The climate-change fire alarm from Northern California

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 12, 2017 | by The Times Editorial Board

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Big deadly fires are nothing new to California, particularly during fire season when the Santa Ana or Diablo winds blow hot and dry, making tinder out of trees and bushes that have been baking all summer long.

But the firestorm now raging through Northern California isn’t the typical wildfire.

We don’t yet know what started the fires in Northern California, but we have a good idea of what made them so destructive. Authorities blame a combination of factors.

Burning fossil fuels is not the only human activity that contributes to the destruction wrought by wildfires and hurricanes. So does the relentless march of humans to develop land in danger spots.

“These kinds of catastrophes have happened and they’ll continue to happen.” Gov. Jerry Brown observed at a news briefing Wednesday. “That’s the way it is with a warming climate, dry weather and reducing moisture.”

California is fortunate to have a governor who understands the perils of ignoring climate change and is aggressively pushing policies to mitigate its future harm. Unfortunately, that puts him at odds with a head-in-the-sand president who blithely disregards the obvious connection between the warming climate and the multiple federal disaster areas he’s been forced to declare in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and, now, California.

[vette6387]

“Like I said; you do what you want to do, I’ll do what I was trained to do and keep my property safe.”

I am not taking issue with your prescription for keeping your property clear. But the fact of the matter is (and we were just looking at an arial view of the neighborhood in Santa Rosa that was completely destroyed, there is just no way any “clearing” could have prevented that devastation. In a suburban neighborhood you don’t have the ability to clear 300 ft around your home. We were in Napa Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and it’s the wind that caused it all.

[vette6387]

“PG&E is contractually obligated to keep their right of way clear.”

PG&E can’t find it’s a$$ with both hands and a flashlight. We have a second home in Carmel, CA. About three years ago, PG&E decided to “line” all the natural gas lines in the town because they were old and leaked. They tried unsuccessfully to move our gas meter to the top of the stairs that lead to our back door because it’s old location (since 1940) was under a kitchen window that could be opened. When I told them no way, because the stairs were actually a fire egress route, the lead guy decided that they could meet their new code by piping the vent on the regulator away from the window area. They never did it. But what they did do is completely blow up a home a few blocks from ours which brought lawsuits coupled with the resultant cessation of work to repair the torn up streets for at least a year and a half. The only good news is evidently PG&E had to completely repave all the streets they dug up instead of just doing their usual “thief in the night” patch jobs on the trenches they dug. PG&E is a crap company, so I wouldn’t doubt that their lack of tree trimming around their power lines in the Napa Valley might have been one of the causes of the fire when the high winds brought down some of their lines.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

People are still allowed to develop land in Kalifornia???

[5th MEB]

I already commented about front spotting and fire jumping lines; it doesn’t alter the fact that somebody, not necessarily the home owners, did not do their job on the hazard reduction required around built up areas at the urban/wildland interface.
On the Angeles NF in 68, the Liebre/Canyon fire started in the upper Big Tujunga, in less than 12 hours we lost 150,000 acres and we were cutting line in the cities of La Crescenta, Sunland, and Tujunga.
That fire started miles away from any homes or buildings.
Back then; shake, shingle and asphalt shingle roofs were the big thing, most contractors did not learn their lessons then, and they still don’t recognize the danger.
All three of the homes I own have metal roofs with the eaves boxed in with metal trim.
Some of the architectural styles in metal roofing have come a long way in the last 20 years.
Still doesn’t mean they won’t burn in a hot enough run, I just try to lessen the chances.

[GBA]

It's a desert thing that happens every season.

The only thing that is different this time is the record amount of rainfall, so simply add the word "record" where appropriate:

Record rainfall produces record plant growth which then becomes record dry kindling during record fire season.

This is not a mystery any more.

We now know this is happening because the Glowing Bull Warming god is angry with America for electing Trump instead of the chosen one, Hillarity Clinton.

Now, we're all gonna DIE...someday.

[Toughluck_freeper]

California is burning due to global cooling.
As temperatures drop, precipitation goes down and drought ensues.
Five years of drought, more to come :(. As we cool down.

So I’ll do what I can to save the planet and increase my CO2 footprint.