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Wildfire Devastates California Town of Paradise (apnews.com)
A number of readers have shared this report: Tens of thousands of people fled a fast-moving wildfire Thursday in Northern California, some clutching babies and pets as they abandoned vehicles and struck out on foot ahead of the flames that forced the evacuation of an entire town and destroyed hundreds of structures. "Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it's that kind of devastation," said Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean late Thursday. "The wind that was predicted came and just wiped it out."
McLean estimated that a couple of thousand structures were destroyed in the town of 27,000 residents about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, where residents scrambled to flee. The extent of the injuries and specific damage count was not immediately known as officials could not access the dangerous area.
McLean estimated that a couple of thousand structures were destroyed in the town of 27,000 residents about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, where residents scrambled to flee. The extent of the injuries and specific damage count was not immediately known as officials could not access the dangerous area.
You sure about that? My general understanding is the natives used control burning to manage wildfires, something NIMBY white people can't figure out.
You're absolutely right. They did use "controlled" burns for a long time.
And yes, towns built in forested areas will burn, not if, but when.
However, assigning a racial component to your comment is ridiculous.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Climate Change is affecting all of us, right now.
The increased intensity of the fires in the west in the last 10 years or so is just an example.
As is the increasingly extreme weather we are seeing worldwide.
But go ahead and keep thinking you are safe and sound, somehow protected from how the planets climate and weather are changing.
Your politics can't save you.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
So this is terrible news, but why is this on Slashdot?
A big part of what's making these wild fires so bad is that California cut funding for controlled burns and other forest management techniques you need to do during a drought.
I saw this in my city too. We cut the sanitation budget, including the funds for the guys that go around clearing debris from the storm drains. Sure enough first really big storm floods the whole city.
I've said it before and I will say it again: The government doesn't waste nearly as much money as people think. When you start demanding substantial cuts this is what happens.
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That was the Chinookan people to the north, not the Aztlan to the south. The Aztlan used human sacrifice, a far less efficient method, to manage wildfires and weather.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Yeah, and entire town is destroyed by fire ruining thousands of lives. NBD AMIRITE??!!
Controlled burns can only do so much. When you get a good wind pushing the flames, they move fast and can jump upwards of a mile.
I don't know about California, but up here (BC), the problem is the warm springs lately cause so much undergrowth which then drys out in the summer and leaves the forests full of tinder dry fuel. Can't burn the whole Province with controlled burns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
that's the real trouble liberals have. Yes, there are cases where logging companies have misused forestry policy to cut trees that didn't need cutting. But that doesn't make make the funding cuts for fire safety any less real.
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At last report 70000 acres have been decimated, an uncounted number of structures (including more or less the entire town of Paradise) and I'm sure there have been human deaths; yet you say this is all 'unimportant' somehow?
It's not where *I* live therefore it's unimportant
That's what you sound like; again: was that your intention?
Perhaps you'd like to consider walking back your comment before someone gets the wrong idea about you, friend.
California is pretty aggressive about doing controlled burns. The problem is there's normally about 8 inches of rain there by this time in the rainy season, and this year there's less than half an inch. And that's the new normal in recent years thanks to climate change.
That, and it wasn't a particularly safe place to build a town in the first place (a ridge between 2 canyons surrounded by forest, so that fire traveling uphill always gets funneled into town). Climate change takes it from not particularly safe to downright suicidal.
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Yes, but the hippies in CA refuse to allow controlled burns, so you end up with uncontrolled ones!
Bingo, we have a winner!
California stopped using the forest service to clear fire breaks because "we need to conserve nature man". A few simple fire breaks such as clearing back X yards on both sides of the road, back burning areas between tree groupings, clearing tall trees around major population areas and houses would have prevented most of this.
I remember growing up in Wyoming (which is way dryer) and looking at the mountains and seeing a black line going up the mountain through the tree lines every 10 miles or so. The idea was that when one section catches fire they have a natural fire break. They only send crews in to rescue people in that area and to beef up the fire break. People are encouraged to gather and pile up old brush around property lines and use controlled burns the keep houses clear. Which I did experience a fire there that burned the whole hill I lived on, not one single house was touched, but everything in between was burnt.
And yes, you can still get fires in controlled burned areas. The idea isn't to stop the burning, the idea is to make it difficult for the fire to spread to another region. Then you can concentrate on reinforcing these breaks rather than fighting the fire every step of the way which is a loosing battle.
P.S. All those wondering why they are choking on smog in the Bay today, this is why. So yes, this fire is affecting you to.
an uncounted number of structures (including more or less the entire town of Paradise) and I'm sure there have been human deaths;
None reported in the news.
OK, the news has now reported five deaths. I withdraw that statement.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-camp-fire-20181109-story.html
California stopped using the forest service to clear fire breaks because "we need to conserve nature man".
This is a lie.
California does not prohibit fire breaks. They are simply completely ineffectual in case of most CA fires. These fires easily cross firebreaks because of dense and dry vegetation and then jump back to trees, as there's a huge number of tinder-dry dead trees from the recent drought.
The best way to fix it is to remove dead trees but this requires a lot of money and effort.