California fires again!

[Lady Hobbs]

What's up with CA and why do they always have so many fires? Is someone starting them?

[reptile dude007]

Drought + lighting/cig but/heat ect = fire. We have more than we need of that here.

[Wild Turkey]

You would kinda think theyd be out of tress by now..

[reptile dude007]

Brush fires. I drove by one the other day. Cool sight.

[Lady Hobbs]

I remember years ago a part-time firefighter was starting fires so he could get some overtime. Just seems like they put one out and another starts.

[NickFish]

Fires are an important part of a forest's lifecycle. Most trees aren't burned down. Only the ground cover is burned. All the burned material provides nutrients for the trees and new groundcover that will regrow in a year or two.
Here in Canada, unless its near some major city, if there's a fire everyone moves out until the whole thing burns itslef down. Forests can't survive without regular fires.

It is stupid though when fires are just started by people who let their campfire spread too far or dropped a cigarette in a leaf pile....forests can't take 3 fires a month all the time.

[Wiggs]

I know that they are making Fire-Safe cigarettes now, they are supposed to burn themselves out and cut down on incidents like this that may be caused by a carelessly thrown cig.


It is a bit rediculous though. Nickfish is right, it is a natrual part of the forests cycle, but the amount of Fires liek this is California compared to everywhere else is very one-sided. That could be due to the weather they have, carelessness, or mostlikely a mix of both.

[Lady Hobbs]

Might be fine for the forest but not too fine for the 600 homes that have burned up by now. I notice they are all big, beautiful homes too. They can't get control of it in winds of 76 degrees.

[fraggle]

If they have fires like that all the time, surely the people who live in the areas that get burnt all the time would do something about making their homes fire proof to a certain extent! Most houses don't actually get burt by the main fire but are burnt before the fire get their from embers etc that land on the house before hand (I'm a volunteer firefighter here, and no, I don't light them, unless backburning! LOL), make sure you have a big enough clearing around your house, don't have trees only meters from your house or over hanging it, make sure you keep your gutters clean, have a fire plan, get a little fire pump to keep water spraying over the roof of your house etc. These fires happen every year!!! Some of these people have lost houses to fire before, that is just terrible. I feel so sorry for those that have lost their homes, would be absolutely horrible, I don't mean to sound condecending or anything, I really do feel badly for them. Do they have fire awareness information available to everyone? Info on how to survive in a fire? How to keep you house safe in a fire? (I don't know how it works in the states)
I know it's very windy etc and quite hot, so that certainly won't help matters.

[reptile dude007]

I just got up and I course I turned on the news like every morning (Strange for a 13 year old lol.) and the fire is in a trailer park. Don't the house's have wheels? Why don't they just drive away? They aren't double wides so what the heck guys lol. No offence.

[Northernguy]

Its not as easy as you think to move those.Most have decks cemented to the ground.They also have electricity wired in don't forget the plumbing.Just because they are called trailers does not make them easy once set up.
I wish someone would make a blanket to smother the fires with or to cover a house with.Make it out of firemens coats,sure it would be crazy expensive but cheaper then half a state burning every year.

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[Algenco]

there is a polymer gel that can be sprayed on homes that will provide several hours of protection.

This is just another example of people wanting to live where they really shouldn't be.

[fraggle]

Too true Algenco, if you want to live in the bush, go for it, but don't just plant your house smack bang in the middle of scrub. I remember when Sydney had some bad fires a few years ago and we got sent up there to help, we were doing some back burning and nearly flaming burnt a house down!!! There was hardly what you call a driveway, no electricity, so no power lines to let you know that there was a house there, and trees right up the the very edges of the house, it actually even had a great big gum tree growing in the middle of it!!! That was asking to be burnt down if you ask me.

The firefighters risk their lives to go and save some of these houses that if proper care had been taken in prevention, they wouldn't have to! If the winds are travelling as fast as they say, there wouldn't be hours and hours of continuous fire attack, the front would pass, and if proper prevention had taken place, most houses would survive. Prevention is better than cure in all things!!

[justyn725]

The real question is why anybody would want to live on the coast of the United States anywhere any more...all the disasters seem to happen there...

[Lady Hobbs]

These are entire subdivisions built 20 miles from Las Angeles not little scrub cabins built in the woods. The winds are blowing the fires and of course the sparks are setting others on fires and blowing into their attic vents.

reptile dude.....mobile homes are removed from their wheels when set up and set up on foundations, plumbing attached, sewer pipes, etc. They're only on wheels until delivered and set up. These are mobile homes, not pull-behind trailors.

[reptile dude007]

Oh ok. Well the fires are about out now. Air is a bit less thick. We also had a 3.8 earthquake a littler earlier.

[fraggle]

Hobbs, I take it all back. If they had what we just had ther is no way in the word that any amount of preperation would have prevented anything from burning.

[Lady Hobbs]

There ya go. Not everyone lives in the city. Everyone deserve a little piece of ground and some trees around them if they want without arsonists taking it away from them. People have lived in rural areas as long as they've lived in cities. These fires spawn hurricane force winds and there's just no stopping them. Too bad there's no where you can go to protect yourself from your fellow man.

[Sharon]

Well said, Hobbs!!!thumbs2:

[Deleted User]

There ya go. Not everyone lives in the city. Everyone deserve a little piece of ground and some trees around them if they want without arsonists taking it away from them. People have lived in rural areas as long as they've lived in cities. These fires spawn hurricane force winds and there's just no stopping them. Too bad there's no where you can go to protect yourself from your fellow man.

Well said Lady Hobbs. I would like to know what buzz these brainless idiots get from seeing other suffer or die for there on second of fun. it is sickening.:scry: