California wildfires

[gregintenn]

I've been hearing about these with regularity for as long as I remember. Judging by the video on newscasts, it appears to me that a weedeater would go a long way in preventing this predictable tragedy.

 

What do you think?

[TrickyNicky]

You're 100% right. It really isn't feasible to do it all, but I've always thought they should be stricter around housing developments. I've seen first hand communities bitch and groan over brush clearing ordinances and then turn around and bitch that there wasn't enough being done about fire risk. :rolleyes: Nimrods.

I got evacuated once in the hills of southern CA. Chased by fire on a separate occasion while shooting in the desert. That was fun.

[bersaguy]

In the beginning I had to feel sorry for all the people losing their homes but then as time went on and I learned that all of them are aware of the fact that they are in the middle of a drought and yet the build camp fires and have grill outs just inviting trouble so no pity on self in flicked injuries................jmho

[gregintenn]

Clean up the flammable cr@p around you, and the fire won't get there. :shrug:

[TMF]

[quote name="gregintenn" post="1149452" timestamp="1400259126"]Clean up the flammable cr@p around you, and the fire won't get there. :shrug:[/quote] If you've ever seen a house spontaneously catch on fire due to proximity of heat you'll understand that it isn't underbrush taking these homes. If you have trees anywhere near your home when a wildfire comes through, it can burn so hot that the structure will spontaneously combust. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gregintenn]

Is the underbrush not where the fires generally get started?

[TMF]

[quote name="gregintenn" post="1149507" timestamp="1400274509"]Is the underbrush not where the fires generally get started?[/quote] Probably, but it isn't what causes the extreme temp fires which can't be controlled and destroy homes. I was answering your comment which suggested underbrush near homes was what was destroying them, not what is starting the fires in the first place. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest kingarmory]

Between the development and the constant drought (and watering restrictions), its a self-perpetuating problem.  My folks live in San Diego and I was telling my mom yesterday that they just need to let the fires go since they'll stop at the beach and get rid of everything that makes CA suck ;)

[Oh Shoot]

Between the development and the constant drought (and watering restrictions), its a self-perpetuating problem. ...

 

Long term drought is biggest prob of all out there. Hell, half of TN would have burned down by now if we had that little rainfall over the last decade or however long it's been.

 

And of course, to accentuate their water prob for crops and city supply, they're still diverting beacoup to areas where there's no people to save the rare three toed barking frogs and crested blue eyed geckos or whatever ...

 

- OS

Edited May 17, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[Johnny Rotten]

You'd be surprised how fire resistance a Ca house is, Tile roofs, Lath/Plaster = concrete stucco (not the foam junk Tn contactors use) usually the only wood exposed is the garage door and the fascia, the fires are so intense that when they come up to the house the heat wave blows out the windows and the embers enter the home and burn it from the inside out.

I lived in Escondido/San Marcos for 35yrs, I was a lather and personally worked on or in charged of 1000's of homes built in this area, these fires happens all the time. I'm pretty sure if your property backed up to county open land and you attempted to clear it, you'd get fined or arrested. 

[Sam1]

I've been hearing about these with regularity for as long as I remember. Judging by the video on newscasts, it appears to me that a weedeater would go a long way in preventing this predictable tragedy.

 

What do you think?

 

Nah, I did this for a few years with the forest service.  embers can travel hundreds of yards in low wind and on grass... Californistan is so dry and with the wind coming off the ocean I would say that with the flash vegetation (very light and very dry) they have, embers could easily travel 1/2 mile maybe even to a mile in the right conditions and start a new fire.  It only takes one in the right spot to ignite a fuel source, so imagine thousands of them getting blown up against your house.... something will almost always get in.

 

Last time we were out there many moons ago, we ran into one house that the owner had investments in some company that was developing a foam protection system (sorry no clue what it was called), but it was basically a spray foam hooked up to a hose and he encapsulated the entire house with it.  Supposedly it washed off with water, and his house was the only one on that side of the street that was still standing so it definitely worked.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Sam1

[TrickyNicky]

Nah, I did this for a few years with the forest service.  embers can travel hundreds of yards in low wind and on grass... Californistan is so dry and with the wind coming off the ocean I would say that with the flash vegetation (very light and very dry) they have, embers could easily travel 1/2 mile maybe even to a mile in the right conditions and start a new fire.  It only takes one in the right spot to ignite a fuel source, so imagine thousands of them getting blown up against your house.... something will almost always get in.
 
Last time we were out there many moons ago, we ran into one house that the owner had investments in some company that was developing a foam protection system (sorry no clue what it was called), but it was basically a spray foam hooked up to a hose and he encapsulated the entire house with it.  Supposedly it washed off with water, and his house was the only one on that side of the street that was still standing so it definitely worked.

When I was evacuated in 09-2010 I watched the fire "jump" a 200yard canyon, happened like that. (I just snapped my fingers)


Now the homeowners in SoCal I have zero sympathy for are the ones who choose to buy houses set into the side of hills where mudslides occur frequently(every 5 years or so about). Get a freaking clue, it's not stable ground to build off. I know, you want your horizon pool to look like your swimming into Hollywood, how neat. Tough ****.

[Johnny Rotten]

 

 

Last time we were out there many moons ago, we ran into one house that the owner had investments in some company that was developing a foam protection system (sorry no clue what it was called), but it was basically a spray foam hooked up to a hose and he encapsulated the entire house with it.  Supposedly it washed off with water, and his house was the only one on that side of the street that was still standing so it definitely worked.

I remember seeing this on the news..

I bet you the foam caused cancer in lab mice and suffocated red ants, so Ca probably said no-go!!

[gregintenn]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. You guys have been there. I haven't. I was only going on the news photos/video.

[Guest Cazador]

Southern California is a semi arid dessert!! The average rain fall is under 5 inches. Has been for last century. The water that supports the area comes from the Sierra Mt. resevoirs. The problem comes from over population of a place that needs to burn on a regular basis to sustain it's natural cycle. You ever see what happens after a burn? within weeks all new green undergrowth starts. If the small fire that happen naturally, from lightning and such, were allowed to take their course these massive fires would not happen. Same goes for Colorado and the rest of the western states. The vegetation of the area has a life cycle and people living there have interfered with it. I lived in San Diego for five years and dealt with the tree hugging idiots that build in these areas. That scrub that grows there will not live for a hundred years like our woodlands here in the east. It will only live a couple years due to the harsh environment ( lack of water). Then it needs to be burn to replentish the ground with nutrients for new growth. It's a cycle and man is interfering with it. Sorry, nature wins.

[Sam1]

I remember seeing this on the news..
I bet you the foam caused cancer in lab mice and suffocated red ants, so Ca probably said no-go!!

Approved or not, I bet that guy still has a system on his house.

[gregintenn]

Southern California is a semi arid dessert!! The average rain fall is under 5 inches. Has been for last century. The water that supports the area comes from the Sierra Mt. resevoirs. The problem comes from over population of a place that needs to burn on a regular basis to sustain it's natural cycle. You ever see what happens after a burn? within weeks all new green undergrowth starts. If the small fire that happen naturally, from lightning and such, were allowed to take their course these massive fires would not happen. Same goes for Colorado and the rest of the western states. The vegetation of the area has a life cycle and people living there have interfered with it. I lived in San Diego for five years and dealt with the tree hugging idiots that build in these areas. That scrub that grows there will not live for a hundred years like our woodlands here in the east. It will only live a couple years due to the harsh environment ( lack of water). Then it needs to be burn to replentish the ground with nutrients for new growth. It's a cycle and man is interfering with it. Sorry, nature wins.

That's a very good explanation. I hadn't looked at it that way. Thanks.

[Guest Cazador]

That's a very good explanation. I hadn't looked at it that way. Thanks.

Well, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[gregintenn]

Well, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Where does that reference come from? I've heard it for years, but either I don't get it, or didn't see the right movie.

[Oh Shoot]

Where does that reference come from? I've heard it for years, but either I don't get it, or didn't see the right movie.

 

Series of commercials Holiday Inn ran for years, maybe couple dozen or more of different ones. Looking for quick link to some, found one I'd never actually seen:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCLuIwuVgQ

 

Lots more:

 

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+did+stay+at+a+holiday+inn+express+last+night

 

- OS

Edited May 19, 2014 by Oh Shoot