Extensive prescribed burning- called hazard reduction burning here- is carried out every autumn in SE Australia. Large sections of remote national parks and forest reserves are set alight in April and May- relatively calm and cooler months here. The obvious downside is smoke pollution, which can be a problem in Sydney because it's in a basin (similar to Los Angeles). Hazard reductions don't prevent all large bush/wild fires but they are useful in fire mitigation, particularly in residential areas at the urban/bushland interface.
Unfortunately, firebugs (arsonists) are the main cause of uncontrolled fires here. You can bet on a fire starting, in certain areas, whenever a hot and windy day occurs.
Not as simple as it seems, though. The under-story plants are ecologically very valuable, so you want to make sure they can recover. That means you should burn smaller patches and burn more often. Better for the animals, too. You don't want the fire to be too hot and cook the seed-bed, but you need things dry enough to burn. In many areas the tree density is higher than it should be, because people chopped everything down and we ended up with a bunch of young trees.
Then there are the times the burns get away from them, and it really pisses people off when the Fireys torch their houses. With climate change, and the policy to increase prescribed burns after the Black Saturday fires in Victoria, the burn season and the fire season run into each other.
I should go rake up the yellow gum bark across the street from my house.
Location: The Valley Of The Sun near Canberra Gender:
Posted:
Nov 18, 2018 - 6:07pm
Extensive prescribed burning- called hazard reduction burning here- is carried out every autumn in SE Australia. Large sections of remote national parks and forest reserves are set alight in April and May- relatively calm and cooler months here. The obvious downside is smoke pollution, which can be a problem in Sydney because it's in a basin (similar to Los Angeles). Hazard reductions don't prevent all large bush/wild fires but they are useful in fire mitigation, particularly in residential areas at the urban/bushland interface.
Unfortunately, firebugs (arsonists) are the main cause of uncontrolled fires here. You can bet on a fire starting, in certain areas, whenever a hot and windy day occurs.
This probably wouldn't be so bad if they would allow the dead trees to be removed from all the forest.
And there was better management of those forest lands.
There's all kinds of dead and diseased trees in our local mountains and everywhere else in California.
Restricted laws and regulations in this State won't allow this to happen in an efficient manner.
All it takes is some idiot with a match or the idiot utility companies here in California for a disaster.
Pacific Gas and Electric has been pretty much the blame for the huge Napa fire last year and for this recent Paradise / Camp fire because of downed power lines.
Southern California Edison was to blame for the huge fire in Los Angeles/ Ventura county fires last year for the same reason.
And our wonderful governor just gave them a pass.
The others were arson related.
Rain is coming in a form of a winter weather pattern starting mid next week.
This is absolutely correct. Once upon a time in California, these things did happen. It was called conservation. Managing land and resources for the betterment and safety of the residents. Logging, removing brush and deadwood, cutting fire breaks and controlled burns to prevent these things from happening.
Most of the laws enacted that prevent these things from happening were created by new arrivals from the east who have no idea how the ecology of California works and worked in the past.
Edit : I remember as a kid when we lived up in the Berkeley Hills in the early 60's, my Dad would do a controlled burn of the grass along side of our house every year. He kept referring to the Wildcat Canyon Fire and how this was a preventive measure against something like that. He was also building four homes on Wildcat Canyon Road at the time. The Wildcat Canyon Fire made the 1991 Berkeley firestorm look like a weenie roast. My Mom lost a sorority sister in the 1991 fire. Her body was never found.
Here's another story on the fire I found while noodling around. It lays blame to a, wait for it ... a PG&E downed power line (as verified in the pdf posted below) ... Our house in the hills which my Dad built was on Cragmont Road, a street mentioned in the story. Fire! From Wildcat Canyon to Zeta Tau AlphaThe story even has footage of the fire.
These fires are not new and have nothing to do with global warming. It is just part of living in California. Just like earthquakes ... That and PG&E's continued negligence coupled with screwy environmentalists making the environment more dangerous and unsafe by refusing to recognize reality. The oft referenced 'Diablo winds' are the same Santana's for us old folks or the Santa Ana's as the PC culture now call them. The same winds that fueled the Paradise Camp fire and the fires down in SoCal.
And more reading from a pdf ... This is just the history of one town in California. Earlier in this thread I mentioned how many times Malibu Canyon has caught fire when a video was posted.
Bill Goldsmith has become fairly private about his affairs.
I really don't blame him... we RP'ers a fairly fanatical.
This probably wouldn't be so bad if they would allow the dead trees to be removed from all the forest.
And there was better management of those forest lands.
There's all kinds of dead and diseased trees in our local mountains and everywhere else in California.
Restricted laws and regulations in this State won't allow this to happen in an efficient manner.
All it takes is some idiot with a match or the idiot utility companies here in California for a disaster.
Pacific Gas and Electric has been pretty much the blame for the huge Napa fire last year and for this recent Paradise / Camp fire because of downed power lines.
Southern California Edison was to blame for the huge fire in Los Angeles/ Ventura county fires last year for the same reason.
And our wonderful governor just gave them a pass.
The others were arson related.
Rain is coming in a form of a winter weather pattern starting mid next week.
Lots of blame to go around, and PG&E might have done more... but you know the howling that would happen if they kept a clear swath 200' wide wherever their lines run. And no one will want to pay for burying the lines. It's probably best if people aren't looking for a cash payout from the utility... don't want to give the utilities a pass, but the fire risk isn't going to be dramatically less. Like living on a cliff by the ocean, living in the forest without a defensible perimeter just comes with a risk that some people should be aware of and should make an informed decision on whether or not to live there.
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Nov 17, 2018 - 4:08pm
murr69st335 wrote:
Where is RP based now ? I see they left Paradise some years ago. Been watching lots of fire news here in christchurch new zealand. Puts the little blaze we had in the hills behind us in perspective where a handful of houses went and a chopper pilot killed. Earthquakes are the big worry for us But I guess we'll see more of it as global weather becomes more extreme. Last thursday we had 30 degrees c and the following day about 9 was the high. And we are due for some "unheard of for Nov" cold weather in the next couple of days. I hope the rain is coming for california
Bill Goldsmith has become fairly private about his affairs.
I really don't blame him... we RP'ers a fairly fanatical.
This probably wouldn't be so bad if they would allow the dead trees to be removed from all the forest.
And there was better management of those forest lands.
There's all kinds of dead and diseased trees in our local mountains and everywhere else in California.
Restricted laws and regulations in this State won't allow this to happen in an efficient manner.
All it takes is some idiot with a match or the idiot utility companies here in California for a disaster.
Pacific Gas and Electric has been pretty much the blame for the huge Napa fire last year and for this recent Paradise / Camp fire because of downed power lines.
Southern California Edison was to blame for the huge fire in Los Angeles/ Ventura county fires last year for the same reason.
And our wonderful governor just gave them a pass.
The others were arson related.
Rain is coming in a form of a winter weather pattern starting mid next week.
Where is RP based now ? I see they left Paradise some years ago. Been watching lots of fire news here in christchurch new zealand. Puts the little blaze we had in the hills behind us in perspective where a handful of houses went and a chopper pilot killed. Earthquakes are the big worry for us But I guess we'll see more of it as global weather becomes more extreme. Last thursday we had 30 degrees c and the following day about 9 was the high. And we are due for some "unheard of for Nov" cold weather in the next couple of days. I hope the rain is coming for california
The list is now over 1000; they've been trying to keep duplicates out of it, make it more accurate, but they decided that was making the list outdated before they released it, so they're just going with all the raw data.
Over 1000 just for Paradise? A 2010 census put the population at over 26000. Practically no one will escape the tragedy of knowing someone who perished.
The list is now over 1000; they've been trying to keep duplicates out of it, make it more accurate, but they decided that was making the list outdated before they released it, so they're just going with all the raw data.
Yeah. I remember hearing when the fire first broke out that the roads were jammed and at full stop. People were bailing from their cars and running on foot. Obviously to nowhere safe in time. Say, just 50 full cars, do the math. There are only two ways / roads in and out from the town down the mountain. That and those that were in their homes and the roads were already jammed had no where to go. The fire was rolling through at an acre a minute. The toll is going to climb to an incomprehensible number in short order.
An acre a minute! I can't even picture that. I've only watched a couple videos of people filming while driving. It bothers too much to watch devastation like that.
Yeah. I remember hearing when the fire first broke out that the roads were jammed and at full stop. People were bailing from their cars and running on foot. Obviously to nowhere safe in time. Say, just 50 full cars, do the math. There are only two ways / roads in and out from the town down the mountain. That and those that were in their homes and the roads were already jammed had no where to go. The fire was rolling through at an acre a minute. The toll is going to climb to an incomprehensible number in short order.
After the devastating Black Saturday fires in 2009, emergency services here made quite a few changes to their advice and planning. On a Code Red day, they say you should leave the night before if possible. When there is a fire, the State Emergency App will often send out text messages saying it is too late to leave and to shelter in place. As a firey explained to me - it takes a while for your house to catch fire so stay inside until the flame front has passed and you may be able to get out without being killed by the radiant heat. They have designated neighbourhood "Safer Places" as refuge of last resort. They are also trying to convince more people to leave rather than fighting the fires, and if you plan to fight them, be very prepared.
The essential part of my fire plan is to gather up the animals and wave goodbye to the house.
Yeah. I remember hearing when the fire first broke out that the roads were jammed and at full stop. People were bailing from their cars and running on foot. Obviously to nowhere safe in time. Say, just 50 full cars, do the math. There are only two ways / roads in and out from the town down the mountain. That and those that were in their homes and the roads were already jammed had no where to go. The fire was rolling through at an acre a minute. The toll is going to climb to an incomprehensible number in short order.
I mentioned them early on in this thread as the culprit. Pigs, goats and elephants as we used to call them when we were kids.
