Lessons from a wildfire

[JFK]

If you hear about fellow American’s house burning down and immediately launch into a political tirade or shit eating grin comments on the internet, pat yourself on the back….you are not a good person.

 

[WeiserBucks]

How many billions of emergency funds will Biden send CA before he leaves office?

Less than Ukraine, ask folks who got burnt out on Maui

 

[Forestryguy]

I have done structural fire, wildfire, and control burning, and I was a forester. As has been said, this intense fire is not defensible. Air attack was grounded due to winds and took a big asset away. You will not fight a rolling urban fire in mansions and industries.

It will be interesting to see what new management of natural lands comes from this. Big money and cities getting decimated catch the ears of lawmakers at all levels. Maybe they will take more land management practices away from the ballot boxes and into the hands of people who know what needs to be done and how to do it. The forestry community has been saying things like this would be happening 30 years ago. More thinning of forests and the removal of thick understories are needed, along with more frequent controlled burns. The politicians also need to come to the reality (at all levels, nationwide, and parties) that they are experts of nothing and need to listen to people who know more than they do.

I am fairly certain one thing that will come out of this is more training for urban departments to know how to pump water and use pumpers for relays. The NorthEast coast had the same issues during one of the few hurricanes that hit there. They were flooded with buildings on fire but did not know how to draft from the flood waters. They were also worried about ruining pumps on trucks. That did not matter since the trucks technically were flooded and the city would be getting money to replace them.

Individually, people need to make their homes more defensible. They also need to really have go-bags ready to go and get out of town before things get really bad and end up stuck on the roads. Guess the prepper mentality is not always a bad thing, after all.

 

[survivalistd]

My mandatory evacuation was just lifted and electricity is back on. Woohoo no more generator noise.