Posted on 10/23/2007 6:38:02 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6
These kinds of fires have occurred here regularly for decades. They are exacerbated this year because Southern California has had only 3” of rain in a year. Obviously, present efforts at prevention and firefighting are ineffective. What else must be done to stop future blazes?
Television watchers in SoCal are treated to a steady diet of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft dropping water and fire retardant on the fires. While helpful, these efforts are like spitting on your fireplace fire. The amount of water is pitifully small, and much of what does get dropped vaporizes on its way down.
These fires are orders of magnitude greater than the firefighting measures. Indeed, the imagination of planners is exposed as woefully deficient.
If aircraft cannot deliver enough water, then others means of delivering it must be added. The obvious solution is to preposition the water with an effective delivery system.
By prepositioning the water, I am suggesting building water tanks on top of strategically selected ridges. The water would feed by gravity down through pipes to remote-controlled nozzles, which would deliver the water in abundance on-target as the fire approaches, and on any flareups that jump the pipes. Cost concerns prevent every ridge from having them, but those where the fires must be stopped should get them. They would prevent the fires’ spread, or at least slow it enough that other measures can control them more readily.
Those areas now burning will not need these tanks for many years, until the brush has regrown. Rather, it is those areas which have not burned recently which need them most urgently.
Well, good luck with that. That will go over about as well as windmills in Ted Kennedy's backyard. These tanks might interfere with some spider, spore, or lichen not to mention the aesthetics.
I believe it. Oh well, it ended up there anyway.
Apparently, you are unfamiliar with Southern California's flora. It is a semi-arid desert. The vast majority of these wildfires are not in forest at all but in chapparal and sagebrush, often on inaccessible mountainsides.
My bad. Thanks for correcting me. I didn't know that there were a lot of people that lived in the dessert.
Does the forest service ever allow small fires to burn or do they attempt to put them all out?
Yes, build them in advance of the housing, let the housing catch up with the tanks. I still like your idea. Pipe lines laid to the tanks could become fire breaks too. Hey we’re just brain storming here. Although mine is more like a sprinkle.
When he returns from the present battle,
When my sister’s 4th removed cigar smoking cousin in Yugoslavia defeats the muslin / UN marriage , then she will set the record straight by gosh .
What battle ? He’s doing his job . And how are you going to stop the Santa Ana winds when they come from God ? Oh darn it . It’s another vanity .
Don't know. I hear of them periodically. Bear in mind that "forests" in SoCal are up in the surrounding mountains, whereas 90% of the land is near sea-level and is semi-arid desert, covered in brush. I'll ask my daughter's firefighter boyfriend when he gets off the line in a few days.
Actually, I think it is quite natural for this brush to burn every few decades. The problem is that people build in these fire-prone areas. My point is that if they persist in doing so, then they need much better firefighting methods than merely waiting for the Santa Ana winds to die down.
Thanks for your important contribution.
Thanks for your important contribution.
Dont mention it . I blow by the vanity dreamland sections of this site sometimes .
What battle ? He’s doing his job . I’m still stuck on the touchy part , then maybe you can get back to re engineering Gods work with your vanity .
Great input slick. Got any more brilliance you’d like to share?
You said it, key word engineering.
That's what I've noticed by watching on TV. Those "forests" don't look like the forests we have here in SW VA that have lots of tall trees. The mountains in CA look like the are covered with brush and maybe a few small trees here and there.
I hear you and admit to brush fire ignorance. When I lived in San Fran, there was a big forest fire North East of us and the cause ended up being related to all the decaying floor of the forest.
I don't know about dessert fires.
I also know it is a serious issue and hope the best for your family and friends.
I must ask, however, in the spirit of Sam Kenison, why do you live in a dessert that only get 3" of rain per year. Move to where it rains every now and then. (sorry)
I suck at HTML formatting. Sorry.
Do not censor yourself—let your imagination roam.*********
OK, you asked for it. Do genetic modifications on specific kinds of trees and grasses that make them “fire resistant” and seed them in the effected areas.
I think controlled burns are an essential part of any viable prevention program.
Otherwise, I think your idea has merit. I doubt there will be political will brought to bear sufficient to make such happen. And, I suspect the bureaucracies would prevent private groups from doing it.
There are evil forces afoot in the world . . . who are winding up disasters and trying to increase death rates . . . I doubt the globalists would be very tolerant of an effective program. Hope I’m wrong.
re engineering Dave . It’s a short term fix in the big picture . I was hoping to see a bit more conversation about self reliance .
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