Some sad news

j williams

j williams

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
11,135
when will people realize that starting these wildfires is not only destroying our wilderness areas, and peoples homes, but it is also taking the lives of the men who are trying to fight them. :(

I would love my grand kids to have a chance to see the sierras and love them as much as I do before they are burnt up by degenerates.:(

Smoke up for these guys and their families.:thumbup:

http://www.fireengineering.com/news/newsArticleDisplay.html?id=166630
 
Wow that reminds me, CA gets hit every year by the most horrific fires every Sep.-Nov. and I am not looking forward to anymore hikes in a black forest.

-RB
 
Smoke sent, We loose to many brave souls over these fires, which most can be avoided.
 
This kind of retards is the reason why I can't make a fire in the forests here. Luckily we have public fire places close to, or in the forests, where firemaking is allowed and safe.
 
That is sad. I'm suprised the state hasn't all been burnt up...
 
First off, it is sad when a public servant dies in the line of duty.

That said: not all fire is bad, and putting out all fires as a blanket policy is not always a good thing. Many forests/ecosystems rely in some way on fire. Not allowing small fires to burn and preventing thinning of brush and trees makes the fires that do happen much worse. Not wanting to walk through a black forest is a dumb reason not to allow controlled burning or logging, the consequences are much worse when an overabundance of fuel does spark because it will happen, and the longer it waits to happen the worse it will be without some measure taken.

Fires in Colorado where no logging is allowed such as wilderness areas, or "scenic" populated areas get so bad that the fire does not rejuvenate the forest, it kills it, instead of burning off underbrush and the smaller trees it scorches everything and sterilizes the ground, meaning it will take a lot longer for the plants to come back.

The Florida Forest Service regularly conducts burns and the forest is that much healthier for it. Granted the Florida climate is much more suited to controlled burns but the principle is the same.

Nature is not stagnant. Fires happen, floods happen, stone arches fall. If that's what I wanted to see I would go to Central Park or the Botanical gardens, not a wilderness area.
 
Thomas J. I agree, it is a natural part of the forests cycle.

But, these are getting past the point of a healthy burn. The forrests dont need us to set them on fire to take care of them. They have maintained for thousands of years w/o the help of people setting fires for no reason.
 
JWILLIAMS - "when will people realize that starting these wildfires ..."
Click to expand...


Where does it say in that article you posted that the fire was started by an arsonist?

Yes, some fires are started by arsonists, or careless campers, but many, many fires are started by lightning.

My wife and I owned a vacation home in the southern Sierra at 6,000 feet altitude, for over 30 years. I have seen thousands of lightning strikes during lightning storms over the Sierra when up there, and some of them have started major fires.

FWIW.

L.W.
 
Unfortunately quite a few of these fires are started by arsonists. Some by misguided idiots that are trying to prove some environmentalist ideal.
Prayers going out to the families of these firefighters.
 
Well you got me. I guess maybe this fire wasnt started by an arsonist, and no firefighter has ever been killed in a fire started by one.

Cmon, It is sad news to lose some one in my public service family, and My statement was one derived from lots of news of firefighters dying fighting these things for a lot longer then just this one incident.

I know lightning causes alot of wildfires. I also know arsonists cause their fair share too.

Doesnt matter how it was started, it matters that somebody is burying a father or son, and that is sad news when somebody dies in the line of duty.

I dont know that any of the deceased had kids or fathers for that matter either.
 
j williams said:
Thomas J. I agree, it is a natural part of the forests cycle.

But, these are getting past the point of a healthy burn. The forrests dont need us to set them on fire to take care of them. They have maintained for thousands of years w/o the help of people setting fires for no reason.
Click to expand...

But now we are interrupting the natural cycle. About 1 out of every 10 lightening strikes starts a fire during peak of the fire season. In CA alone that was something upwards of 800 fires. Most put out within a few acres, 3-10ish. The natural landscape would look very different if those 800 fires had taken their course. Every time we don't let a fire burn we guarantee that the next one will be worse. The number and dispersion of people in the environment means that those fires don't burn. I grew up on the plains, and I remember our property (90% un-landscaped, ie natural) getting struck at least 3 times which started a fire, but those fires were immediately put out. The same went for everybody else in the neighborhood. That land hasn't burned in a natural way since people moved in. The land is no longer being allowed to take care of its self.

We are the ones causing fuel to build up to the levels where it becomes unhealthy. By the way the Native Americans regularly set the plains afire, Australian Aborigines still do.
 
Oh, we've had hundreds of lightning fires this year. But a lot of the bad fires are caused by carelessness and deliberate arson.

I wish we had a manageable controlled burn system out here. something like we had 500 years ago or so.

Smoke up for the firefighters and their families.
 
Thomas_J said:
But now we are interrupting the natural cycle. About 1 out of every 10 lightening strikes starts a fire during peak of the fire season. In CA alone that was something upwards of 800 fires. Most put out within a few acres, 3-10ish. The natural landscape would look very different if those 800 fires had taken their course. Every time we don't let a fire burn we guarantee that the next one will be worse. The number and dispersion of people in the environment means that those fires don't burn. I grew up on the plains, and I remember our property (90% un-landscaped, ie natural) getting struck at least 3 times which started a fire, but those fires were immediately put out. The same went for everybody else in the neighborhood. That land hasn't burned in a natural way since people moved in. The land is no longer being allowed to take care of its self.

We are the ones causing fuel to build up to the levels where it becomes unhealthy. By the way the Native Americans regularly set the plains afire, Australian Aborigines still do.
Click to expand...


Good post.:thumbup:

I agree, we havent been able to let them burn b/c of population increases, and development of the areas, which in turn has caused the buildup of fuels to an unhealthy level. So the arsonists arent doing anyone a favor by starting these fires.
 
Christof- I agree, a controlled burn would help to keep alot of the natural and unnatural fires in line when they do occur.
 
here in BC we sur es\could use a massive wildfire to kill all the PineBeetles int he interior. we dont get cold enough temps anymore to kill off the beetles, and the province policy is that any fire is bad....

The USA is welcomed to send a few F-1s over and drop napalm on the pine beetle kill forests....


Sorry to hear about your loss J williams, :(
 
bearthedog said:
Wow that reminds me, CA gets hit every year by the most horrific fires every Sep.-Nov. and I am not looking forward to anymore hikes in a black forest.

-RB
Click to expand...

I'm not living in San Diego anymore, so hopefully I won't have to run for my life again.
 
I have read historical accounts from the early days of European settlers in California, and it is apparent that back then there were significantly more acres burned each year than during any of the recent years that we have considered to be especially bad. The historical reports talk about large areas of California being choked by smoke every year. Lightning-caused fires were allowed to burn, and the native americans lit many more. The acreage burned estimates that I have seen make the last few years seem pretty tame.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top