Fires in Southern California

Pretty, possibly. However, when you can taste the air, shouldn't there be concern about general, eventual health effects?

Back to topic: what kind of reasoning is that? Living in SoCal doesn't mean you should expect the air quality to shorten your life by 5 or 10 years.....

Does it seem unreasonable to suspect that more of these were set on purpose? Could this many fires really start "naturally" at the same time?

I sorta do, actually, since in earlier decades it was worse enough that it would probably shorten it more by 10 to 20.

Arson is a very logical thing to suspect, trust me. Especially since there's been no storms/lightning strikes around.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Oct2003/California.TMOA2003299_lrg.jpg

I haven't lived in California for long enough to have seen other big SoCal fire events (though when I first moved here and was living in Irvine, I remember my mind boggling at the news coverage of a big fire up in L.A.; the way the reporters "bravely" stand right on the highway as the fire roars 10 feet behind them). It's just amazing to me that something like this could happen.

I sorta do, actually, since in earlier decades it was worse enough that it would probably shorten it more by 10 to 20.

So it is actually better now? With all the machinery and newer technology around, I'd think that science would have found a method to begin to clear up the air pollution as it occurs. Isn't the air quality as bad up in No Cal....or do the wind patterns have something to do with that?

So it is actually better now?

The cover of Tim Buckley's Greetings From LA, taken in 1972:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd700/d756/d75646148p5.jpg

The wildfires in Southern California have Infinity's Country KFRG/Riverside broadcasting with a limited signal from a borrowed transmitter; OM/PD Lee Douglas tells R&R that the state of the station's own transmitter is unknown and says, "It's a miracle that we're on the air."

KATY/Temecula, CA and KCXX/Riverside GM Bill McNulty tells R&R that it's "so far, so good" for the two transmitters used by the All Pro Broadcasting stations.

Meanwhile, the tower site for KSGN Inc.'s Inspo KSGN/Riverside-San Bernardino has been destroyed, and the station is off the air indefinitely.

The news was saying last night that the Reagan library was threatened.

</immature schadenfreude>

the latest news report said oneof the fires started near LA defnitely WAS the work of arsonists!!

"Haha, oh me? I'm doing fine, aside from owing the rest of my income to the state for life."

Also, thankfully I haven't heard of any big fires in South/Central TX this year. Usually we get a few of them a year, but because we've received so much rainfall this year we've not been in any real danger yet, thankfully.

Good article in the LA Times today with interview bits from Mr. City of Quartz himself, Mike Davis:

No Way Out When Home Is in 'Firebelt'
Steve Lopez

October 28, 2003

With half of Southern California ablaze in a spectacular series of killer infernos, and no end in sight, it's only natural to
want the arsonists tracked down and tied to the nearest tree.

But arson, suspected in at least two fires, isn't the only culprit in all this death and destruction. In part, we're witnessing the
inevitable consequence of insane land management, and generations of public officials rolling over for developers despite
past lessons.

"We keep putting tens of thousands of homes in harm's way," said author Mike Davis.

The UC Irvine history professor's scorching books have assailed Southern California as an apocalyptic theme park,
always courting disaster. In "Ecology of Fear," Chapter 3 is called "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn." It's a history of
California's failure to conduct preventive burns, despite the growth of "firebelt suburb populations" on the edge of
combustible vegetation.

Homeowner groups resist preventive burns because they're risky and leave scars, but then scream for help when fire
rages out of control, Davis argues. The public cost is huge; so is the risk to firefighters.

Davis, of San Diego, watched distraught Scripps Ranch residents await firetrucks as flames approached their
multimillion-dollar homes. This was a huge base of support for smaller government, and for Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Davis said.

"Now all that stands between them and an ash pile is the car tax," which Schwarzenegger promised to cut back, even
though it helps pays for fire protection. . . .

Davis thinks this could grow into California's fire of the century, which he predicted in 1998. "The exponential growth of
housing in foothill firebelts," he wrote in "Ecology of Fear," "increases the likelihood of several simultaneous
conflagrations."

On Monday, Davis said friends had been burned out and relatives were preparing to evacuate, and it's remarkable there
hasn't been more death. He captured the horror and madness in a single sentence:

"We're building homes in places where there's no fire escape at all."

Does Davis really want to be known throughout CA history as the guy that foresaw CA's total destruction? The tone of the article almost makes him sound smug. Almost.

"Oh I'm so happy. I'm not much on speeches but it gives me joy to...leave you in the filth you created. You're screwed, bye."

Slight x-post with Gygax here:

There seems to be some confusion here -- Davis has made a deserved and notable name for himself over the past fifteen years with a series of books, articles and presentations about the poor state of urban and suburban affairs when it comes to any number of issues in Southern California and Los Angeles in particular. This includes land management, which he has suitably and understandably attacked on many fronts given its current (mis)use. While I cannot claim complete familiarity with all his conclusions I would be very surprised if he did not offer up some general suggestions or at the least pointed out what the problem areas were that needed work. He is a researcher and academic, he is not a politician by trade, and he uses his academic standing to advance his conclusions and beliefs in much the same way that Edward Said, for instance, was able to do in turn with regard to Palestinian issues. I am not trying to say he's a perfect person -- there's a reason I made the Ibsen reference, though others would be able to speak on that point more than I could -- but I am confused as to your immediate and specific annoyance with him given his background and well known public statements.

It's not truly annoyance, though it may come out sounding like that. What I said was more a reaction to the tone of the article---than to the individual, himself. (That was why I'd asked the question about useful suggestions.) As I'm not obviously a CA resident, I'd have no way to know about Davis' high standing and expertise, beforehand.

Can't we all just get along?

Davis quite rightly points out a the class differences in civic services that occurred during the 1993 Malibu fire when the fire trucks rolled to protect the multi-million dollar homes, but did nothing to protect the poorer areas. Obviously there's only so many resources to go around, and you can't protect everything but still...

Lastly developers STILL build houses with wood shake shingle roofs out here which is just fucking insane. My mom's place has always had a rock roof and we were very meticulous about keeping the brush around our house clear and planting ice plant on the hillside below. Not to get all smug about it, but when the 1993 firestorm came through Laguna, we were fine while half of the houses on our street burned to the foundations.

I'd say! Do the developers consider that to be more cost effective? If so, I can't see how....

My mom's place has always had a rock roof and we were very meticulous about keeping the brush around our house clear and planting ice plant on the hillside below. Not to get all smug about it, but when the 1993 firestorm came through Laguna, we were fine while half of the houses on our street burned to the foundations.

Yeah, those pics of yours spoke volumes. Afterward, did the neighbors rebuild with rock roofs?

at 12 pm i went home for lunch and the smoke had rolled in so thick that you could stare straight at the sun - our visibility was down to maybe 500m. everything looks like you're looking through brown-tinted sunglasses. you park your car and when you come back it's covered in fine white ash. the air is so bad it makes your head spin just walking around in it.

and i live a mile from the beach, about twenty miles west of the fires.

It just makes me sad to think of the flames enveloping my city...sigh

My brother had to do similar work after the 2009 black Saturday fires here. He's involved with the Emergency Services developing map/GIS data precisely for these sort of scenarios: when a town is razed to the ground, you no longer even know where the houses were to be able to easily identify remains. They had to devleop and use overlay maps and GPS tracking linking back to address databases. I imagine the stuff they worked on will come into play here - he's worked with US officials on it before.

this was the worst wildfire in U.S. history, having occurred in Wisconsin on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire (which caused it to be overlooked.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire

the Camp Fire seems to be a similarly frightening conflagration in terms of its speed and growing size, but hopefully not as deadly in terms of life. I'm really hoping the numbers are in fact that Grenfell-type situation and are at present inaccurate.

this is beyond amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CbWkfCA9tc

Dang, that's Castro Peak. He doesn't post here anymore but cutty & I would ride around up there all the time. The other side of that valley is where the Rock Store is.

Happy to note that the Rock Store survived.

The trailer park across the street where people lived did not fare so well.

I used to jam with a few guys south of that area in Malibu.

We used to drive around the mountain for fun, too.

getting pretty scary over here

SoCal fires have always been scary. But there's no question about it, they are getting even scarier.

the fire is >2 miles away, but it's up on the mountain and looks like it's in my backyard at night right now

Rain is on the way, hope it hits you guys ASAP.

thanks, Albert. Was a long night of checking the evacuation map on phone alarm increments.

Stay safe, SG!

Cave fire ?

cave fire. I don't think it's taken any homes. There was a large evacuation area last night. Locals talking about the 1990 painted cave fire that hopped the 192 and 101 has me worried.

PG&E pleads guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for 2018 Northern California fire

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/16/camp-fire-pg-e-pleads-guilty-84-counts-manslaughter-2018-blaze/3199591001/