Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Prayers for Paradise, CA

Camp Fire only.

Godspeed...

lol,

Trumps fault for not understanding some niche enviro hazard in California!

MM,

Not only "bunny huggers". As has been pointed out by others on this thread already, it's a fairly conservative area, especially by CA standards. Folks like to live in those areas to get away from the 'burbs and unfortunately too many like to see the wildlands right outside their property lines.

As soon as someone figures out "sensible fuel management" and more importantly a sensible way to fund it we may be able to get right on that. I've never in 50+ years of seeing these fires rip through sections of N, S, and Central Cali seen a really sensible, fundable way to manage manzanita, chemise, chapparal, poison oak, scrub oak, and scraggly gray pines. Few in power want to fund efforts towards fuel reduction in non merchantable, unprofitable, scrub lands.

Yes, there are some marketable trees involved in these fires, and yes, the "bunny huggers" protest and sue every time someone suggests logging, or even thinning brush, but my take after the aforementioned experience of living in many areas of California is that the funding is just not there to do a proper job.

The ultimate responsibility usually falls on the landowner to have defensible space around their property. I know in our area the firefighting resources will attempt to save a house that has a large cleared area around it (in other words one they CAN save) rather than wasting precious time and effort on a losing cause with brush and trees right up to the house.

Roadsides are another story altogether, many times responsibility falling on cash strapped rural counties with limited resources for keeping the brush down. Their right of way sometimes only extends a few feet from the road edge too, so their not going to keep it cleared 15' either side anyway. I cut the grass and weeds an extra 10' past what my county sprayed this spring just as a precaution to add to the firebreak of 30+ feet closer to the house. Their 8'-10' sprayed area didn't look substantial enough to me.

Geno

42 now, eh Higbean?

Sad, just sad. There will be more found though, that's the unfortunate part.

Any looters been captured, charged or shot yet?

Geno

They caught a couple yesterday.

One from Oregon and one from Nevada.

Probably still at least a good oak or two standing and I bet the residents would donate a new rope (it's all they deserve)

Hang tough, Higbean.

Geno

Thanks Geno.

That's too bad.

Around here woodstoves for home heating, and easy-to-get firewood permits help a lot. We lose structures too, but there is an emphasis from the local VFD, News, etc, for homeowners to create defensible space around homes, and specifics on how to do it.

Even defensible space has to be defended.

The first day they couldn't even fight the fire as it was entirely an evacuation.

Not sure about official rankings, but that first day is likely the most explosive fire event growth I've heard of in Cali. It just happened to be in the foothills near a populated area.

Geno

Take care up there Hig..

It's just a bad loss, and I'm afraid the death toll will rise.

Sometimes when conditions are a 'perfect storm' like this fire appears to be, all bets are off.

Wildfire is the only natural weather that makes me nervous.

I don’t mean to sound callous as I express my deepest sympathy’s to those who lost loved ones in these fires, and I can’t imagine losing everything I own to a fire like this. With that said though, California is a man made disaster waiting to happen and has been for a long time. If you take into consideration how many people live there, all the geographical and environmental challenges (earthquakes,mudslides, droughts and fires) what other outcome can one expect when Mother Nature rears her head? Im actually surprised that any company offers home owners insurance in California. You have a state that’s in drought conditions for decades and yet people insist on building residential suburbs on mountain sides and in dense brush and timber with upslope and downslope hazards and zero defensive space.. Sadly this event will pass and just like in the past people will rebuild in the exact same locations and one day soon it will happen all over again. Watching those videos of people trapped in bumper to bumper traffic and the overpopulated human condition doesn’t even allow one to flee danger, pretty insane if you ask me, about the worst scenario I can imagine, needing to get your family to safety and you can’t even do that. These big fires have been occurring in California forever , like dating back to the 50’s. However the acreage burned means very little comoared to the number of structures and lives lost, those two have increased exponentially because of the population growth. Hell I watched a documentary awhile back about the water shortages and fights over water rights in California and these analyst were concluding that so much of arid California was never intended to have thousands and thousands of homes there with high demands for water yet they keep on building them and that at some point there would not be enough water for everyone. Once again, a man made disaster just waiting to happen!

Well, we sent 4 actual brush rigs.

Then when woodstoves are not legal for home heating, there is no incentive for citizens to gather firewood. The excess fuels along roadsides and around buildings is the first/easiest to harvest. The 'low hanging fruit'.

Instead of local gov's looking for money to hire someone to remove fuels, the people would do it for free if it could economically heat their homes, or even to supply a firewood business.

130,000 acres

35% contained

6 looters arrested today.

48 dead.

7,695 homes destroyed.

National Guard has been called out to help search for bodies as well as several other resources with cadaver dogs.

Over 200 reported missing

Good job.


My old BLM mentor told me to never go to California.

I was unsuccessful in getting to son's off-grid home for protection from looters. Our law enforcement friends decided it was too risky, access was clamped down and they don't want anybody in there except official rescue/fire/coroner/ utilities etc.

They've already arrested 4 looters and are on the lookout.