Firestorm - again - in Southern California

[Cuddles]

C.That more and more people are building houses in areas where it is not a good idea to build houses because they are guarenteed to burn.

It's interesting that in the UK people build where it's far too wet and end up getting flooded, while in the US they build where it's far too dry and end up catching fire. You'd think that after thousands of years of facing these problems people might have learned their lesson by now.

 

[ConspiRaider]

It's interesting that in the UK people build where it's far too wet and end up getting flooded, while in the US they build where it's far too dry and end up catching fire. You'd think that after thousands of years of facing these problems people might have learned their lesson by now.

It befuddles, Cuddles.

Of course we do that here too, YankLandia. We (New Orleans) build where it floods. We (Kansas) build where tornadoes love to hang out. We (New England) build where we know it'll be freezing cold for maybe half the year, requiring the burning of stuff like mercury-containing coal to keep ourselves nice and toasty. We (Seattle) build where it rains so often that it can be mood-altering, depression-enhancing. We (Las Vegas) build where it's roasting hot in summer, requiring huge amounts of power to cool the air and make it livable.

Once we humans (and perhaps we used to be more nomadic by nature) fell in absolute LOVE with owning patches of the Earth's crust for OUR VERY OWN, we were screwed. So much of the meaning of life is tied to property - the land, the dwelling(s), the voluminous stuff crammed into the dwelling(s). Sometimes that is a very risky investment into what life is all about.

Maybe what we need are TRULY mobile homes - not like the 480 that burned in the last several days. Little saucer-shaped homes that can get airborne in a few shakes of a lamb's tail, and light down somewhere else.

 

[dudalb]

Hey , there are few spots on earth that are not subject to natural disasters of one kind or another.

 

[Travis]

Not having defensible space is kinda unforgivable though. Granted in the recent fires it wouldn't have made much difference with those winds but a lot of other fires here in California are much more worse than they need be because people fail to see that dry brush right up next to homes is not a good idea. Here in Tuolumne County we made a hundred feet of defensible space around your home a law.

 

[phildonnia]

I'm curious whether wood-shake roofing will be implicated. It was banned in CA after a big fire in Oakland, but existing installations were grandfathered in.

I don't know who did it but Eucalyptus trees have become a huge invasive nuisance here in California. They love the climate and when they burn.......boy do they burn.

I heard it was an "ill advised lumber scheme" that introduced the blue gum. Although, if you happen to need a hundred-foot tree -- by tomorrow -- there's not really much choice.

 

[PhantomWolf]

I'd have to say that whoever brought in the Eucalyptus tree had never been in Australia during February....

 

[Travis]

I'd have to say that whoever brought in the Eucalyptus tree had never been in Australia during February....

I wonder if they're related to the geniuses that planted Kudzu all over the Southern States.

 

[gumboot]

Yay, let's move into this really hot space and then plant these trees that regenerate periodically by exploding into flames.

 

[Travis]

Yay, let's move into this really hot space and then plant these trees that regenerate periodically by exploding into flames.

Well, to be fair Eucalyptus trees are only part of the problem. We also have manzanita around. That stuff burns so hot you can melt a cast iron wood stove if you burned it inside it. What's worse is that manzanita tends to take over burned out areas as it can grow favorably in the ashy terrain. This makes future fires even more dangerous.

 

[Damien Evans]

Back in the late 1800's, people thought they would make great windbreaks because they grow so fast. It seems like a good idea of the time, and people did not relise that Eucalyptus trees, when it comes to reproducing, are the Rabbits of the tree world: There is no such thing as one.

Ah, a bit like us with cane toads. Import them for one thing, they do something entirely different.

 

[Damien Evans]

I don't know who did it but Eucalyptus trees have become a huge invasive nuisance here in California. They love the climate and when they burn.......boy do they burn.

Tell me about it.

We had a massive series of bushfires in East Gippsland (roughly the eastern quarter of Victoria) two summers ago. Until earlier this year, water restrictions in the major towns in the area were still in force because there was no non charcoal contaminated water anywhere. The fires had a combined front of over 200 km.

 

[gumboot]

Ah, a bit like us with cane toads. Import them for one thing, they do something entirely different.

We watched a documentary about Cane Toads at film school... best doc(mock?)umentary ever.