RDK Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Is there any place that isn't prone to some type of natural disaster or extreme weather? Shangri-la? Nah, overpopulation - nobody's dying. And if they ain't having sex, then it ain't Shangri-La. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Ironically, the decades-long campaign to prevent forest fires helped to create the very conditions for the mega-fires we see today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Is there any place that isn't prone to some type of natural disaster or extreme weather? Shangri-la? How's the music scene there? Record stores? BBQ joints? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted October 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 No link yet, but this headline is on Drudge.... CBS News has learned U.S. officials will officially declare California's Santiago Fire an arson and offer a $50,000 reward to find the arsonist... Developing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 (edited) Ironically, the decades-long campaign to prevent forest fires helped to create the very conditions for the mega-fires we see today. Exactly correct. Way too much fuel on the ground as a direct result of fires being put out too quickly, not enough controlled/intentional burns and little or no thinning and lifting. Bark beetles have also been a major problem as they attacked drought stressed trees. No treatments were made and most of the dead trees were left in place to burn. What we see now is explosions instead of fires. I remember bidding some brush clearing for L.A. County several years ago. That was start but way too late and not large enough to make much of a difference. I am looking at a contract on my desk as I type this to thin 300 acres in Northern Arizona. With different policies a lot of this could have been prevented or reduced in scale. Edited October 24, 2007 by catesta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoGrubb Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 The last I heard many of the migrant workers that sleep near the fields might have to go home because they're getting burned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 The last I heard many of the migrant workers that sleep near the fields might have to go home because they're getting burned out. Ouch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Lot of Mother Nature's involvement too. Two years ago, So Cal had a lot of rain, which led to much "greening." But last winter we had record low rainfall, which led to all that extra green drying up and dying. A rare coldsnap didn't help, killing more flora. The end result is an above average amount of fuel in the hills, all ready to go up when the conditions are just... right. Yeah, and copycat arsonists don't help matters either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 My city Burbank does a great deal of brush clearing at regular intervals. Guys walk across the hills with gasoline-powered industrial weed-wackers and mow everything down to the ground. My dad and I did our part by clearing pine needles from behind our fence--it hadn't been done for so long it took us weeks of filling our three green cans and one of our neighbor's before it was gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValerieB Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 closest fires to me are over 10 miles away. you can smell it and see it in the air. my eyes are definitely feeling it. have friends who have been close to evacuating and know of folks who have had to leave their homes. the zawinul home in malibu had to be evacuated and the friends who have been staying there took as many of joe's master tapes as possible. since then, the roads and highway are closed there. same thing happened to them in '93 when they had another house right above this one which survived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Ironically, the decades-long campaign to prevent forest fires helped to create the very conditions for the mega-fires we see today. Indeed. Smokey the Bear has a lot to answer for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 (edited) Ironically, the decades-long campaign to prevent forest fires helped to create the very conditions for the mega-fires we see today. Indeed. Smokey the Bear has a lot to answer for. You bet he does. We should be promoting forest fires, not preventing them. Damn that bear. Edited October 24, 2007 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Got a call back from my best friend last night. He could see the flames of the Santiago Canyon fire shooting up over a ridge not three blocks away from his place. He was told to evacuate at a moment's notice, but fortunately, the winds shifted and the fire came no closer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Active fires in SoCal: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 Shocking fact: area burned so far is 3/4 the size of Rhode Island. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 From the "Only in Hollywood" beat... http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/more...om-malibu-fire/ My favorite is... At 6 am Sunday, ex-Warner Bros co-chairman Bob Daly made like Noah's Ark and evacuated a menagerie of more than 200 birds and animals to safety from his 25-acre ranch on the Malibu-Calabasas border. Three hours later, the critters -- 50 chickens, 10 ducks, 150 pigeons, 10 sheep, 10 goats, plus another one who just had two babies, two donkeys and one miniature horse -- were safely encamped at Daly's 5-acre mansion in Bel-Air across the street from the country club. He used a fenced-off sports practive area at the back of his property as a petting zoo. The neighborhood kids were thrilled, including four grandchildren of ex-Universal Studios CEO Frank Biondi Jr. On Wednesday Daly brought the barnyard back to Malibu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 30, 2007 Report Share Posted October 30, 2007 (edited) So far, only one person I know well lost her home. (local vocalist) Two other female vocalists had extremely close calls, as did one of my best friends in one of the hottest of the hot spots. A gal I work with lost her home as well. I personally was never forced to evactuate, but was by no means completely insulated from the threat since the community I'm right next to could easily have gone up like flash paper. I know as time progresses I'll discover that more of my aquaintances were seriously affected. Someone brought up migrant workers............in fact four were found (deceased) in the burn zone --- no doubt trapped and incapable of outrunning the blaze. I'd be amazed if many more weren't discovered as time passes. There has been so much loss of property almost everyone knows someone who either lost their home or had a fairly close call. (required evacuation) Edit: Still today, the air quality is very poor. A couple of days ago my car was covered with ash in the driveway. Ash was/is everywhere, depending on your location. Using the hedgetrimmers on the small trees that line the outside of my pad kicked up such a sooty stink yesterday that I had to stop and put on a high quality mask. Edited October 30, 2007 by James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted October 30, 2007 Report Share Posted October 30, 2007 So far, only one person I know well lost her home. (local vocalist) Two other female vocalists had extremely close calls, as did one of my best friends in one of the hottest of the hot spots. A gal I work with lost her home as well. I personally was never forced to evactuate, but was by no means completely insulated from the threat since the community I'm right next to could easily have gone up like flash paper. I know as time progresses I'll discover that more of my aquaintances were seriously affected. Someone brought up migrant workers............in fact four were found (deceased) in the burn zone --- no doubt trapped and incapable of outrunning the blaze. I'd be amazed if many more weren't discovered as time passes. There has been so much loss of property almost everyone knows someone who either lost their home or had a fairly close call. (required evacuation) Edit: Still today, the air quality is very poor. A couple of days ago my car was covered with ash in the driveway. Ash was/is everywhere, depending on your location. Using the hedgetrimmers on the small trees that line the outside of my pad kicked up such a sooty stink yesterday that I had to stop and put on a high quality mask. Which reminds me...I need to check in with my brother and best friend to see how they're doing. Thanks for bringing this thread up, James. 'Preciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 30, 2007 Report Share Posted October 30, 2007 Is there any place that isn't prone to some type of natural disaster or extreme weather? Seems like every place has their "bear to cross", some more so than others, of course. I was with a group of people the other day who were talking about how stupid people were to be living in that area in California. You know, just like the group of people I knew in California were talking about them two years ago. Apparently Guy has the only safe house in the world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted November 12, 2007 Report Share Posted November 12, 2007 Watching the SD/Indy football game, and notice how much rain is coming down. Has it been raining in SoCal alot lately? Or at least enough to put out the fires? I haven't heard much about this issue in a while, so hoping for good news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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