California Wildfires....

[Fozzer]

The season of the year when I wheel out my trusty Cessna 150 and visit the scenes of devastation created by the terrifying Wildfires in San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Kern County, and the Napa Valley....>>>

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... ial-media/

Brave Firefighters nightmare.

Paul.

[Fozzer]

It gets worse, day by day!....>>>

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37113697

Moral: Don't build/own your house anywhere near TREES!

Paul.... ....!

[Apex]

Back in the 50's when my neighborhood still had undeveloped lots full of pine trees and palmetto plants, the usual S Florida stuff, we'd sometimes get some fires that would wipe out a few acres at a time. How they started was always a mystery. Accidental or intentional arson maybe, but we were the only kids around and we would never do something like that. The Fire Dept would always get these fires under control very quickly as they were pretty much self contained; there was never any damage to any homes ever. But to see this close up, and I mean close up, was mind boggling. Not a pretty sight, for sure. We would walk around the remains in the aftermath, everything all charred and blackened, including the trucks of the pine trees. But it all grew back quickly. Considering how close some houses were, I'd say the Fire Dept did an excellent job containing and putting out these fires. I'd say that at least every empty group of lots had burned at one time or another, except for the ones straight across from where I lived. The largest area that burned at one time was about 1200' x 600'.

[ozzy72]

I remember my first experience of a Cal. forest fire as a kid, terrified me. I'm just hoping my friends in Cal. are all safe and okay.

[ViperPilot]

It gets worse, day by day!....>>>

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-37113697

Moral: Don't build/own your house anywhere near TREES!

Paul.... ....!

If you do own a House in close proximity to a Forested area, then it's incumbent on you, the Owner, to perform adequate Brush/Limb Mitigation around your home, so there's no extra Fuel to 'feed the fire'. No downed trees or brush, no conflagration of your precious belongings.

Props to all of the Firefighters, Hotshot crews and Aerial Firefighting Units all over the Western US and Canada, risking their lives to keep us safe.

Alan

[Fozzer]

I remember following the daily news of the 2007 California Angora Fire at South Lake Tahoe, near Reno in Nevada!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_Fire

Massive devastation of homes and property, with photographs showing most of the structures having been built deep in amongst the dense foliage and trees!

I have Sim Flown over that area many times since the fire.

Even to this very day, I still cant understand the reason why so many Californians/Americans build their timber homes amongst trees, in full knowledge of the dangers that can occur with the frequent, seasonal occurrence of Wild Fires!

To me, it defies common sense!

Our English Gardens just contain a few flowering shrubs and small bushes....

...big trees are always a danger to life and property!

Paul....in amongst the flowering shrubbery... ...!

[ViperPilot]

Paul,

It's because people think "Well, the chances are so slim that it'll happen here (insert Location), that I'll get around to it next year."

With the amount of the Western National Forests being damaged by the Mountain Pine Beetle, many areas are like a pile of dry matchsticks waiting for something, anything to set them off.

We have a fire on the border of CO and WY that has been burning for the last 6 weeks. It's consumed about 15K acres of mostly beetlekilled Forest, and all the US Forest Service & the Bureau of Land Management are doing is protecting Structures; they are letting it burn.

Right now, they figure that the Fire will be 100% contained by the end of OCTOBER. Of course, the Snow will be flying by then so...

Alan

[Fozzer]

More dramatic pics of the Blue Cut fire....>>>

http://mashable.com/2016/08/17/blue-cut ... 9dgnTMpiqr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajon_Pass

Paul.

[ViperPilot]

Current Status of the Beaver Creek Fire; the one I mentioned recently...

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4797/

[Fozzer]

Current Status of the Beaver Creek Fire; the one I mentioned recently...

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4797/

Hello Alan!

Ta for the heads-up on the latest wildfire news!

I suspect, in times long ago, before Homo Sapiens decided to inhabit certain areas and build structures to live in, that Nature would have taken its natural course, and the fires would have burnt themselves out, destroying unwanted vegetation and any "nasties"; tree-infested Beetles, etc, that they contained, in preparation for fresh, new, fertile vegetation to spring up!

We modern Humans have a desire to interfere with the workings of Nature, and try to take control...
...it rarely works to our satisfaction!

Under normal circumstances, these wildfires would naturally burn themselves out, with much benefit to Nature!

Nature knows what it is doing....

...we are the problem!

Paul.... ....!