[steelle]

Yeah. Although if it weren't for all the ash in the air, I'd prefer it this way: the sky is beautiful...

[pan_sonic_000]

I'm in Oceanside.

The horizon is dark gray right now, but I can't really smell much smoke yet. There's a fairly good chance I'll have to evacuate.

God I hate this fucking state.

[xNTP]

I can see the Fallbrook smoke. GhostGal, hope you're okay.

[outmywindow]

It's not like this is a new phenomenon. I wonder if I could build a house on a volcano, in California, and demand that the fire department protect me from eruptions.

Yeah, you can, just the same way people can choose to live in a bowl 20 feet below sea level and still demand help during hurricanes. Pretty much every inhabited area on the face of the earth has one natural disaster or an other to which it is prone. Speaking of which, don't you live on the coast of Florida?

Also, as far as I know, virtually all dry land on the planet is flammable. I don't think wildfires are a problem exclusive to California.

[chicane]

Yeah, you can, just the same way people can choose to live in a bowl 20 feet below sea level and still demand help during hurricanes. Pretty much every inhabited area on the face of the earth has one natural disaster or an other to which it is prone. Speaking of which, don't you live on the coast of Florida?

Also, as far as I know, virtually all dry land on the planet is flammable. I don't think wildfires are a problem exclusive to California.

yes, greece had it badly this summer.
we have few people that couldn't get to work because of road closures today.

[Lateralus]

Yeah, you can, just the same way people can choose to live in a bowl 20 feet below sea level and still demand help during hurricanes. Pretty much every inhabited area on the face of the earth has one natural disaster or an other to which it is prone. Speaking of which, don't you live on the coast of Florida?
Yep, but Florida is above sea level, unlike New Orleans (another stupid place to build a city). I wouldn't call wildfires a natural disaster, though. I see wildfires as a positive.


Also, as far as I know, virtually all dry land on the planet is flammable. I don't think wildfires are a problem exclusive to California.
There were wildfires in Florida, this year. They're the exception rather than the rule, though. You hear about it happening in California every single year. That's what is so annoying about this. Every single year, you can turn on the television and...Oh no! California is burning again. Duh, you have to take water away from other parts of the country just to survive.

[Ponderous]

I wouldn't call wildfires a natural disaster, though. I see wildfires as a positive.
Perhaps you missed the news...


"This is an arson fire. There are three separate starts," said Chief Chip Prather, Orange County Fire Dept.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5721020

[outmywindow]

There were wildfires in Florida, this year. They're the exception rather than the rule, though. You hear about it happening in California every single year. That's what is so annoying about this. Every single year, you can turn on the television and...Oh no! California is burning again. Duh, you have to take water away from other parts of the country just to survive.

Perhaps one reason California wildfires garner more attention is because they generally occur in widely known, heavily populated areas. In 2000, the most recent year that national fire statistics are available, 235,000 acres burned in California. Eight states had higher numbers, with Idaho coming in at number one at 1.3 million. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, and I mean this seriously, Southern Californian happenings tend to make the national news more frequently than seems appropriate, perhaps because it's one of the major population and economic centers of the country. An imbalance in coverage can really skew the general perception of wildfires, apparently.

[Ghost-Girl]

"This is an arson fire. There are three separate starts," said Chief Chip Prather, Orange County Fire Dept.
That news story mentions that just one of the fires was arson. I know another one was supposedly started by a downed power line.


I can see the Fallbrook smoke. GhostGal, hope you're okay.

Thanks. :)

[HappyNoodleBoy]

Perhaps one reason California wildfires garner more attention is because they generally occur in widely known, heavily populated areas. In 2000, the most recent year that national fire statistics are available, 235,000 acres burned in California. Eight states had higher numbers, with Idaho coming in at number one at 1.3 million. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, and I mean this seriously, Southern Californian happenings tend to make the national news more frequently than seems appropriate, perhaps because it's one of the major population and economic centers of the country. An imbalance in coverage can really skew the general perception of wildfires, apparently.

Its all about the money. You can see the difference even within california. The Malibu fire gets the most coverage on the news even though the Santa Clarita and Santiago Canyon fires are 10 times (literally) as big. About 10 buildings and 5 thousand acres have been destroyed in Malibu while a 100 buildings and 40 thousand acres have been destroyed in each of the others. It wouldn't be as bad if it was just the media coverage, but its not. You can see fleets of helicopters and planes dropping water on the fire in malibu, but not one in either of the others. They say its because of bad flying conditions in the mountains, but seriously if the 4 million dollar homes were in the canyon instead of Malibu who here thinks they might risk it?

Also

I wouldn't call wildfires a natural disaster, though. I see wildfires as a positive.
There are some desert plants that rely on brush fires to spread their seed, mostly the oily ones. Most people think fires devestate the vegetation, but its quite the opposite in deserts. Not like burning down a rain forest.

[xNTP]

My eyes are burning like... well... Southern California. :-/

[Architectonic]

Now is their chance to cut down all of those eucalyptus trees....

[angelique]

I love Malibu. :(
It seems to me that these fires aren't a coincidence- obviously someone/individuals decided to set fire to these beautiful cities.

[slacker]

Now is their chance to cut down all of those eucalyptus trees....

:highfive:

[pan_sonic_000]

The whole sky is the color of piss right now and there's a thin layer of ash covering everything. Even sitting here in the house, all closed up ...I can still smell it. I'm pretty sure we'll have to evacuate.

[stopharian]

Pulitzer prize winner John McPhee's Book Basin and Range is a long used text in geology and geography class rooms which examines in detail man's hubris with regard to building in the San Gabriel Mountains. His study if I remember is mostly on the catch basins, but I think it also deals with the cycles of wildfires and mudslides(The Mudslides come this winter on the denuded hillsides). The book also studies the Atchafalaya diversion(The Mississippi wouldnt pass through New orleans if it werent for the Army Corps) and Lava damming in Iceland.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MJKH0FS5L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

Highly reccomended.