They Know How To Prevent Megafires, Why Won’t Anybody Listen? (Santa Rosa: how much, dangerous)

[golgi1]

Prescribed burns are great.

But an article that avoids the obvious issue of terrorist arson isn't complete.

Fires start. They can even start in multiple places in a single season. But they don't start so far apart in so many places in a single season (btw in the temporal context of historic USA riots) without a clear lightning or arson cause.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by golgi1

an article that avoids the obvious issue of terrorist arson isn't complete.

Please post a link to that data.

Originally Posted by golgi1

Fires start. They can even start in multiple places in a single season. But they don't start so far apart in so many places in a single season (btw in the temporal context of historic USA riots) without a clear lightning or arson cause.

The intense lightning with a short time period was extraordinarily unusual for the state, comprising about 11 percent of the average annual lightning activity, according to Chris Vagasky of Vaisala, a company that tracks lightning around the world. Much of the strikes occurred with little rain accompanying it, a phenomenon known as dry lightning. Such lightning strikes can easily start fires, and those fires can burn for days before being noticed if they’re located in remote areas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weath...d/?arc404=true

So why have this year’s fires burned more than 1.4 million acres of the state’s scenic coastal mountains and hills surrounding wine country? After all, the Lightning Siege of 2008, when nearly 800,000 acres burned, was the first time the National Guard had been called in to help in 40 years as resources were stretched to the limit.

The answer is complicated. The destiny of all wildfires is shaped by the fire behavior triangle — fuel, weather and topography — according to Craig Clements, a professor at San Jose State’s Fire Weather Research Laboratory.

But there were additional factors involved in this most recent outbreak. A summer heat wave magnified by climate change combined with tropical moisture and storm energy to create thunderstorms. The resulting lightning strikes pelted a region with a history of difficult firefighting and another area that’s seen numerous fires in the recent past.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-state-history

[rosebud49]

Giant FIRE Retardant SPHERES suspended above the Hills and Forests FILLED with fire retardant material (same type dropped by airplanes) controlled from a remote safe location similar to Air Traffic Controllers would be safer and more efficient.

There should also be some type of law so you receive a fine and property inspections when you have tons of brush/shrub on your property/land that causes it to be a fire hazard.


Furthermore, building codes need to change to use only fire retardant building materials.

Example:

I recently had a cat tree re wrapped with carpet.
Since it is outside and stands over 10 feet tall like a tree and could light up like a Roman candle,
I used hotel grade fire retardant carpet.

I had my exterior repainted and had them remove the old attic screens that run along the outside of the house under the roof and replaced with the kind that do not let sparks fly in. Having a spark arrestor for the chimney is another way to stay fire safe.

[rosebud49]

Check out how we used to control fires:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ry/5877810002/

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by rosebud49

Giant FIRE Retardant SPHERES suspended above the Hills and Forests FILLED with fire retardant material (same type dropped by airplanes) controlled from a remote safe location similar to Air Traffic Controllers would be safer and more efficient.
.

Just wondering; what is that fire retardant being spread all over fire country made of? How long does it linger in the environment, and what effect do the chemicals have on the soil and on life forms?

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Just wondering; what is that fire retardant being spread all over fire country made of? How long does it linger in the environment, and what effect do the chemicals have on the soil and on life forms?

First commercialized in 1963, the powder mixture was developed by Monsanto and later approved by the U.S. Forest Service. The brand name Phos-Chek stems from its active ingredient, ammonium phosphate, and its job to check — that is, stop — fires.

The fire retardant is generally safe — the Forest Service has said its risk of chemical toxicity is minor for most animals, and it predicted no risk for people who are accidentally splashed — but the sheer volume that comes out of a plane is very heavy.

https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...ed-from-planes

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by rosebud49

Check out how we used to control fires:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ry/5877810002/

And did not have millions of dead trees that burn easily unless cut down and hauled off.

[CA4Now]

Wildfire ravaged this rancher’s cattle and maybe his family legacy. He blames politics:

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...lames-politics

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by wannabeNC

Sounds like a choice between planned burning and unplanned burning - going to burn one way or another due to massive fuel load. Is there a 3rd alternative?

Yes there is an alternative, selective cutting and removing brush, that's actually the most common method of preventing forest fires and not just in California but all over the US. The problem is that the feds and private property owners haven't been very interested in forest management and the state could hand rake their 3% of forest land every day and it wouldn't mitigate the danger. There was a recent joint agreement with California and the feds to work together on forest management, I sincerely hopes that both the state and the feds act in good faith.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Wildfire ravaged this rancher’s cattle and maybe his family legacy. He blames politics:

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...lames-politics

I feel bad for him but did he really expect that the feds or the state would cut trees on his privately owned land?