8mm Forum: Fires In California

This is topic Fires In California in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on August 27, 2013, 03:41 PM:

Just seen on the News, the horrific fires out there, Yosemite Park
under threat in losing some of the oldest trees on the planet.
Why not bomb the fire out, a poor man being interviewed, a
Mr Bill Padden, if I recall, was understandably broken hearted at
his home totally destroyed, a home he had grown up in ....gone.
I hope this is put under control soon with no loss of life, as there
was a few weeks ago with seventeen brave firefighters losing theirs.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on August 27, 2013, 04:32 PM:

The smoke from that fire is affecting almost the entire continent:
Yosemite Smoke Affects the Northwest and the Rest of the U.S.

If you've ever been there the Sequoia trees are amazing. They make you feel like a little bug they're so big. They do have very thick bark, up to a few feet, that help protect them from the fires. The cones also need the heat of a fire to release their seeds. The problem is that all of our fire fighting efforts have allowed too much underbrush to grow which makes the fires burn hotter and kill everything.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on August 27, 2013, 04:38 PM:

Thats why I suggested bombing the fires out Bryan, these violent
actions worked for the acclaimed fire fighter, Red Adair. Lets hope
for a pissing down rain storm, and quick.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2013, 05:43 PM:

Puffing out an oil well is with explosives one thing, a forest fire is another entirely.

They can be thousands of acres, and nothing in anybody's arsenal anywhere can blow that out. (Who needs all that radiation anyway?)

-basically forest fire fighting is trying to contain the burn in one area until the rains come or the fuel load is used up. They dump water, they cut fire breaks, they even set smaller fires ahead of the main blaze to slowly burn up the debris on the forest floor before the main fire gets there and burns it in minutes.

The odd part is many forests actually need fire as part of their natural processes, and if people don't allow (or even set) a smaller fire here and there the flammables build up until a big one happens.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 27, 2013, 06:41 PM:

Steve is right. Forest fires are a natural process, needed to clear out dead underbrush and promote strong new growth of trees.
The only problem with forest fires is the loss of property, and possibly human life, where people have built homes. But as far as nature is concerned, periodic forest fires are a necessity.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2013, 06:56 PM:

Yes,

We have species of pine trees locally that won't drop their seeds unless a forset fire heats up the cones they develop in.

A century of strict forest fire prevention severely depleted their numbers. When that fire came it burned several days and pretty much every fire department from two counties had equipement and men there before it finally rained.

-I've never looked at rain quite the same since.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on August 27, 2013, 06:57 PM:

Paul, with all respect, didn't they employ forest rangers, or like
the **** heads in the UK, folks that are crucial, are made redundant, sounds like the truth to me.

[ July 04, 2018, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Douglas Meltzer ]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2013, 07:07 PM:

Forest rangers can't prevent forest fires in several thousand square miles of dry timber. The best they can do is yell "SMOKE!!!" into a phone, get in their Jeep and get out of Dodge!

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on August 27, 2013, 07:25 PM:

For the record, three posts in this thread have been deleted.

This is one of 11 major wildfires burning this week in California, which has recently averaged close to 3,000 wildfires per year. The dry season is a very scary time. One of these came close to where my father lives but an amazing job by over 3000 firefighters and some luck with the weather contained the damage.

Doug

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on August 28, 2013, 03:02 AM:

I remember of late watching on TV a program on bush fires in Australia, with high temperature and strong winds the speed at which the fires travelled was shocking to watch.

It showed they can be unpredictable and lethal if you are in its path.

Graham.

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