Good Morning DU.....My state -- California -- is starting to burn

[cboy4]

and really, this is only the beginning.



While some neighborhoods are looking worse than Beirut, I'm sure FEMA is ready and willing to step in with immediate service with concern. :spray:

Or maybe we can send in some Calif. National Guard to help.

Oh that's right, they're all in Iraq!!!!

[CBGLuthier]

1. I hope that it will turn out OK

And they can contain these damn fires and all will be safe.


And to be honest, I mainly wanted to express these sympathies because I remember earlier this year when MY state was burning and some on DU thought we deserved it.

But really, be safe and hope for rain, cause the government doesn't give two shits. :-(

[cboy4]

5. Naw, I'd never wish for anyone's state to burn. It's scary.

Thanks for your wishes ;)

[Midlodemocrat]

11. Dear God in Heaven, who would think that?

I would bet that have received a granite cookie in the meantime. No one deserves that. :hug:

[hedgehog]

2. I have a hard time wrapping my head around these fires.

Here in upstate New York, a drought is when the lawns turn yellow. We've had 2"-4" of rain this week in the Syracuse area. The creeks are high, and downstate around Binghamton they are having houses flooded above the 500 year flood line! For most people around here it just means that the lawns and gardens are growing like crazy. I'm going out into my garden after this to plant some late beans. Right now, that means standing on the path and pushing the seed down into the mud! Good luck, cboy4!


On edit: Global warming, what global warming?

[cboy4]

8. Can we borrow and inch of rain? We'll return it! Or maybe not.

Thanks hedgehog :)

[hedgehog]

16. You don't get the rain without the snow!

or the mosquitoes!

Every place has its good points and bad points I guess. You have to choose for youerself which good points balance which bad points. This is one country mouse who isn't budging.

[Gormy Cuss]

13. You need to live here to understand the climate, I think.

As a transplanted Easterner I had no understanding of Western fires either. When you look at a ridge line in NY state, what do you see? Usually tall evergreen forests with dense underlayers. During the summer months when it's hot there are occasional fires started by lightning but they tend to be modest fires in a normal year for the simple reason that the potential fuel (trees, leaves, twigs) aren't dry.

In much of coastal and central California, when you look at a ridge line, you see grass with a few trees. The natural weather pattern is rain between late November and April with maybe a few showers in the adjacent months. Between June and October in a typical season, it doesn't rain at all. It gets hot. There is low relative humidity in the air. There are frequent hot dry winds.

Now picture those grass covered hills with foot high dead plants, no ground moisture, no air moisture, and hot temperatures. All you need is a spark and you'll have a roaring fire in no time. That's why California burns.

As for global warming, this year we had an extra long rainy season and the grass on those hills is very thick and now bone dry, so there's much more fuel than in a normal year. Big fires in July are unusual and this doesn't bode well for the fire season out here.

[hedgehog]

15. I think the concept of dry land is hard to fathom from here

Around here, if there is any sunlight, something is growing. (and ferns do a good job of filling in the shade!) The notion of a bare patch of ground is totally foreign. Believe it or not, NYS has more acres of trees now than it had in revolutionary times. As farms have been abandoned, the forests have come back. I speculated above about snowfall, but if winters continue to warm up as they have, I'll be living in a temperate region rain forest in 10 years!

[havocmom]

3. We need a poll on probable bushco responses to the disaster

Well, those joshua tress are gone, so we're selling the park off to developers, cheap, fire sale. heh heh heh


See, all that air pollution is natural.

We have discovered an alternative method for folks to heat their homes. We will not extinguish the fires until next spring. If folks in the northeast start walking and bicycling NOW, they can get to the California fires before winter sets in. Everybody will be toasty.

What left coast?

Where's my cake?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. While I really do feel for the people involved, I

cannot help but point out that California, in general, is way beyond the carrying capacity of it's water supply, and this, however dredful on a personal level, is the way it is.

[livetohike]

6. It's too early for this! It's only mid-July

Several years ago when San Diego County was burning, it was late September or early October. I volunteered at a relief center and it was heart breaking to talk with the victims.

The FEMA people were basically sitting there on their butts watching us volunteers work.

[cboy4]

9. Totally. That's what I mean, wait until Sept/Oct....No Santa Ana winds

yet either!

[tyedyeto]

7. My heart feels for those whose homes and lives are threatened

I've been through a forest fire in CA (the '87 Stanislaus Complex) but was fortunate that we didn't lose our home. They did start a back burn from our property and did lose 5 of our 10 forested acres.

Let's hope the firefighters can get this fire under control soon.

edit for typo

[goddess40]

10. Hesperia

My cousins live in Hesperia. Are they in any danger? Is the highway from CA to Vegas closed as yet?

[Midlodemocrat]

12. My brother and his family live in CA. We have lots of friends there

as well. These fires scare the crap out of me. I hope and pray that there is no loss of life and only minimal loss of property.

:hug:

[malaise]

14. Good luck n/t

[NV Whino]

17. Yep.

Had a fire about half a mile down the road from me last night. The big CDF planes circling clued me in. By the time I hopped in the car to go check it out they had it under control and almost out. A bit scary, that one.