Posted on 09/02/2009 5:04:44 PM PDT by BunnySlippers
Some critics suggested that protests from environmentalists contributed to the disaster, which came after the brush was allowed to build up for as much as 40 years.
"This brush was ready to explode," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district overlaps the forest. "The environmentalists have gone to the extreme to prevent controlled burns, and as a result we have this catastrophe today."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yet, the enviro-wackos never get held to account.
Why weren’t the larger air-bombers, like the “Super Scooper” ready to go and deployed from the start?
Now the largest fire in that area’s history, if it were fought like it when it was only a few acres, residents would still have homes and the forest wouldn’t be burnt.
Local government knew the fire risks were higher this year. But to save a relative few pennies, they’ve instead lost millions of dollars.
Or the idiots in government that listen to them...
It’s the bushes fault!
My old house in Sunland sits not more than a few miles away from the back entrance to Angeles National Forest. I used to take the wife and kids cruising in the mountains frequently. It was wonderful.
I read some comments from Sunland-Tujunga folks on an LA Times blog and they all said that our once beautiful forest now looks like a moonscape. Nothing is left. I can't even imagine how that must look. I'm glad in a way that I'm no longer there to suffer the loss.
Once again, we see the actual results of radical environmentalism imposed upon the people.
George W. Bush was a big supporter of clearing brush, but the tree-huggers said no. Tree-huggers suck.
It’s not enough to get permits. Your weather has to be right. If anything goes wrong, the person who signed off on the work order’s head will roll. There are so many hurdles to jump through, I’m actually amazed they burned any acres there.
The only part of the FS budget that does well, I suspect, any more, is the part that pays the lawyer’s fees because they can’t blink anymore without some group suing.
If you can’t hand clear, because of the impact it might have on the landscape, and you can’t burn because of the impact it might have on the air, and you have to deal with miles and miles of red tape just to get permission, don’t be surprised if not much gets done.
Mother Nature will eventually take care of it all in a big fire...just like what is happening now.
I think the big scoopers were on contract in British Columbia, and they were just released and moved down to California. This isn’t even their normal fire season yet. The companies who own these things have to make a living.
Plus, when the fire’s on the side of a mountain, the big planes can’t get the water to where the side is. The fire needs to be at the ridge or on the flats for them to be of best use in mountainous areas.
And they aren’t the things that put out the fires. They just cool it down enough for the guys with the bulldozers, pulaskis and shovels to do their job. You don’t put out a wildfire with water and retardant. You starve it of fuel.
Today they said it was a snow moving fire ... but massive. But sooo costly.
Isn’t nature, just doing what nature has always done for billions of years...sshhheeezzzz.
“Starve it” is absolutely correct, and the Indians always burned off the excess.
The Environmental Wars are wars against Americans without guns or bombs, but wars none the less.
These fires can go from a few acres to hundreds in a half an hour. Recently there was one near Santa Cruz. On the 10 PM news, they said it was 200 acresa at the beginning of the show (200 football fields). A half hour later, they said it was 350 acres.
Yeah, it’s just that there are houses and structures in the area. This means that massive amounts of firefighters [6,000 in this fire alone] that must be used and paid to fight it.
BTW, disease has been nature’s way to thinning the ranks. But we now try to stop diseases. It’s an analogy which runs thorough out life.
Yesterday the LA Times had a video about “fire tornados” which they deemed very rare. But they are wind tunnels that sweep through a massive fire and carry it upward.
The video was astounding!
All the pines are full of resin. The local TV had video from a fire one time. An ember landed on a pine and it literally went “Woosh”. It was fully engulfed in seconds.
Is there anyone in the government that is sane?
Recall the Los Alamos fire a few years ago?
Here’s some video that helps show just how massive this fire is...
http://brandonriza.com/Video/HTML/ZeroPercentContained.html
Yesterday was the first day my eyes became so irritated I found it hard to keep from tearing up. There is so much smoke!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.