cWildfires

[dawg80]

Another topic of which I am very familiar. My 20+ years in the timber business, and my two stints out west working for the USFS, have given me a perspective on this problem. Even now as a fire rages in California, some 8 deaths, 100,000+ acres destroyed, and houses burnt to the ground, the stupid California legislature is debating how to tighten up their stupid laws that will only make the situation worse.

First, California and other western states face wildfire problems we simply don't experience in the South. Low rainfall, low humidity, high winds, very hilly to mountainous terrain all contribute to a small fire growing rapidly. This current fire is a great example of that. All started when a car caught on fire on a highway, the driver pulls over and abandons his vehicle...of course, he had no choice. But the woods caught fire from this and now....bam! a major fire. So! knowing that your state is particularly susceptible to fires getting out of control, one would think you, as government leaders, would take steps to try to minimize the effects. Nah...not if you're a goofy libtard state legislator in commie California.

I'll say this, as someone who has been in the thick of it, on a fire line on a major project fire, these large fires are awesome. They are scary, at times, terrifying, and they unfortunately cause a lot of harm to humans and our property, and to the pristine forests many of us love. But, they are also awesome. They create their own weather. They generate winds that reach 100+ mph. (saw a pickup truck get flipped over). It is like a military operation when fighting a large (project) fire. Watching and hearing pine trees EXPLODE into splinters as the intense heat boils their sap until, pow! the trees explode like a stick of dynamite. Seeing a "crown out" as the flames climb skyward twice the height of the trees, said trees 100 feet tall and taller. Oh to be 20 again and in great physical shape. I would gladly don the "yellow shirt" and go back on the fire line.

The key term is: pre-suppression. We do it here in the South, where the threat of wildfires is not as great. But, even the thought of it is alarming to the environmental whackos in charge in California and in other western states. The blood of those 8 people is on the hands of dem whackos.

[techman05]

I talked to a family 2 weeks ago who live in an area that was evacuated. He said, what I assume you are referring to. They do no preventative action as far as controlled burns or selective cutting to create fire breaks.

[dawg80]

I talked to a family 2 weeks ago who live in an area that was evacuated. He said, what I assume you are referring to. They do no preventative action as far as controlled burns or selective cutting to create fire breaks.

Yep, that's it. Control burning is the single best tool foresters have to protect the forest, and thus protect people living in or near the forests.

When I was working for the USFS in Oregon, we came upon a Lodgepole Pine stand, dead from a disease outbreak the previous year. It was all dead, rotting pines, dried needles on the ground; a pile of fuel needing only a spark and bam! a major fire. I commented this area should be cleaned up. Bring in dozers to pile and burn the debris, then replant. OMG! the whackos wanted me sent to a re-education camp!! THIS IS NATURE!!! We must leave it alone and allow nature to heal this area.

You get the point. Little wonder wildfires run wild out there. We would have something similar in the South....pretty close in some cases....if we didn't utilize the pre-suppression methods at our disposal. I've been on some pretty big fires, here in Louisiana, like one in Grant Parish that was started by a passing train sending out sparks and stringing fire for miles. Would have been worse than it was had there not been control burning conducted and fire lanes built.