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The 'City of Angels' has become the 'City of Crispy Critters' Totally preventable and totally a democrat caused issue. Has zero to do with climate change and everything to do with poor political management.

Far as Canada is concerned, if I was Canadian, I'd not be throwing stones at anyone in as much as you may become the 51st State.... I see many Canadians are in favor of just that. Understandable, you are taxed to death and have a healthcare system where you could very well expire just waiting to get to see a doctor.

Not some place I'd want to live at all.
 
The 'City of Angels' has become the 'City of Crispy Critters' Totally preventable and totally a democrat caused issue. Has zero to do with climate change and everything to do with poor political management.

Far as Canada is concerned, if I was Canadian, I'd not be throwing stones at anyone in as much as you may become the 51st State.... I see many Canadians are in favor of just that. Understandable, you are taxed to death and have a healthcare system where you could very well expire just waiting to get to see a doctor.

Not some place I'd want to live at all.
You apparently don't know much about wildfires. I do not see anything politcal about 100 mph wind gusts--hell, I've seen, in person how fire is pushed by a mere 50mph wind. You no way no how can put people in front of such a fire. Airtankers cannot fly in all conditions, nor helicopters. It isn't like the TV shows and movies.

On another site, somebody made the comparison with the firestorm of Tokyo during WWII. The fire makes it's own weather, and it's Katy Bar The Door Time or for those of you who are movie fans, Monty Python's Run Away, Run Away. You cannot put out a firestorm without cooperation from The Weather. Not Republicans, not Democrats, you need the right weather. Get that through your thick head. Thay do not sacrifice lives for property in the fire fighting realm. That's the cardinal rule. Safety.

Gawd, I really wish you couch shots would travel to SoCal and show them how it's done, right? It's only a few hours away by plane. Go for it.
 
Gawd, I really wish you couch shots would travel to SoCal and show them how it's done, right? It's only a few hours away by plane. Go for it.
Gee, I've been there, even set up plans for doing control burns and set out the perimeters for the burn, like preparation, wind speed, direction, humidity needed, location, and even an environmental impact statement. When those conditions exists it is the time to do the burn. They said they would have to get this plan approved and it may take 2 or 3 years.
 
Gee, I've been there, even set up plans for doing control burns and set out the perimeters for the burn, like preparation, wind speed, direction, humidity needed, location, and even an environmental impact statement. When those conditions exists it is the time to do the burn. They said they would have to get this plan approved and it may take 2 or 3 years.
Yup. Welcome to the Dim reality…stupidity.
 
The 'City of Angels' has become the 'City of Crispy Critters' Totally preventable and totally a democrat caused issue. Has zero to do with climate change and everything to do with poor political management.

Far as Canada is concerned, if I was Canadian, I'd not be throwing stones at anyone in as much as you may become the 51st State.... I see many Canadians are in favor of just that. Understandable, you are taxed to death and have a healthcare system where you could very well expire just waiting to get to see a doctor.

Not some place I'd want to live at all.

Good. We have enough idiots already.
 
Gee, I've been there, even set up plans for doing control burns and set out the perimeters for the burn, like preparation, wind speed, direction, humidity needed, location, and even an environmental impact statement. When those conditions exists it is the time to do the burn. They said they would have to get this plan approved and it may take 2 or 3 years.
Well, good for you. Now what about all the couch shots on here?

I've only been to somewhere in Orange County once on a fire crew. The brush is pretty impressive--thick, tall, and flammable. We weren't in a town. Spent a night on a ridge that looked way down to what some of the guys thought might be Ft Pendleton. Had a turkey sandwich for Thanksgiving there.

Did I mention how thick the brush that loves to burn is? Add ignition and a high wind and all the fire hydrants in the world might produce a little steam.

And yeah, we west coastians have a lot of paperwork and planning to go through. It's the law. A good portion of that law comes from Washington the DC and is passed by Congress, who really are more interested in creating havoc, rather taking on real life troubles.

As for the climate? You bet. We PNWers who have lived here for most of our lives definitely notice that the winters aren't as cold, or snowy and the summers are much hotter, with 100 degree days now lasting for weeks instead of just a few days. That's on the east side of the mountains. The west side is also hotter and drier. I guess if you spend all your time in front of a computer screen only to go outside to walk to your vehicle, you might argue against this.
 
Looking at LA from over here in UK, there seems to be an awful lot of water out there in the sea close by. Surely it is not beyond the famous American Knowhow to create a massive set of water pumps out at sea for these eventualities?
 
Looking at LA from over here in UK, there seems to be an awful lot of water out there in the sea close by. Surely it is not beyond the famous American Knowhow to create a massive set of water pumps out at sea for these eventualities?
Yes you put out fires but now the ground is saturated with salt . Ever see what happens to areas that flood with sea water ? The vegetation dies and doesn’t come back for a long period of time
 
Like I said on boats it’s used . You have a small amount of equipment used at a given time . If you were to equip all fire trucks and related infrastructure to use salt water in a major city it would be 100s of billions of dollars . Wide scale use of salt water isn’t an option because of the contamination . Do they use fire boats on fires yes they do but from rivers or lakes . Most of the fire boats in fire departments are used in fresh water not the ocean unless fighting a ship fire .
 
All good and well, but I don't think anybody thinks about using salty water. Pumps are pumps and also I wouldn't want to put ocean water in a spendy engine. (engine is a fire truck)

The fire retardant contents have been studied and tweaked to make it fairly earth friendly. It is still claimed to be toxic by The Usual Suspects and there have been attempts to sue over the use. They've dumped it on orchards, wheat fields, etc. and people. On one fire, saw a yarder heavily coated in red--the color of retardant. Houses have been hit when loads have to be jettisoned during a sketchy takeoff--I think there was a settlement for that one. That was a long time ago.

Like I said, water doesn't do much good in the big picture when the wind is blowing and fuels are extremely dry. You can hit the hotspots on the sides, flank the fire, if it is determined to be safe for the crews. Safety matters more than buildings.

The wind pushed flames, heading up the hill will have enough heat to cause any moisture to evaporate. Fire likes to run uphill, heating and drying out vegetation above, and spewing ash and embers to start spot fires. You don't want to get caught between the main fire and the spot fires. The brush that you see in pictures from a distance is high, thick and extremely difficult to walk through. Our crew was made fun of, but we prevailed, because we demanded chainsaws to cut line through the brush. We were told that You PNW crews can't do a thing unless you have a chainsaw. Well, so what? Once we had saws, we made progress.
 

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