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Fire (moved)


FWIW, the "forests" that are burning in LA have nothing to do with what Trump was talking about.

And even so, the notion of spending billions of dollars cleaning forest floors and destroying habitats to limit wildfires is a narrow minded way of thinking.

A big problem with these kinds of fires is that it's impossible to pick a fire line where you say, "everything closer to the fire than this is going to be sacrificed". Watch it all burn rather than risk getting sued for picking which houses can be saved.
 
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FWIW, the "forests" that are burning in LA have nothing to do with what Trump was talking about.

And even so, the notion of spending billions of dollars cleaning forest floors and destroying habitats to limit wildfires is a narrow minded way of thinking.

A big problem with these kinds of fires is that it's impossible to pick a fire line where you say, "everything closer to the fire than this is going to be sacrificed". Watch it all burn rather than risk getting sued for picking which houses can be saved.

Lol, OK! ✅
 
FWIW, the "forests" that are burning in LA have nothing to do with what Trump was talking about.

And even so, the notion of spending billions of dollars cleaning forest floors and destroying habitats to limit wildfires is a narrow minded way of thinking.

A big problem with these kinds of fires is that it's impossible to pick a fire line where you say, "everything closer to the fire than this is going to be sacrificed". Watch it all burn rather than risk getting sued for picking which houses can be saved.
While raking or sweeping the forest floors isn't really feasible (Finland, Trump's model, covers only ~130K square miles. We have 4 states bigger than that), there's actually a nugget of truth at the center of the concept.

One of the major problems with US forests is the thick growth, particularly the undergrowth. For over a century we've put out every forest fire as quickly as possible, which has allowed accumulations of dry organics on the forest floor and let the shrubs and juvenile trees get unnaturally dense. Our bigger goal was to maximize harvestable trees...and we did. Meanwhile, we increased the quantity of combustibles. A natural forest system burns periodically and clears out the understory, but when that's less dense the fire doesn't burn hot enough to light the mature trees or to get into the tree crowns. When we let it accumulate, the understory fires burn longer, hotter, and higher, they burn the trees and get into the crowns, and then they're off and running.

There's no way we're going to rake and sweep it, but it would not be a terrible idea to clear the understory (including the old logging slash)...which probably means careful burning.

Of course, this isn't really relevant to the SoCal fires, since they're not in forests.
 
lol. They were putting out a small trash fire. And those are small containers they carry for such instances. Having spent 3 years with District 8 in Spokane a few decades ago as a young adult I can assure you this is a lot faster than pulling hose and cranking up the pump - especially if you are in a big hurry and have to be mobile to deal with other issues.

This is a fine example of how social media turns people into morons. Or morons into even bigger morons.
 
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You had one job.

A job that pays $750,000/ yr. Making you the highest paid public employee in California. You earn as a public employee, twice what the President makes.

You had one job. Time for accountability.




 
Dear Neighbors,


I know that everyone is on pins and needles over the fires all over LA County and I don't want to alarm you, but I received the following information from a well-sourced person in the LAPD. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.


The LAPD is pretty sure that the fires are being caused by an arsonist. A very savvy arsonist that may know a lot about wind patterns and fire science. The arsonist seems to be targeting affluent areas that abuts brush areas. Our community needs to be very vigilant for any suspicious activity. Please spread the word, right now they are fighting a brushfire that has started in Topanga.


Please take this seriously! Make sure that you are monitoring your cameras. If your dogs are barking, investigate. I will ask ADT to step up their patrols in the neighborhood. If this information is true, we could very well be targets.


Shirley Worrels, President


BHE HOA
 
I don't spend time concerning myself with made-up stories and fairy tales except to determine they are made-up stories and fairy tales. Taihtsat
Lucky for you we have people here who spend all of their time doing that and can provide you the cliff notes (or tweets).
 

Directed-energy weapon​

There was some footage this morning of what looked like the start of the Palisades fire. So, I would say Monday at the latest, they will have something on what started that one.
 
There was some footage this morning of what looked like the start of the Palisades fire. So, I would say Monday at the latest, they will have something on what started that one.
Jewish space lasers. Paid for by George Soros. Need proof? Goobercoug can find you the post on Elon Musk’s twatter feed.
 
Update on the Palisades fire. It appears that yes, there was a single, monumental instance of organizational incompetence. So if you want to finger point, have at it.

I've already written about the tanks in the hills whose replenishment pumps stopped when not only the DWP power was lost but also the generator building burned. When the tanks ran dry, they were done, because their replenishment pumps had no power. I can't point a finger at that one; no water district builds generator buildings to withstand the wind driven fire we had. However...

It turns out there is also a good sized ground reservoir that was built many moons ago. Much larger than the tanks. It was drained for repairs. It was subsequently repaired...with the repairs being completed a couple of years (don't know exactly) ago.

The reservoir was not refilled. Don't know the reason; if it was 2-3 years ago, the drought may have played a role in the decision. Don't know.

I'm told there are pumps from the reservoir and that those pumps have both DWP and generator power. Presumably they would have lost the DWP power, but I'm told their generator site did not burn. If their pumps worked, the hydrants would have had that water available. Even if the pumps did not work, gravity would have flowed something. The reservoir is not limitless, and it may well have been used up. But that is a lot of hydrant water that was not available.

I suspect the decision not to refill the reservoir was not made by the DWP manager of the time, but maybe it was. My bet is that the decision was one or two levels below the GM. Hindsight is clear after the fire, and the decision (assuming it was actually a conscious decision, and not simply a matter of an organization forgetting about it) was clearly wrong. Whether a lot of houses would have been saved is a different question. Tuesday night in Altadena, under similar conditions, my friend had an approx 3" dia burning ember hit him in the helmet and explode. It was solid and coming fast. He then looked up and saw what looked like an endless stream of those big embers overhead, travelling horizontally. Think of the wind required to do that. A battalion commander drove by while they were at the fire and asked them who they were (there is no city or county name on the truck, though it is painted in county colors). Then the BC realized that he knew two of the retired guys. He didn't have a radio to give them, so he gave them his cell number and he became their reporting means.

Nobody designs for that kind of wind.

Somebody, or group of somebodies, will be crucified for that dry reservoir in the Palisades. Altadena, by contrast, had good hydrant pressure. We are supposed to get wind again tonight, and he and his merry band of retirees with their fire truck will once again be there doing volunteer structure protection. There are a lot of people out there charging to the sound of the guns in their own way. The Santa Monica (adjacent to Pacific Palisades) public radio station sent out an appeal this afternoon with pictures of over 100 elderly folks in their facility that I assume had been evacuated from a care facility. One of our TV stations in that area had about half of an empty floor, and that how has cots and people. Many, many nearby churches now have people sleeping on site. The list goes on.

Finally, one of my partners just bought a house in Altadena a couple of months ago and only moved in about a month before the fire. The local bear (known in the neighborhood as "Barry") had decided to hibernate in his crawl space, under his house (our bears don't really hibernate in our mild winter, but they slow down considerably). He only has access to the street from his entry location. Their ring camera has shown him wandering at night, sometimes with the neighborhood coyote following him. When my partner (who was evacuated, along with almost all of Altadena) got back into the neighborhood yesterday he found that his house and several in his slice of town had not burned, though on both sides of his slice every house was gone. Barry was still under the house. He and his wife decided (only half jokingly) that it was an omen, and they would leave Barry alone for a while.
 
Update on the Palisades fire. It appears that yes, there was a single, monumental instance of organizational incompetence. So if you want to finger point, have at it.

I've already written about the tanks in the hills whose replenishment pumps stopped when not only the DWP power was lost but also the generator building burned. When the tanks ran dry, they were done, because their replenishment pumps had no power. I can't point a finger at that one; no water district builds generator buildings to withstand the wind driven fire we had. However...

It turns out there is also a good sized ground reservoir that was built many moons ago. Much larger than the tanks. It was drained for repairs. It was subsequently repaired...with the repairs being completed a couple of years (don't know exactly) ago.

The reservoir was not refilled. Don't know the reason; if it was 2-3 years ago, the drought may have played a role in the decision. Don't know.

I'm told there are pumps from the reservoir and that those pumps have both DWP and generator power. Presumably they would have lost the DWP power, but I'm told their generator site did not burn. If their pumps worked, the hydrants would have had that water available. Even if the pumps did not work, gravity would have flowed something. The reservoir is not limitless, and it may well have been used up. But that is a lot of hydrant water that was not available.

I suspect the decision not to refill the reservoir was not made by the DWP manager of the time, but maybe it was. My bet is that the decision was one or two levels below the GM. Hindsight is clear after the fire, and the decision (assuming it was actually a conscious decision, and not simply a matter of an organization forgetting about it) was clearly wrong. Whether a lot of houses would have been saved is a different question. Tuesday night in Altadena, under similar conditions, my friend had an approx 3" dia burning ember hit him in the helmet and explode. It was solid and coming fast. He then looked up and saw what looked like an endless stream of those big embers overhead, travelling horizontally. Think of the wind required to do that. A battalion commander drove by while they were at the fire and asked them who they were (there is no city or county name on the truck, though it is painted in county colors). Then the BC realized that he knew two of the retired guys. He didn't have a radio to give them, so he gave them his cell number and he became their reporting means.

Nobody designs for that kind of wind.

Somebody, or group of somebodies, will be crucified for that dry reservoir in the Palisades. Altadena, by contrast, had good hydrant pressure. We are supposed to get wind again tonight, and he and his merry band of retirees with their fire truck will once again be there doing volunteer structure protection. There are a lot of people out there charging to the sound of the guns in their own way. The Santa Monica (adjacent to Pacific Palisades) public radio station sent out an appeal this afternoon with pictures of over 100 elderly folks in their facility that I assume had been evacuated from a care facility. One of our TV stations in that area had about half of an empty floor, and that how has cots and people. Many, many nearby churches now have people sleeping on site. The list goes on.

Finally, one of my partners just bought a house in Altadena a couple of months ago and only moved in about a month before the fire. The local bear (known in the neighborhood as "Barry") had decided to hibernate in his crawl space, under his house (our bears don't really hibernate in our mild winter, but they slow down considerably). He only has access to the street from his entry location. Their ring camera has shown him wandering at night, sometimes with the neighborhood coyote following him. When my partner (who was evacuated, along with almost all of Altadena) got back into the neighborhood yesterday he found that his house and several in his slice of town had not burned, though on both sides of his slice every house was gone. Barry was still under the house. He and his wife decided (only half jokingly) that it was an omen, and they would leave Barry alone for a while.
Greatly appreciated updates and perspective!
 
Jewish space lasers. Paid for by George Soros. Need proof? Goobercoug can find you the post on Elon Musk’s twatter feed.
What FOX LA showed looked more like air fired rockets shooting across, flying low on the horizon and into the clouds, but, I’m not really a weapons expert. I’d have to refer you to them.
 
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