O/T: Brush Fires

There are presently many brush fires burning all over California including several here in SoCal.

Just to put things in perspective, one of these fires known as the Station fire has expanded to over 45,000 acres and is threatening Mount Wilson, home of the observatory as well as the broadcast towers of every major radio and TV station serving the L/A area.

Two (2) L/A county firefighters have died and literally thousands of homes are threatened.

The "brush", basically chaparral which depends on fire to repopulate itself, has not burned in this area for at least 50 years.

Things are a little dicey right now, but the "super scooper" airplanes (12,000 gallon capacity) are here and will be up at daylight.

Mean while you can smell the fire & smoke from 30-40 miles away.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett
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"Lew Hodgett" wrote in>

I understand that all firefighting aircraft is old and needs lots of maintainence. And congress has refused to buy anything for them for many years. I wonder what is going to haopen if no replacements become available. It seems that there lots of airplanes in mothballs.

What would it take to get some of them out of storage and fitted for fire duty? It seems like the situation you describe are perfect justification for more planes. You can never have enough of them.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

It sounds like you have a situation there that has plagued a lot of forest land in the US, poor management. This has allowed a huge amount of deadfall to accumulate in the US Forest areas and makes for one heck of firestorm when it lights off.

No burn off of the chapparral in 50 years? This cannot end well, unless God is very good to you.

Deb

Reply to
Dr. Deb

The Super Scoopers he mentioned are brand new airplanes purpose-made for firefighting. The trend is toward newly constructed purpose-built aircraft instead of toward refitting older ones.

Most firefighting aircraft in the US are privately owned--why would the Congress be "buying anything for them"? That's the responsibility of their owners.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I am just quoting an article I read. I know that the smokejumpers have their own planes. And the crews that maintain those planes also maintains some of the aircraft that drop the water and retardent.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

It's a major problem that's taken a hundred years of wrong headed thinking to create and is not likely to go away anytime soon.

Worse, California was born to burn. It's the natural course of things. The chaparral is not the only species requiring fire to propagate. Not only does fire clear the underbrush, but it keeps the tree density at its natural levels. Most CA forest land is insanely dense and just waiting to explode. I've seen tree density so bad, trees were growing almost on top of one another.

No matter. Foolish human beings will continue to build right in among all that natural fuel and lament their loses when nature take its course. God has little to do with it.

nb

Reply to
notbob

And even more foolish humans won't allow thinning or, God forbid, controlled burns in forests.

Reply to
HeyBub

Much of this terrain is mountainous accessible only to mountain goats.

Nestled among the mountains are canyons full of brush.

Over night the fire has expanded to over 85,000 acres.

Not sure there can be a realistic land management plan.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Yep. Tree-huggers refuse to allow the forests to be harvested and controlled (brush) burns. Much land is intentionally left "virgin", or worse, small fires put out before the fuel is expended...

...and then they're surprised when nature takes its course.

Reply to
keithw86

Aircraft owned and operated by the US Forest service are indeed old and difficult to maintain; however, these are new planes designed specifically to fight fires and owned and operated by the private sector.

They are leased to the State of California on as as needed basis.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

I also wonder how much CARBON is being spewed into the air. I'm guessing Congress will find a way to tax WILDFIRES....... More pollution flying into the air in one of these fires then all the cars on all the Freeways in California in a year!

Reply to
evodawg

Part of the problem - no forest picking up wood for home fire places. All fallen wood must rot in place to be natural.

The forests were cleaner because they would have periodic fires. But with excess in forest mis-management you will have bigger fires when one comes. Sometimes massive ones due to the underbrush filling in between tress making a thicket.

Mart> notbob wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

LA taxed to bits because of the CO2 excesses. Nature turns some of this around in the carbon cycle.

Mart> HeyBub wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

And sad to say, Gray out Davis sent the big DC10 water bombers out of state because they cost to much. One could dump large sections of the fire with a single load.

Times change and I wonder what the rich would say if a fire when where their homes were. Some wouldn't care.

Mart> >>> There are presently many brush fires burning all over California

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I look at California fires as an important part of nature. The burning clears the land, fertilizes it, then allows new plants to sprout. Fires, earthquakes, and taxes are big in SoCal. Glad I moved out of LA 20 years ago, more wood varieties available (sometimes for free) in east TN unless you are looking for redwood. Hope the rain helps SoCal, though.

Reply to
Phisherman

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