Lessons from a wildfire

[ODB]

Watching what is happening in LA scares the living shit out of me as I watch the Boise foothills in town and also up 55 get filled up with houses. We can only build so much, take/divert so much water out of the system of a drying environment before we follow suit.

Last year the fires got damn close - next year? Who knows.

 

[Customweld]

Watching what is happening in LA scares the living shit out of me as I watch the Boise foothills in town and also up 55 get filled up with houses. We can only build so much, take/divert so much water out of the system of a drying environment before we follow suit.

Last year the fires got damn close - next year? Who knows.

We're pretty lucky that the fire above Boise started so late in the year. There's not much left to burn between hwy55 and Council.

 

[EastHumboldt]

It’s awesome having a nice house in the hills amongst the pines, until it isn’t.

I built a large garage for a guy a few years ago, Who lives among the pines outside of Carson City. he spent a fair amount of time bitching about the WUI standards ( fireproofing) but when the next fire sweeps through there, at least he’ll have a garage to live in after his house burns down.

Edit: To be fair, he’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever worked for. He was kind of new to the area and I don’t think he’d ever seen a chaparral/Jeffrey Pine fire up close.

 

[dylanvb]

Watching what is happening in LA scares the living shit out of me as I watch the Boise foothills in town and also up 55 get filled up with houses. We can only build so much, take/divert so much water out of the system of a drying environment before we follow suit.

Last year the fires got damn close - next year? Who knows.

Just be glad your state isn't ran by a bunch of mis managing idiots. Keep the right people in office.

 

[Weldor]

We had fire at our front door in 2020. Started at 10 acres in a canyon 1-1/2 miles away. Helicopter on the pad 3 miles away. Had to leave and retrieve a SxS. got back 6 hrs later. FS did nothing. It burnt the Catalina mountains almost to the hwy. They spent all summer trying to get it under control. Inept for sure. Their excuse for not using air support was they thought there was a drone out there somewhere at 0400 in the morning. LOL I watched that fire grow fron nothing to burning the whole thing.

 

[cnelk]

Forest Mismanagement - Period

 

[Flyjunky]

This has been going on for decades in California. The only lessons I can see is that history tends to repeat itself and some seem to be slow learners.

 

[go_deep]

What would be wrong with cutting all the dead timber, hauling it off the mountain and having people use it to hear their homes? Be a great organic green energy rather than burning piles of it on the forest.

 

[CorbLand]

What would be wrong with cutting all the dead timber, hauling it off the mountain and having people use it to hear their homes? Be a great organic green energy rather than burning piles of it on the forest.

I would guess that its primarily the roads that are required to do so.

I am not anti logging at all but holy crap, I really wish that the logging companies would be held responsible for the crap they leave. Maybe its just the one area that I use to hunt but it was logged 10-15 years ago. The amount of tires, batteries, and other trash from equipment that was left there is disgusting. Most of it is less than 100 yards from the road used to access the cut.

 

[TaperPin]

Watching what is happening in LA scares the living shit out of me as I watch the Boise foothills in town and also up 55 get filled up with houses. We can only build so much, take/divert so much water out of the system of a drying environment before we follow suit.

Last year the fires got damn close - next year? Who knows.

I was in Boise when this fire happened, and even saw it right after it started and hadn’t reached the houses yet. Just low sage and grass, but with a wind behind it it was enough to make it over a retaining wall and jump house to house. Right after that untreated cedar roofs weren’t allowed.

Wildfire destroys 10 homes in Boise

BOISE – A wildfire that started in a field of sagebrush and cheatgrass spread quickly up a ridge Monday night, destroying 10 homes in a Boise neighborhood and damaging nine more, the Boise fire chief said. “It started as a brush fire ... ran up the bluffs and started going house to house with...

www.spokesman.com

 

[go_deep]

I would guess that its primarily the roads that are required to do so.

I am not anti logging at all but holy crap, I really wish that the logging companies would be held responsible for the crap they leave. Maybe its just the one area that I use to hunt but it was logged 10-15 years ago. The amount of tires, batteries, and other trash from equipment that was left there is disgusting. Most of it is less than 100 yards from the road used to access the cut.

The area I elk hunt they hire logging companies to cut and pile the trees, then burn dozens of massive piles in the winter. You could literally heat hundreds of homes all winter with them, and that one small area on one mountain range.
I think it would be pretty easy to hold a company liable for trash left behind.

 

[TaperPin]

I was lucky enough to be along for the ride when flying over a big sagebrush fire with a lot of wind behind it and knee-high sage had 50’ flames. I wouldn’t have a single piece of sage, juniper, or grass over 6” tall within 200’ of a rural house.

I’ve noticed some interesting new architect’s landscaping designs popping up in fire prone areas with a nice blacktop road looped around the property and the buildings set to the inside, rather than a single road in the middle and buildings sprouting out like tree limbs. The double entry road loop provides a fire break and much better firefighter access. Feels kinda ritz around average houses, but makes sense.

 

[dylanvb]

What's even crazier is the fire fighters in CA know how badly managed it is and yet no one listens to them. Joe Rogan talked about this 6 months ago with Sam Morril when he talks about why he left CA. He talked to a fire fighter that predicted this.

 

[LFC911]

I was in Council, ID (N of Boise) from August 25-Sept 14 last year and it seemed like fires all around that area from Hell's Canyon to Lake Cascade. The fire service was very busy in that area, spread too thin if you ask me but they were active. Air quality was horrible...i can't imagine a wildfire licking at my doorstep like some of the videos in CA but I guess that's part of the deal when you live in those places.

 

[TaperPin]

I enjoy talking with homeowners in interesting places - one area of northern cali that has been hit hard has a lot of brush even if you’re not in the trees, and a lot of people in the trees. I ask them every chance I get if they worry about fires and if it makes them want to clear out brush and thin trees. After a few dozen homeowners, it’s always the same story - they moved there to be in the trees, or in the middle of brush. They won’t reduce fuel on their own property and sure as hell don’t want the Forest Service or BLM killing brush or removing trees. Lol

 

[307]

Some of what I've seen, and spoken to homeowners who lost homes, is that there were no trees in the area. Logging wouldn't have done anything and unless you're going to mow out entire hillsides to remove the scraggly brush...

Sometimes Mother Nature just flexes and there's not a damn thing you can do except get the hell out of the way.

In the areas in the middle of forests, the logging/management makes more sense.

Pretty shocking to see a major city by the ocean burnt up like that. Especially a very rich area that had more modern fire codes and building standards.

 

[deltadukman]

These are the same people that question why people in the southeast choose to live near a coast that frequently has hurricanes(that can cause damage hundreds of miles inland). Yet this is more preventable than a hurricane. I am kind of confused on how I feel. I'm compassionate yet also feel like this is a product of their own making and it has been known for years this was going to happen at some point.

 

[IdahoBeav]

Some of what I've seen, and spoken to homeowners who lost homes, is that there were no trees in the area. Logging wouldn't have done anything and unless you're going to mow out entire hillsides to remove the scraggly brush...

Sometimes Mother Nature just flexes and there's not a damn thing you can do except get the hell out of the way.

In the areas in the middle of forests, the logging/management makes more sense.

Pretty shocking to see a major city by the ocean burnt up like that. Especially a very rich area that had more modern fire codes and building standards.

The wind is the main culprit and overhead power lines don't help. There are a ton of old homes in that area that make for excellent fuel.

 

[Jimmy]

For too long the liberal voters in the large areas of LA and SF have controlled our state. For once, the disaster is at their doorstep and they feel the repercussions of their votes. This is a good chance for common sense to become common once again.

 

[307]

The wind is the main culprit and overhead power lines don't help. There are a ton of old homes in that area that make for excellent fuel.

Older houses built before modern fire standards are one thing but when multi million dollar homes that were purposely built with every fire avoiding strategy (built from concrete and steel) still "burn" to the ground, it makes me wonder if there's anything that can be done.

I'm sure every scenario is a bit different.

*not burn, but structural failure due to heat/fire, which functionally gives about the same result...