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California is a beautiful state, weather-wise.. but when it gets ugly.. it gets real ugly in a real hard and disastrous way. To be caught in this fire... it looks horrible! I wonder if the environmentalists had a hand in this.... trees and brush not being cared for in the way they are supposed to.. to prevent this kind of thing.

Absolutely. We had a cabin in the Sierras in California. For many many decades, the environmental wackos decreed that there should be no burning and I’ll wildfires would be put out. That caused an awful lot of dead brush and downed trees to pile up. Add dry conditions, which are common there, and you’re just waiting for a wildfire.

Wildfires have always been part of the natural cycle. Its nature's brush-control mechanism. You get drought, fire, rainfall, and regrowth. Trouble is, a lot of people have taken up residence in these areas and they have to face the consequences. Fires in prehistoric times often burned completely across what is now the state, right up to the water's edge. In my home state, NJ, fires would burn from the Delaware River across the Pine Barrens to the Atlantic Ocean. But regrowth and reseeding always allowed the land to recover. Various types of flora adapted to survive fire, and often depended on it for rejuvenation. Pitch pine cones would survive the initial fire, then the residual heat would pop them open and allow the seeds to take root in the sandy soil which was temporarily fertilized by the ash residue from the burned underbrush. The pine cones were "wrapped" in a sticky pitch which would hold the seeds inside until favorable conditions (heat) melted the coating and released the seeds for rooting in the ash-covered ground.

Prevention is going to be tough in the Cali environment because of the winds. Conflagration management in this type of environment often comes down to trying to channel wildfire burns into unexpressive areas (e.g., uninhabited areas like canyons and valleys where natural boundaries can limit spread) where the fire can burn itself out. But with 40-50 mph dry winds blowing flames and embers ahead of the fire front, its going to be tough to make that happen.

The prairie States and territories (for all of their sparse populations at the time) were better maintained (as far as fire preparation) back in the nineteenth century than California is in the twenty-first century.

It drove me nuts when I lived in California.

They call it the land of fruits and nuts, but calling it the head of tinder and kindling could work just as well.