Southern California Fires -- Live Thread 10/29

You're talking about the "R" that students from the University of Redlands maintain? Wow.

1,641 posted on 10/29/2003 3:26:48 PM PST by GOPrincess

air attack defense being planned for Lake Arrowhead now

1,642 posted on 10/29/2003 3:26:50 PM PST by spectr17 (Veni, Vedi, Velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around)

Burned plant material? how can that be harmful?

1,643 posted on 10/29/2003 3:27:02 PM PST by Fitzcarraldo

yes, I noticed that Snow was forcasted for Saturday night in Big Bear yesterday....ironic

1,644 posted on 10/29/2003 3:27:28 PM PST by BurbankKarl

1,645 posted on 10/29/2003 3:28:09 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Give God a chance!)

To: Fitzcarraldo

Abrasive ash, plus burned trees can increase the amount of radon in the atmosphere.

1,647 posted on 10/29/2003 3:28:29 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim (SSDD - Same S#it Different Democrat)

Same R, I can see it lookign out ny living room winder

1,648 posted on 10/29/2003 3:28:52 PM PST by spectr17 (Veni, Vedi, Velcro. I came, I saw, I stuck around)

My friends said they'd been dumping water and fire retardant in that area, and started yesterday, they believe. Can you confirm?

1,649 posted on 10/29/2003 3:30:36 PM PST by Letitring (.)

Five military helos with suspended water buckets just took off in a
close line from Miramar. They made a large 180 degree circle just
north of Miramar. I can't tell their ultimate destination, but here
comes the military

1,650 posted on 10/29/2003 3:30:49 PM PST by BurbankKarl

I Believe that ramp that fell in both slymar and northridge quakes is named for the motor cop that died there following the northridge quake

I think is name is clarence dean

1,651 posted on 10/29/2003 3:31:00 PM PST by al baby (Ice cream does not have bones)

Someone else may have posted this link, but FYI here is a pretty good map. It is big.
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/archive/cgb2003302_1500.jpg

1,652 posted on 10/29/2003 3:31:34 PM PST by olorin

Sure wish that rain could get here a couple days early.

1,653 posted on 10/29/2003 3:31:39 PM PST by GOPrincess

Military C130s at 4500 feet, media chopper at 5000 feet...

media again impeding the operations

1,654 posted on 10/29/2003 3:32:01 PM PST by BurbankKarl

Thank God. C-130's are there also, right?

1,655 posted on 10/29/2003 3:32:04 PM PST by Letitring (.)

scv scanner has airdrop activity; DC-6 and S-2 inbound

mms://scvradio.no-ip.com:8000/

1,657 posted on 10/29/2003 3:33:26 PM PST by wolficatZ (___><))))*>____\0/____/|____"flipper to the rescue...")

two structures burning at couples (?) canyon

1,658 posted on 10/29/2003 3:34:14 PM PST by lainie

sannner ... Running Springs ... report 2 structure fires with gas

1,659 posted on 10/29/2003 3:34:54 PM PST by maggief

Plea made to protect California owl; Environmentalists' fight likely to run into Bush opposition

Riverside, Calif. -- The California spotted owl has been steadily declining in the Southern California mountains -- the San Bernardinos, San Jacintos, Santa Anas among them -- as well as the Sierra Nevada, and is at the center of renewed haggling over the Endangered Species Act.

An environmental group is seeking to have the bird protected under the act, just the kind of lawsuit the Bush administration is attempting to curb.

Federal protection for the owl most likely wouldn't create the level of uproar that came from the Northwest timber industry when the bird's cousin, the northern spotted owl, was placed on the threatened-species list in 1990.

Logging in the Southern California mountains is limited to cutting trees for firewood. And while the San Bernardino National Forest is a playground for 8 million people each year, even recreation would not be seriously restricted. A few hiking and off-road trails already have been rerouted around owl nests, said Forest Service spokeswoman Ruth Wenstrom.

But construction projects that require clearing wide swaths of trees, such as power lines, sewer lines, new roads or expansion of a ski resort, could face tougher obstacles in getting approval, Wenstrom said.

"We intend to keep them off the threatened and endangered species list," said Matt Mathes, a Forest Service spokesman. " Frankly, when animals get on that list, that's something of a failure on the part of humans. That's not supposed to happen."

While logging is the main culprit in the owl's decline in the Sierra range, a multitude of issues plagues the owl's life in Southern California.

Among the potential problems, said Bill La Haye, a wildlife biologist working for the Forest Service, are damaging air pollution that banks up against the mountains; homes and ski resorts that chew up and fragment owl habitat; drought and wildfires.

The owls, the environmentalists say, are important to humans because they are indicators of the health of forests.

The Center for Biological Diversity is impatient with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's progress in helping the owl and has filed notice that it intends to sue the agency in an effort to get protection.

The service acknowledged in October that the owl's populations are declining and said it intended to decide by March whether to give the species federal protection. March came and went.

"It's on the back burner at the moment," said Pat Foulk, a spokeswoman for the agency's Sacramento office.

Environmentalists say lawsuits are the only way most species get protection. Legal action forced protection for the California spotted owl's cousins: the northern spotted owl and the Mexican spotted owl.

But the Bush administration is trying to quash the onslaught of such lawsuits -- there are 75 current lawsuits covering more than 400 species, plus 86 notices of intent to sue covering 640 more species, said Jane Hendron, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman.

1,660 posted on 10/29/2003 3:34:54 PM PST by Henk

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