Dread Pirate Roberts
Critical Thinker
I've been watching videos of the water planes/helicopters delivering their payloads. It's pretty freaking incredible.
Wings of Rescue, an organization that flies pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster-stricken regions, has been a go-to in responding to the animal crisis caused by fires in Los Angeles. These fires have put pets and their owners in a precarious state, causing displacement and pressure on shelters reaching a high demand level...
I wanted to hear what animals he rescued. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, I was down in NOLA for several months, along with hundreds of other volunteers. We did break into homes with mallets, and crowbars, to rescue animals. Homes that had been flooded, with mold that grew/looked like a jungle. The Louisiana SPCA, and the other large groups, would knock on doors! After all the trauma did they really think a dog would bark, or a cat meow?!? They marked doors saying there were no animals inside. That wasn't true. Those animals were scared and hiding. We recovered/saved hundreds, if not thousands. We even found animals after 3 months (November). I don't know how they survived, but it was a miracle (albeit they were skinny and weak).
A day after firefighters got a reprieve with lighter winds than expected, gusts were hitting up to 35 mph (56 kph) on the coast and valleys and 55 mph (88 kph) in the mountains before dawn, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall said. They were expected to increase up to 10 mph (16 kph) through the morning. “This is really just the last push of these winds here today,” Hall said. “Hopefully, if we get through today we’re gonna have some better conditions for late week, especially into Friday and Saturday.” Associated Press article link
That explains the spread. Not the start. Do fires usually start every time wind blows ? 3 in one day ?
Local news now reporting that power lines are suspected to have caused the Eaton fire.Do arsonists usually set three fires in one day?
I didn't think it was necessary to spell out a list of possible causes of wildfires, but since it is, here are a few: wet or dry lightning, power lines, campfires, an unextinguished cigarette butt, trash fires, etc...
It's quite common that high winds can cause power lines to touch each other, and the result is usually a pile of hot sparks.Local news now reporting that power lines are suspected to have caused the Eaton fire.
Right wingers don't. They live in this fantasy world where the only way to help poor people is to allow them be enslaved by the rich.It’s weird that people are talking about forest management in a thread that has nothing to do with forests. It gives the impression that they don’t have the first ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ clue what they’re talking about.
The scary thing about all this is that, in US terms, California's government is extremely good and competent.Okay, this is supposed to be a skeptic's board. This is an active large-scale disaster and there is no "Big Picture" as far as the facts go.
Here's the background:
1. Southern California (SoCal) has had a dry winter thus far after a summer of record-setting heat.
2. A HIGH WIND WARNING was issued last Sunday night before the fires, and was for LA County, Santa Cruz County, and parts of the northern coastal mountain areas.
3. A RED FLAG WARNING was issued for SoCal from Ventura County, LA County, and other SoCal counties. A Red Flag Warning means there is a high potential for wildfire. CalFire and just about all local city, and county fire departments were put on alert.
4. The winds arrived as predicted with average sustained speeds of 50mph, and guts up to 99mph.
5. The Palicades Fire was reported at 10:30AM. 7, January.
6. The Eaton Fire was reported at 6:18PM, 7, January.
7. The Hurst Fire was reported at 10:29PM, 7, January
8. The Lidia Fire was reported at 2:07PM, 8, January.
9. The Kenneth Fire was reported at 3:34PM, 9, January.
10. The Archer Fire was reported at 11:24AM, 10, January (today)
The high winds made interdiction by aircraft impossible on January 7, and the winds pushed, and spread the fire quickly. To understand these fires you need to understand topography. Those winds blowing through the canyons create a blow-torch effect that blows up small fires into Godzilla, and embers can fly up to a mile starting more fires, and quickly enveloping the area with a situation beyond the control of most fire departments. The fight stops being about putting out the fire, and shifts to containing it. The winds and topography in these areas made containment impossible without airtankers, and there was almost 30 hours without air support over a fire spreading under 40-60mph wind sustained winds. Nine and a half million people live in Los Angeles County. None of them were complaining about infrastructure on New Year's Day. Now everyone in California is getting a crash course in what state and local governments do, and don't do.
Meanwhile, nobody in LA County really knows what's going on. The scope of this disaster is off the charts, and only a 6.5+ earthquake down there would overtake it. It will take year to sort out all the issues with these fires on the optimistic side. Be careful of what you read and what you think is true until the fires are all out.
Here's CalFire's Incident page:
Incidents | CAL FIRE
www.fire.ca.gov
I will point out that LA County had a voter turnout of 25%, and the entire state of California had a voter turnout of 28.98% in 2024. I voted. You get the government you vote for. Or don't vote for.
Didn't Trampy once put in a big claim for Mar-a-Lardo when a hurricaine hit the other end of Florida, causing no damage to the area? Looking for something like $10m.I'm remembering when Hurricane Sandy hit and the GOP refused to vote aid for the victims (they claimed there was too much Pork...there wasn't).
Later when a GOP rep's own area was hit with a disaster congress universally voted for aid but noted the congressman had voted against Sandy aid. The congressman was all "Gee, I don't remember doing thaaaaaaat".
Also note how often FOX news has tried to make any disaster into "The Democrat's Katrina!!!!!"
California wildfires are anything but a natural disaster.
It's hard to imagine a more thoroughly managed wilderness than the California back country. It's also hard to imagine a more thoroughly mismanaged wilderness than the California back country.
... would consider the fact that they're unable to provide one credible answer to a simple question: What specifically should the the government have done / not done to mitigate the risk?"Climate Change" is manna from heaven for government and politicians; effective rhetoric to avoid criticism of their gross incompetence.
Presumably the over 6 million Californians who voted for Trump will move out!they hate california
Some evacuation orders have been lifted in recent days in the Eaton Fire, but most of the orders will likely stay in place into next week....
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna also said there are damaged areas that need to be secured. Thousands of structures have been damaged and destroyed. "It literally looks like a bomb dropped," he said. "There are things everywhere." NBC News Los Angeles article link
Many of those people are probably afraid that even if their houses are still standing, someone will have burglarized the schneikies out of them while they are waiting for permission to return. Crooks generally ignore 'DO NOT ENTER' notices, as they would rather chance'um for a big payout.Some residents displaced by the wildfires are getting impatient to be allowed back to their homes. Especially residents whose homes are apparently intact. But emergency responders say they're not ready to reopen all the neighborhoods. That two factors delaying it are 1) the need to make sure all bodies have been recovered and 2) to make sure residents will be safe when they return. Some residents have been away from home for over a week but it may be another week before they can go back.
Below left is a map showing burned out homes (marked in red) in one Pacific Palisades neighborhood. On the right is a Google Streetview image from December 2023. It shows homes that were intact then but burned out now. The homes shown are circled on the fire map. Kind of puts a face on the tragedy.
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It's a great pity we can't give Mel Gibson stage four cancer so he may prove his hypothesis.Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
Yes, he said he had three friends with stage four cancer and now none of them have it any more. I suppose we assume they recovered but maybe they’re dead (or never existed).Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
And what other treaments did these "friends" receive? Mel Gibson and Joe Rogan, what a roomful of stupid.Mel Gibson was just on with Rogan telling everyone then Ivermectin and fenbendazole (another de-wormer) are a wonder cure for cancer. He four of his friends with stage four cancer that completely recovered after taking them.
...Crooks generally ignore 'DO NOT ENTER' notices, as they would rather chance'um for a big payout.
Poor people should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.Right wingers don't. They live in this fantasy world where the only way to help poor people is to allow them be enslaved by the rich.
Learn about the organizations aiding pets and wildlife impacted by the L.A. wildfires and how you can help their critical efforts.
Burying power lines isn't a panacea. It's far more expensive to bury a line than it is to build towers and hang bare high voltage cables from them. The ground isn't that friendly of an environment and cables need to be well insulated to protect from damage by moisture and rodents. High voltage lines tend to get hot and burying them doesn't help with cooling, so often the cables need to jacketed and actively cooled with fluid or nitrogen gas. Breaks are harder to find and more expensive to repair.The next issue should be burying power lines in hazardous areas. I honestly don't know why the state hasn't made this job one both in the Sierras, the Redwoods, Big Sur/Santa Lucias, and SoCal. It's been seven years since the entire city of Paradise was erased in the Camp Fire, and the fact that powerlines are not a priority gives me a headache.
Looks like it has to be a mix of underground, and above-ground equipment upgrades, which makes sense:Burying power lines isn't a panacea. It's far more expensive to bury a line than it is to build towers and hang bare high voltage cables from them. The ground isn't that friendly of an environment and cables need to be well insulated to protect from damage by moisture and rodents. High voltage lines tend to get hot and burying them doesn't help with cooling, so often the cables need to jacketed and actively cooled with fluid or nitrogen gas. Breaks are harder to find and more expensive to repair.
My feeling is for short runs of a few kilometres burying the cables will work, but not for great distances.
It wouldn't work for great distances. But for residential neighbourhoods it would.My feeling is for short runs of a few kilometres burying the cables will work, but not for great distances.
More than 10,000 houses have been destroyed in Los Angeles, the charred piles of wood and metal all that remains after the fast-moving wildfires. But within that wreckage, some homes are still standing, seemingly untouched. It's a phenomenon that's been seen in other high-intensity fires, something that can feel like a stroke of luck. Sometimes, the houses survived because the winds could have shifted at just the right moment. But more often, fire experts are finding those homeowners took key precautions that likely saved their houses from burning.
The key safeguards are things that can be done to the house itself, as well as the environment directly around it, including the density of flammable plants. Many are already requirements in California's building codes for fire-prone areas and its rules for clearing nearby brush and vegetation, known as creating "defensible space." Few other Western states have adopted similar standards, even those that have seen destructive wildfires....Los Angeles has rules requiring defensible space, mandating that trees be trimmed back from the roofline and bushes be spaced out. Homes in high risk areas get yearly inspections to ensure homeowners comply. The key is to ensure the plants and bushes aren't touching each other and the house, acting like a highway for the flames. NPR article link
NOAA said:Very strong Santa Ana winds will develop Monday and continue through at least Tuesday. Humidities will drastically lower to the single digits. Along with the extremely dry fuels, this will create Extremely Critical fire-weather conditions and rapid firespread with any fires.
How do the bushes get 'spaced out' are they marijuana bushes or something?
Sounds like a trip hazard to me...Social distancing, with peyote cacti growing in between.
How do the bushes get 'spaced out' are they marijuana bushes or something?
The worst of the Santa Ana winds was over in Southern California late Tuesday morning, but the high risk of fire will persist across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in the coming days. Bone-dry air, warm temperatures and another round of winds are all in the forecast, as firefighters continue working to contain the deadly Eaton and Palisades fires...The Friars fire burned a few acres in San Diego’s Mission Valley neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, prompting evacuations. The flames were in a dangerous location — near power lines and between two rows of apartment buildings — but firefighters quickly got the blaze under control and were “mopping up hot spots” by 2 p.m. local time, according to a spokesman for the city. New York Times article link