California Fire Thread

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

What about New England, which gets fewer tornadoes and fewer wildfires?

Snowstorms. Below zero temperatures. Etc. They have a lot of issues with snow in winter.

Statistically, winter severe weather kills far fewer Americans than summer severe weather.

It'd probably kill fewer still if they took a page or two from how Canadians handled it. But there's only so much you can do about summer severe weather. You can bundle up for the cold when your furnace gives out. You can't bundle up for the heat when your air conditioner gives out.

[Cannot think of a name]

Are you really prepared to open enough In n Out Burgers to accommodate us all?

Burgers? If New England's as liberal as it's made out to be, wouldn't they be selling vegan food instead of beef?

For the record, I'm from Canada.

In n Out Burgers is a California burger chain with a near cult like following. I mean, their burgers are good compared to other fast food burgers but...people go nuts for these things around here. If you're going to relocate Californians, the joke was to imply, you'd have to build a bunch of In n Outs. Now that it's been explained it's super funny.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

Burgers? If New England's as liberal as it's made out to be, wouldn't they be selling vegan food instead of beef?

For the record, I'm from Canada.

In n Out Burgers is a California burger chain with a near cult like following. I mean, their burgers are good compared to other fast food burgers but...people go nuts for these things around here. If you're going to relocate Californians, the joke was to imply, you'd have to build a bunch of In n Outs. Now that it's been explained it's super funny.

Or at least makes more sense, anyway. To the extent its own liberal reputation makes sense with "near cult like" following for a burger chain.

The irony is, apart from contributing to climate change, California's beef industry is draining their reservoirs, yet gets less of the blame for it than ordinary household use. Is their "soil" really reason enough to farm cattle there too? I suppose the soil could be useful for growing feed FOR cattle, but why not export it to cattle farms in other states? And why use California for anything BUT farming, if their soil is so useful and everything else there is such a fire hazard?

[Cannot think of a name]

In n Out Burgers is a California burger chain with a near cult like following. I mean, their burgers are good compared to other fast food burgers but...people go nuts for these things around here. If you're going to relocate Californians, the joke was to imply, you'd have to build a bunch of In n Outs. Now that it's been explained it's super funny.

Or at least makes more sense, anyway. To the extent its own liberal reputation makes sense with "near cult like" following for a burger chain.

Yeah...before you get too carried away with that you might want to know a few things. First, In n Out hides Bible scriptures in their packaging. They also made a sizable donation to the Republican Party. And yes, some Democrats did call for a boycott, but Burgers are delicious and people can have opinions. The difference between this and Chick Fillet or however they spell it is that they were donating to groups whose reason for being was to limit the rights of specific people. While the Republican Party does that, too, it is not their reason for existence and their food is gross.

The irony is, apart from contributing to climate change, California's beef industry is draining their reservoirs, yet gets less of the blame for it than ordinary household use. Is their "soil" really reason enough to farm cattle there too? I suppose the soil could be useful for growing feed FOR cattle, but why not export it to cattle farms in other states? And why use California for anything BUT farming, if their soil is so useful and everything else there is such a fire hazard?

California is not a unified climate or environment. Consider that if you overlaid California on the East Coast it would be like a dozen different states. And thanks to its unique topography we can have several different climates in one city called "micro climates." One thing my foreign ex-girlfriend marveled the most at was how dramatically the entire environment changed with just a half hour's drive. The place where fast food cows come from, Coalinga, the only other thing going on there is fossils and oil. You can't grow much there.

Having the "should we be raising beef cows" thing seems faaaaaaar afield of our fire problem. Cows didn't even cause the Chicago fire, we just think they did.

[Corrian]

Like, in California, you got the deserts, the plains, the tundra, and so on.

[Reploid Productions]

Yeah, I think I was supposed to stay inside Saturday but there was a Simpsons Duff Beer pop up and-



goddammit that was the most LA fucking thing I've said since I moved here...

I got no room to talk, I was out for all three hours of Pokemon Go Community Day in the horrid smokey conditions on Saturday, and my sinuses are still retaliating for that one. (... Worth it though, I caught like ten shiny Cyndaquil.... some of which will be gifted to friends who couldn't make Community Day due to the fires!)

[Thermodolia]

Like, in California, you got the deserts, the plains, the tundra, and so on.

And fire. Don’t forget the fire

[Reploid Productions]

Like, in California, you got the deserts, the plains, the tundra, and so on.

And fire. Don’t forget the fire

And the mudslides after the fire.

[Farnhamia]

And fire. Don’t forget the fire

And the mudslides after the fire.

So is it fire, mudslide, earthquake, or fire, earthquake, mudslide?

---

Meanwhile ... A Model T, Abandoned as Paradise Burned, Emerges With Barely a Scratch

[Kombinita Socialisma Demokratio]

While fires are sometimes part of the natural cycle of forests, being natural does not always mean being good, and the fires are more prevalent than otherwise because of a drought which can be at least partially blamed on humans. More desalination plants to get more freshwater for agriculture would be beneficial in the long run, albeit inefficient.

[The Black Forrest]

Just learned a friends mom lives in Paradise. She wasn't there at the time. Her house was one of three which the fire missed. Three out of 30ish homes in her section.

The sad thing is the many of the people won't live to see the rebuilds as they tend to be retirees.

[The Black Forrest]

While fires are sometimes part of the natural cycle of forests, being natural does not always mean being good, and the fires are more prevalent than otherwise because of a drought which can be at least partially blamed on humans. More desalination plants to get more freshwater for agriculture would be beneficial in the long run, albeit inefficient.

PGE is probably to blame for one of them. There is a story which says there is an email sent to a woman over sparking gear. Her place is thought to be the starting point.....

[Reploid Productions]

Just learned a friends mom lives in Paradise. She wasn't there at the time. Her house was one of three which the fire missed. Three out of 30ish homes in her section.

The sad thing is the many of the people won't live to see the rebuilds as they tend to be retirees.

Oof. Glad your friend's mom's place came through that hellstorm all right, but yeah. NorCal has a lot of retirees and rebuilding is going to most likely leave a lot of them permanently displaced.

[Dogmeat]

Right, but this is sort of the case everywhere. In some form anyway.

Minnesota doesn't have dramatic fires, but if you add up the cumulative costs of all the myriad damages and extra fuel requirements associated with winter in a given year, I bet that number would stagger the senses. To say nothing of tornadoes or flooding.

The difference is mainly that fires and earthquakes are dramatic.

What about New England, which gets fewer tornadoes and fewer wildfires?

And you'll notice the population density there is already pretty high.

Snowstorms. Below zero temperatures. Etc. They have a lot of issues with snow in winter.

Statistically, winter severe weather kills far fewer Americans than summer severe weather.

It'd probably kill fewer still if they took a page or two from how Canadians handled it. But there's only so much you can do about summer severe weather. You can bundle up for the cold when your furnace gives out. You can't bundle up for the heat when your air conditioner gives out.

Two things:
1) Winter is absolutely deadlier, for many more reasons then simple temperature. Accidents relating to ice and snow, be they automobile accidents, or falling, or industrial accidents from machinery malfunctioning under very cold conditions. Many diseases correlate to winter months, probably because cold temperatures irritate the respiratory system. And then there's the White Walkers.
2) We were talking about overall cost, which is only partially related to human lives. You, in particular, were complaining about lots of money being spent, so this is sort of shifting the goalposts.

[Farnhamia]

What about New England, which gets fewer tornadoes and fewer wildfires?

And you'll notice the population density there is already pretty high.

It's kind of too wet for bad fires. As for tornadoes, the terrain probably mitigates against them, not to mention the specific weather conditions necessary.

[Novus America]

While fires are sometimes part of the natural cycle of forests, being natural does not always mean being good, and the fires are more prevalent than otherwise because of a drought which can be at least partially blamed on humans. More desalination plants to get more freshwater for agriculture would be beneficial in the long run, albeit inefficient.

Not if you use nuclear cogeneration desalination. Which would solve the water problems at least in any coastal areas.

But a lot of it is forestry and grassland management and using controlled burning and underbrush clearing to prevent the buildup of dangerous amounts of combustible materials. Something California and the Federal government are clearly not doing very well.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reu ... SKCN1NJ1G6
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.or ... -wildfires

While that is not the only cause, you cannot have fire without fuel. Clear cutting is not a solution either. It would require careful, sustainable techniques.

[Likar]

My older teachers, and me, are partially choking in the smoke. I got mask comin soon.

[Ifreann]

Yeah, I think I was supposed to stay inside Saturday but there was a Simpsons Duff Beer pop up and-



goddammit that was the most LA fucking thing I've said since I moved here...

I got no room to talk, I was out for all three hours of Pokemon Go Community Day in the horrid smokey conditions on Saturday, and my sinuses are still retaliating for that one. (... Worth it though, I caught like ten shiny Cyndaquil.... some of which will be gifted to friends who couldn't make Community Day due to the fires!)

So this is how the fires started. Negligent release of fire-types.

[LimaUniformNovemberAlpha]

What about New England, which gets fewer tornadoes and fewer wildfires?

And you'll notice the population density there is already pretty high.

Statistically, winter severe weather kills far fewer Americans than summer severe weather.

It'd probably kill fewer still if they took a page or two from how Canadians handled it. But there's only so much you can do about summer severe weather. You can bundle up for the cold when your furnace gives out. You can't bundle up for the heat when your air conditioner gives out.

Two things:
1) Winter is absolutely deadlier, for many more reasons then simple temperature. Accidents relating to ice and snow, be they automobile accidents, or falling, or industrial accidents from machinery malfunctioning under very cold conditions. Many diseases correlate to winter months, probably because cold temperatures irritate the respiratory system. And then there's the White Walkers.
2) We were talking about overall cost, which is only partially related to human lives. You, in particular, were complaining about lots of money being spent, so this is sort of shifting the goalposts.

1) It's not the weather's fault people try to drive in it or don't give them the day off for it, and certainly not the weather's fault people fail to adjust their speed for the road conditions. You don't need to drive in summer severe weather for it to kill you in your home. Even so, I'd be curious to see comparison of winter driving deaths during snowstorms and summer driving deaths during heatwaves when the A/C gives out, let alone during floods. Likewise, I'd be curious how many of those "winter" diseases are actually "old age" diseases where the cold weather merely finished off someone who only had a few years left, unlike summer severe weather, which kills the young.

2) I forgot I referred only to cost and not lives lost. However, being that bigger disasters are both more damaging and more deadly, I would by default assume that, all else held constant, deadlier disasters are more damaging. Have you any reason to believe winter severe weather is more costly? I've heard of the occasional roof caving in, but it sounds so seldom compared to the same and worse in hurricanes and tornadoes.

New England still has a lot of unused space left in it.

The difference between this and Chick Fillet or however they spell it is that they were donating to groups whose reason for being was to limit the rights of specific people.

And that's somehow more severely wrong than the production of greenhouse gases that contribute significantly to climate change?

California is not a unified climate or environment.

And yet, it is close enough to the fire-prone regions to be under threat of receiving significant amounts of smoke from the fires.

[Petrolheadia]

Even so, I'd be curious to see comparison of winter driving deaths during snowstorms and summer driving deaths during heatwaves when the A/C gives out, let alone during floods.

Ice always makes the road slippery. A/C is only problematic when it gives up.

Also, my family and my granparents' cars rolled into the 2017 heatwave without A/C or in need of a refill. It was less problematic than you might expect.

[Corrian]

Yeah, I think I was supposed to stay inside Saturday but there was a Simpsons Duff Beer pop up and-



goddammit that was the most LA fucking thing I've said since I moved here...

I got no room to talk, I was out for all three hours of Pokemon Go Community Day in the horrid smokey conditions on Saturday, and my sinuses are still retaliating for that one. (... Worth it though, I caught like ten shiny Cyndaquil.... some of which will be gifted to friends who couldn't make Community Day due to the fires!)

My brother did a walk around the block and had one of the worst asthma attacks in his life, and he lives in Sacramento.

Smoke is serious business.

[Corrian]

While fires are sometimes part of the natural cycle of forests, being natural does not always mean being good, and the fires are more prevalent than otherwise because of a drought which can be at least partially blamed on humans. More desalination plants to get more freshwater for agriculture would be beneficial in the long run, albeit inefficient.

Not if you use nuclear cogeneration desalination. Which would solve the water problems at least in any coastal areas.

But a lot of it is forestry and grassland management and using controlled burning and underbrush clearing to prevent the buildup of dangerous amounts of combustible materials. Something California and the Federal government are clearly not doing very well.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reu ... SKCN1NJ1G6
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.or ... -wildfires

While that is not the only cause, you cannot have fire without fuel. Clear cutting is not a solution either. It would require careful, sustainable techniques.

We literally had a clearcut fire nearish us the other year like mid to late spring when it was still wet, and it ONLY burned in the clearcut and nowhere else, because everything else was still too wet. It was weird. I don't even know what started the fire in the first place. It was way too early. I'm also suspicious of the fact that two fires happened in clearcuts (In completely different areas) within a day of each other, then nothing until summer.

[Harelia]

With how often Cali has wildfires I can't help but feel like God is up there going "The stain...! IT WON'T COME OUT!!!"

Although currently I'm at the point where I have a few friends in Cali whom I've not heard from in a bit. And each day that goes by I don't hear from them my britches fill about three lbs heavier.

But seriously, okay...Level with me here a moment. Who the hell thought Eucalyptus trees were a good idea? C'mon.

[Corrian]

The death toll just keeps climbing and climbing

Edit: Also the homes lost is at 8,800.

[Novus America]

Not if you use nuclear cogeneration desalination. Which would solve the water problems at least in any coastal areas.

But a lot of it is forestry and grassland management and using controlled burning and underbrush clearing to prevent the buildup of dangerous amounts of combustible materials. Something California and the Federal government are clearly not doing very well.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reu ... SKCN1NJ1G6
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.or ... -wildfires

While that is not the only cause, you cannot have fire without fuel. Clear cutting is not a solution either. It would require careful, sustainable techniques.

We literally had a clearcut fire nearish us the other year like mid to late spring when it was still wet, and it ONLY burned in the clearcut and nowhere else, because everything else was still too wet. It was weird. I don't even know what started the fire in the first place. It was way too early. I'm also suspicious of the fact that two fires happened in clearcuts (In completely different areas) within a day of each other, then nothing until summer.

Clear cutting can make things worse. The solution is thinning, not clear cutting. Dry grass also burns quite well. And with no shade from trees grass and underbrush will grow faster.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.sacbee.c ... 08995.html

Clear cutting is cutting all trees and then planting new ones. Which is not a solution at all especially since mature trees are more resistant to fire.

But there are 129 million dead trees, plus all manner of dead and dry undergrowth that needs to be removed, especially around buildings and inhabited areas.

Cutting the dead stuff dry stuff out but leaving the good healthy stuff in place would help a lot.