The California fires

[Value Buy]

I did not want to derail the other thread on this issue, so I started this thread.
When will the politicians in California take responsibility for these fires?
They happen every year, yet the state fails to have adequate fire prevention techniques let alone proper evacuation techniques in place?
Is this a failure of the Democratic party and Governor for not implementing proper laws and fire forces?
This is not a fifty year flood, or a ten year avg return of a hurricane, but a yearly seasonal occurrence.

Why do I think if this was a Republican controlled state we would have three Congressional investigations already announced to find out why nothing has been done to stop this inferno.
The state works hard on earthquake preparedness and loss prevention, but when it comes to the annual fires, all bets seem to be off.

[happyhoix]

There isn't anything that can be done to stop the annual fires.

It's an ecological thing. That part of the country has always had frequent wildfires due to the temperatures/humidity/precipitation patterns. The plants have evolved to survive in those conditions (some have seeds that require a high temperature to make the seed pods pop open for instance).

What needs to happen is construction shouldn't be allowed in those areas, just like we shouldn't build around coastal areas prone to flooding, like New Orleans, or along ridges in earthquake/mud slide prone areas like the California coast.

In fact, ALL coastal buildings should be set back a certain distance from the shoreline, to provide for a buffer of dunes to protect the coastline from erosion, and to protect the buildings from storm surge flooding.

However - that would require laws to be passed that prohibit permanent construction in what is often prime real estate locations, and once it's passed, whoever owns the property instantly take a huge financial hit. I don't know that there are politicians alive who could create and pass such unpopular legislation and not get lynched. States could buy back the properties and hold them as no-build zones, but who has the tax dollars for that?

Can you imagine Louisiana saying sorry, guys, New Orleans is too close to sea level and essentially just a swamp, we're shutting down the city rather than trying to maintain our system of dikes and sumps to keep the whole town from going under during the next hurricane? Yet that's exactly what SHOULD happen.

[djAdvocate]

this also assumes that nothing has been attempted.  that is totally false. 

my step mom, who lives in the Sierras, is a die-hard Republican (as are MOST of the counties in the state, no matter what you outsiders may think), and has fought fire mitigation tooth and nail.  it is the same mentality that the anti-vaxxers use.  they think that any guv-mint program that tries to ameliorate risk is some sort of a leftist plot to take away their rights and liberties.  without going into too much detail, there have been efforts to weed forests of deadgrowth, to set "friendly fires" (occasionally with disastrous results) to burn away excessive ground cover, etc.  the right wing element in the state (which is in MOST of the forested regions) has fought it tooth and nail, and the result is that we are faced with dealing with mother nature.

this year, my county got 2x normal rainfall.  the result is that there is an incredible amount of fuel on the ground.  we had a hot spell just before the fires, and then a "Santa Ana" style wind, and THAT is what cause the fire.  so, there are only two possible cures for this.  one is that you find a fix for hostile weather.  the other is that you have fire mitigation.  the state has rejected both.

to an extent, if we want trees and natural vegetation, this is the price we all have to pay.  but to claim that this is somehow a failure of governance is to fail to recognize the very real political costs of doing something.

[billisonboard]

CALIFORNIA WILDLAND FIRE COORDINATING GROUP

About CAL FIRE

2017 Grant Program California Fire Safe Council

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services

[Opti]

Thanks Bills, I read a little about CAL FIRE earlier. Was a bit daunting finding their website with all the current fires on the map. I'm not a Californian, but this seems much worse than usual.

[djAdvocate]

it's much worse than usual.  here is the best resource i have seen on the subject:

www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/?page=1

[Tennesseer]

Please have good thoughts for the forest firefighters battling these blazes.  Let us hope for the best there is not another deadly incident like the Yarnell Hill fire (Arizona) of 2013.  These firefighters put their lives on the line so folks can live in forested areas.