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Wildfire Threatens Water and Power To San Francisco
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Retuers reports that firefighters are battling to gain control of a fast-moving wildfire raging on the edge of Yosemite National Park that is threatening power and water supplies to San Francisco, about 200 miles to the west. 'We are making progress but unfortunately the steep terrain definitely has posed a major challenge,' says Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. 'Today we're continuing to see warm weather that could allow this fire to continue to grow very rapidly as it has over the last several days.' California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency, warning that the fire had damaged the electrical infrastructure serving the city, and forced the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to shut down power lines. The blaze in the western Sierra Nevada Mountains is now the fastest-moving of 50 large wildfires raging across the drought-parched U.S. West that have strained resources and prompted fire managers to open talks with Pentagon commanders and Canadian officials about possible reinforcements. Firefighters have been hampered by a lack of moisture from the sky and on the ground. 'The wind today is going to be better for firefighting, but we are still dealing with bone dry grass and brush,' says Tina Rose, spokeswoman for the multi-agency incident command. 'This fire is very dynamic.'"
This is not part of global warming.
sudo Mod Parent +5 Informative
As long as our fernet supply is in good shape, we'll be fine.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Rain is in the forcast for the area, it should put out the fire just before the mud-slides start.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Well, at least if there's a blackout, there won't be a baby boom 9 months from now....
The world doesn't revolve around San Francisco. I come here for tech news,not regurgitated MSM local articles.
Cram people into an urban setting and then turn off the infrastructure to see what happens such as turning on each other for food, disease climbing as sanitation fails, etc. Wonderful results for population control and sustainability through reduced population.
Ha, and if you think you can avoid this by moving out to the rural areas, you've got a presidential executive order stating that if you don't do things out there in ways the government approves, they'll confiscate your land and drive you back into the city. Well, actually, they'll be doing that no matter what. The whole point of the sustainable planet movement is to reduce humanity to a limited number of human settlements and leave the rest of the planet to the wild.
"When we're done with you, you'll wish you were animals." Maurice Strong, primary author of Agenda 21.
Well, at least if there's a blackout, there won't be a baby boom 9 months from now....
Well, that explains the population growth across the bay...
Hetch Hechy is why SF is dependent on that area. Some ecologists claim that flooding it, saved it, as it is another Yosemite. Let's hope this calamity doesn't lead anyone to rethink that decision.
Am I the only one wondering how water in California can be threatened by fire?
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
It's a search and rescue operation. Once we find Tony Bennett's heart, we're all moving some place safer.
Am I the only one wondering how water in California can be threatened by fire?
It's easier to push water than to pull it. So the pumping stations which are needed to push the water up hill are located at the bottom of the hill, and there is infrastructure in place along the rim (it's a rim fire) to supply power to those facilities. It's the same reason that electric power is currently at risk by the fire.
Unfortunately, people who do not understand land management have been making rules about fire roads,controlled burns, and removal of scrub for the last number of decades, which means when a fire like this happens, it tends to be a multi-hundred-thousand acre conflagration.
With all the surveillance in these united states of America AND more surveillance on the way, does anyone get the idea that MAYBE this is just another inside job (like 9/11) to curtail even more freedoms? The war on terror will never be won against the al cia-duh, the war on drugs will never be won because of all the "black" money not overseen by our illustrious CONgressMEN? Huh, what, I'm a conspiracy theorist?
Oh never mind, go back to sleep, Bonanza's coming on in three minutes.
For those of you who still possess critical thinking skills, hop on board the FEMA train. Choo, choo, choo, wooOooo, wooo!
Please mod me up as troll, flamebait, off topic, there, I saved you all the trouble.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Firefighters have been hampered by a lack of moisture from the sky and on the ground.
No shit, sherlock. Fires rage where the moisture isn't.
And no, I'm not merely being snarky about people living in semi-arid areas. I live in one, right in the so-called "red zone" forest interface, and we have no fires right now because we're getting all the rain this year.
In Reno, NV. The air here has been horrid for several days, supposedly worse than Beijing yesterday. My lungs and eyes burn, my throat hurts, and I'm dealing with intermittent headaches. And I've been staying indoors as much as possible. Hope our usual windy weather returns soon!
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
How about we be generous and say that poor land practices have exacerbated the benefits of this Anthropogenically-induced Drought. Climate change was not the only cause.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
We still gotta lotta dog hair that's got to go somehow.
The amount of smoke in Reno from this fire is the worst in my 20 year memory. Visibility is less than 2 miles. Ugh
This sounds like a job for Mega Maid...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VptOUWC-Itc
for some reason i thought that the power plant and water supply that serves San Francisco was located outside of Oakland. i learned something new.
If all the power lines go down, they'll just power the city with conservation (which, the fine lefty people of the bay area assure me, is superior to building new power plants and new power grid infrastructure)
I for one, am more concerned about the classic little towns like Groveland that live out of the tourism coming in and out of Yosemite. My wife and I go to Yosemite at least a couple of times per year, and we always stay in Groveland, a tiny town with such an old gold rush history and character. They've got the Iron Door Saloon, the oldest saloon in California dating from 1852, The Groveland Hotel that used to be a brothel and where every one of the rooms is named like "Lotta Crabtree", "Betty Fries Room" and "Just Juanita".
Right now I'm less concerned about our water supply vs. the lives and livelihood of their residents and rich history of all those places.
If the power to their own servers gets cut off - do they have a peering agreement with the NSA?
#DeleteChrome
It would wake more people the fuck up.
This fire is burning right next to actual people, not sure why we need to worry about SF 200 miles away. Actual people are right on the fire line in danger, they should be the ones reported on. I know this is a tech site and the bay is the tech center, but remember the firefighters and civilians that are actually on site, and not just experiencing a minor inconvenience.
how will they survive if they can't charge their cell phones and sip their lattes
The steep terrain is produced by Global Wurming! Therefore San Fran has a Threat Level 9! Gays Beware! God is cuming to get you!
Viagra Report At 11.
Aa a result of the eco-freaks preventing natural fires for so long, then letting them go...they get what they deserve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rN4OIS9NkI
Note that in the river canyons and also closer to Yosemite the country is a lot more rugged.
I was going up Briones Road yesterday and stopped to let a doe cross the road, and noticed a wisp o' smoke on the shoulder. I did not realize how dry it was until I saw how long it took me to put that out, every little blade of grass just wouldn't go out, and somehow magically passed on the smolder. I think I spent over three minutes, the dog was pretty pissed.
I watched a broken Miller bottle bottle start dry grass on fire once a long time ago. Very surreal, like the time I watched oily rags spontaneously go. (That one is probably pretty repeatable.)
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
That's emergency only - when they kick in that generator, the entire city is blanketed by a thick layer of cloying smug.
...and its easier to find rolling green hills with trees to add graphics to.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
'This fire is very dynamic.'
To bad our electrical grid isn't.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
SF is a loony bin with fiscal policies that would fail almost anywhere else.
The only reason the place SEEMS "fiscally responsible" is that it is the west coast financial center (equivalent to NYC) and home to many rich bankers, corporate offices, etc. People all across the U.S. who bank at Bank of America, for example, are subsidizing the city of San Francisco. This is further amplified by the political power of the place... it has multiple congress members (including fmr House Speaker, and current Dem House Leader Nancy Pelosi) and two evil corrupt U.S. Senators (Feinstein and Boxer who've both become VERY rich multi-millionaires while working in congress for $174,000 per year) who rarely even bother to pretend that they represent anything other than San Francisco. Feinstein (re-elected last year) did not really even have to campaign... she refused to debate any opponent, refused any tough interviews, and got nothing but glowing press coverage because she supports all the lefty things the lefty press of California support.
'Retuers'? Ah, of course, the well known Retuers.