Fireworks

[cleosmom]

I feel the same this year as I do every year. Too many, too loud for too !omg!! I've been hearing them nightly since the middle of June.

Don't get me wrong, i've nothing against a good show put on by the city, but when the pets, shift workers and vets with PTSD have to live through the nonsense for a month, it gets old fast!!

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

I have a lot of libertarian views but I believe that my rights end where someone else’s begin.
We all suffer when forest fires burn.
I’m hoping we can not burn down half the state with our “Patriotism”.

It appears these so called (clears throat) 'Murica loving "patriots" did cause some fires. Let's round them all up and put them on the fire lines.

[mistyriver]

Originally Posted by TohobitPeak

It appears these so called (clears throat) 'Murica loving "patriots" did cause some fires. Let's round them all up and put them on the fire lines.

That’s a great idea.

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by mistyriver

That’s a great idea.

These "patriots" are a threat and dangerous. Fireworks are silly, especially during climate change and a record heat wave. The best ones are usually put on by municipalities and safer.

[banjomike]

Honestly, the clueless are much more of a worry to me right now than the 'patriots'.

The fireworks are extremely dangerous this summer, but their danger decreases rapidly after the 4th, and we still have a lot of blistering hot, dry summer to go.

When it's this bad, it won't take very much to set off a fire. A campfire could do it, or even a camp stove could do it. Spilling a little fuel in a spot that looks safe could do it. An old transformer that overheats on a power line could do it.

We all simply have to be hyper-aware of everything we do that has anything to do with fuel or heat this summer unless we get lucky and have a few weeks of rain showers, damp days and humid air.

We can't go about our daily lives as if conditions were normal this summer. And we have to be as prepared as possible to defend our own and ourselves from fire for at least 3 more months, if this drought continues.

The entire west could light up this month, and we don't have enough fire fighters to stop all the potential fires from becoming huge.

Remember that the fire that wiped out Paradise, California, a city of 30,000 people, took the town down to ash in 4 hours. It started in the early morning on one very windy day, and by noon, Paradise was gone.

That could happen anywhere here in Idaho this year. A high wind can alight a haystack from spontaneous combustion.
I've seen it, several times.

So there are dangers we can't do anything about and those we can. Vigilance alone will decide who burns and who doesn't in a year like this, and we can reduce our chances of burning if we are alert.

If nature takes over, it's a damned good idea to have an escape plan formulated. When it comes to survival, it's far better to be jumpy than confident in a summer like this one.
If taking off turns out to be a false alarm, so what? If you can't defend your home, leaving in a false alarm only means the house will still be there when you turn around and go back.
But if you have no place to go, and can't escape, that's a very bad alternative.

Anything that needs to be cut down to aid in saving your home will grow back. Plowing up a dry field is better than watching the flames jump over the back yard fence. Better dusty than charred.

If you see some jerk doing something that will start a fire, call the cops. A quarrel with a thoughtless neighbor is better than watching your house go up in flames.

Newbies to Idaho probably will think I'm being over-dramatic here, but when I was 5, I watched at least 5 farms on a big sidehill all go up in one huge range fire. It was harvest, and an old grain truck with a loose muffler started the fire when straw collected around the tailpipe when the truck went into a field to empty a combine.

3 homesteads- houses, barns, and sheds, a burned to the ground in that fire. Those 3 farm families lost everything they had, and they all had to sell out afterward, as the loss was more than they could overcome.

Paradise showed us all what wildfire can do to civilization. Don't be fooled thinking living in a city is adequate protection, especially here in Idaho. Vigilance is ultimately the only thing we have to protect us.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by banjomike

Honestly, the clueless are much more of a worry to me right now than the 'patriots'.

The fireworks are extremely dangerous this summer, but their danger decreases rapidly after the 4th, and we still have a lot of blistering hot, dry summer to go.

When it's this bad, it won't take very much to set off a fire. A campfire could do it, or even a camp stove could do it. Spilling a little fuel in a spot that looks safe could do it. An old transformer that overheats on a power line could do it.

We all simply have to be hyper-aware of everything we do that has anything to do with fuel or heat this summer unless we get lucky and have a few weeks of rain showers, damp days and humid air.

We can't go about our daily lives as if conditions were normal this summer. And we have to be as prepared as possible to defend our own and ourselves from fire for at least 3 more months, if this drought continues.

The entire west could light up this month, and we don't have enough fire fighters to stop all the potential fires from becoming huge.

Remember that the fire that wiped out Paradise, California, a city of 30,000 people, took the town down to ash in 4 hours. It started in the early morning on one very windy day, and by noon, Paradise was gone.

That could happen anywhere here in Idaho this year. A high wind can alight a haystack from spontaneous combustion.
I've seen it, several times.

So there are dangers we can't do anything about and those we can. Vigilance alone will decide who burns and who doesn't in a year like this, and we can reduce our chances of burning if we are alert.

If nature takes over, it's a damned good idea to have an escape plan formulated. When it comes to survival, it's far better to be jumpy than confident in a summer like this one.
If taking off turns out to be a false alarm, so what? If you can't defend your home, leaving in a false alarm only means the house will still be there when you turn around and go back.
But if you have no place to go, and can't escape, that's a very bad alternative.

Anything that needs to be cut down to aid in saving your home will grow back. Plowing up a dry field is better than watching the flames jump over the back yard fence. Better dusty than charred.

If you see some jerk doing something that will start a fire, call the cops. A quarrel with a thoughtless neighbor is better than watching your house go up in flames.

Newbies to Idaho probably will think I'm being over-dramatic here, but when I was 5, I watched at least 5 farms on a big sidehill all go up in one huge range fire. It was harvest, and an old grain truck with a loose muffler started the fire when straw collected around the tailpipe when the truck went into a field to empty a combine.

3 homesteads- houses, barns, and sheds, a burned to the ground in that fire. Those 3 farm families lost everything they had, and they all had to sell out afterward, as the loss was more than they could overcome.

Paradise showed us all what wildfire can do to civilization. Don't be fooled thinking living in a city is adequate protection, especially here in Idaho. Vigilance is ultimately the only thing we have to protect us.

I am so with you on this Mike! It makes me nervous each year as there's always a wind in late June and most of July!

A few years back we went with friends up to West Yellowstone for a trail ride, on the return trip we were hitting our phones every few miles to call in roadside burning! The weather was clear, can't blame that, one can only blame human error/carelessness. A flick of a cigarette or pulling over for a picture can change the lives of so many in a negative way.