Covered in soot and ashes

[Calif. Hunter]

My house, my cars, the streets - everything. The sky is brown during the day and it glows orange at night. I got stuck on the 91 freeway on Saturday, just before they shut it down, coming home from an unsuccessful quail hunt. No birds - no dove, no quail, no ducks. Not even a lizard. We saw one ground squirrel.

It took 5 hours to make what is normally an hour's drive.

It is like it is snowing. At least the winds have died down, so maybe the firefighters can make some headway.

We really need to do some controlled burns, and hold landwners responsible for clearing the brush that is choking the hillsides.

 

[Wyodeerhunter]

Calif,
When I first read your thread I thought your house burned down I had to re read it. I do not have tv but just looked up the fires! Damn! Hope your house is far from it!

 

[cjcj]

Glad your OK... I saw it... what a huge mess

 

[1_pointer]

Hope you stay out of harm's way! For fires in these types of areas, I agree with you that a proactive approach is the much better alternative. These types of examples are why the fire & hazardous fuels reduction programs in the federal agencies have such big budgets. Looks like to me it's time to break out the anchor chains and crawler tractors again!!

As far as holding landowners liable, I'm not sure how that would work. How much is too much brush? What if that piece of ground in a climax vegetation state should produce more than that amount of brush? I could see that getting very complicated, very fast not even too mention enforcement. Any suggestions?

 

[JB]

Cali, glad you guys are ok .
....might relocate Mikey's guns to a safer location till all this is over.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

might relocate Mikey's guns to a safer location till all this is over

LOL!

Tyler - I would have to rely upon the experts like you and Buzz to dertermine what is the climax vegetation or what the vegetation situation should be. The ecology of So Cal is based upon occasional fires to clear out the underbrush. Some seeds need fire to germinate. We have thwarted that, and then have to pay the price of fooling around with Mother Nature. Driving through some sections of Monterrey/Carmel, for example, the brush is completely impenetrable. Very little wildlife even lives there, except for mice, rats and snakes. We have created an abundance of fuel.

 

[Oak]

You might not be able to make landowners liable, but you can make them create defensible space if they want help from the firefighters in the event of a fire. In some areas here in CO the local fire departments work with landowners and tell them what they need to do to create a defensible space. When the landowner has done the work, the fire department puts their property on the map as potentially being saved during a fire. If you haven't made your property defensible, the fire department won't bother trying.

 

[Nut]

Good advice Oak.

Hang in there Rick.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Prescribed burns in California won't happen any more, to many people throwing lawsuits around every time a little fly ash hits their new paint job and the lawyer costs don't out weigh the gain

It's easier and cheaper to battle the blazes when there is a ton of trained resources, an open check book, and they can build the fire breaks miles away, letting them be jumped when the fire finally gets there to help burn vegetation with out fear of as many law suits

So they just let them go, building fire breaks miles away to get needed vegetation burned

I witnessed this first hand last summer and the tactics used for control

Care is taken not to burn any structures in the process, but only so much can be done when people don't clean up around their houses

I sincerely hope you keep your place Rick, I'm sure you do fuel mitigation to keep fires under control when it does get near

One thing that also helps if an hour or so before the front comes thru, turn on the sprinklers around your house, bringing up the RH's so the fire has a tendency to go around you...

As for the litigation of non conformists when it comes to cleaning up their brush

It’s a tough thing to enforce with the amount of people in those areas, the speed of plant growth and trespassing laws

Good luck...

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I don't really have to worry too much about the brush fires - I live in the middle of concrete, asphalt and grass "Leave it to Beaver" suburbia. No brush for several miles in any direction. Thanks for the well-wishes anyway. My complaint is just the petty bother of all the airborne residue. Nothing compared to the folks who have lost their homes - I simply think there could/should be something done to prevent this and that the cost should be borne by those affected, not by the rest of us who choose to live in a safer area.

 

[noharleyyet]

Left Coast Rationale

California Proposition 8 gay marriage vote?
Calling a tragedy 'divine wrath' is silly -- right, churchy folks?
Recommend (2) Comments

November 18, 2008

BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Reader Nick Valenzio of Palm Springs, Calif., wonders if "the California wildfires might just be God showing his displeasure at the outcome of Proposition 8?"

Come on, Nick. That's as preposterous as somebody on the religious right saying a hurricane or an earthquake or a flood is God's punishment of gays, and we all know nobody would ever say anything like that.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Now youy've done it. Within 10 minutes, this thread will have to be moved.

 

[noharleyyet]

Now youy've done it. Within 10 minutes, this thread will have to be moved.

Thread Nazi.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Fishing for trolls, NHY? It appears the fish aren't biting today.

 

[noharleyyet]

...bait ain't workin'...might hafta resort to beatin' the Bush's.

 

[ELKCHSR]

I would fully agree with that statement Rick...

They should be held liable for their own conduct...

But as with every thing else in this country, far to many people aren't held accountable to much of any thing and expect the rest of us to bail them out of their own ignorance...

 

[1_pointer]

CH- What is the climax vegetation is sorta moot IMO, I was just trying to point out the slippery slope that could happen in trying to hold people accountable for the state of vegetation.

 

[ELKCHSR]

It's a great idea 1p...

But as with all good ideas, lawyers and human emotion get in the way of doing the right thing...

 

[1_pointer]

Elkchsr- Which idea is a good one?

 

[ELKCHSR]

I was just trying to point out the slippery slope that could happen in trying to hold people accountable for the state of vegetation