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You just experienced the coldest summer on record during a period where global carbon emmissions were drastically reduced. That might have had something to do with it. The summer might not have been that hot for many parts of the country but it was VERY dry. And it's not just California that's been having problems with wild fires. California, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada... and all of those states haven't reduced or eliminated controlled burns. I'm not blaming EVERY one of these events on global climate change, but I'm blaming their increasing frequency and severity on it. I would also point to the flooding that's been happening more often and more severely on the gulf coast.He has no point. Weather patterns and the elimination/reduction of controlled burns are largely to blame for the fires in California not global warming. The middle section of the country has just experienced on of the coolest summers on record. The west is typically very hot and dry under such a pattern. I love how we try to blame every extreme weather event on global warming yet claim cooler than normal weather are weather patterns. I’m not arguing the earth isn’t slowly warming. I’m arguing against blaming such warming for these fires without considering things such as weather patterns and the reduction of controlled burns. Still waiting on our superstorm....whatever the hell that is
In what way?Man.. its funny when an engineer throws thermodynamics under the bus in the name of politics.
Controlled burns aren't surefire and they sometime turn into massive forest fires as they skip the bounds of their control. I'm guessing it might have had something to do with the drought conditions that the west has been in for the last few years. The other factor is that some not insignificant percentage of the lands are privately owned, so that makes things difficult as well.Regardless of whether it is correct or incorrect to blame this on climate change, I find it hard to comprehend this situation. No matter what the causes have been, there has been a serious increase in the West of forest fires. Ones that cause a great deal of property loss and death over the past 5-10 years. Can't imagine why they haven't been extremely proactive on doing controlled burns. Would seem to be more cost effective to do this.
Maybe they need to get all the insurance companies to chip in some funds. I'm pretty damn certain the insurance companies wouldn't have a problem paying a reasonable industry wide tax for this purpose. They could cut the tax down when the fires stop being such a problem.
Call it a tax, call it a voluntary state fund contribution for the area affected. I'm sure if there was an independent study done on the issue, about funds provided, versus funds needed, that insurance companies wouldn't mind volunteering funds to make up the difference if it was less than the projected insurance claims for the next several years. That would make some new jobs for retired, out of work, or fire trained workers to jump into that industry.
Controlled burns happen all the time in Europe and rarely end up in fires like we experience in the US. Trump has pushed for controlled burns from day one. If I were a betting man, I would bet my last penny that these burns are similar to what Australia experienced where over 200 + people were arrested for arson.Controlled burns aren't surefire and they sometime turn into massive forest fires as they skip the bounds of their control. I'm guessing it might have had something to do with the drought conditions that the west has been in for the last few years. The other factor is that some not insignificant percentage of the lands are privately owned, so that makes things difficult as well.
Controlled burns happen all the time in the US too. And they occasionally jump their bounds and become really expensive to put out. I spent every summer of my childhood going to Grand Teton / Yellowstone for a month. I very vividly recall multiple time that "controlled fires" became "uncontrolled fires". It's not just the US dealing with this either. France has been having problems with wildfires recently as well as the Aussies. I'm not saying that controlled burns aren't good combatants to wildfires, but we've already been doing them for decades and things are just getting worse.Controlled burns happen all the time in Europe and rarely end up in fires like we experience in the US. Trump has pushed for controlled burns from day one. If I were a betting man, I would bet my last penny that these burns are similar to what Australia experienced where over 200 + people were arrested for arson.
I mean, if you moved to the timbers of Colorado and spent a boatload to live out in the trees you probably wouldn't want your area to burn either, but then it's more susceptible to wildfire. I see it both ways.... fires are actually very good for the ecosystem, but they also destroy the nature that people want to live in and among. It might be easier to keep these areas under control if they weren't perpetually dealing with drought conditions. In some areas, the trees that are burning probably won't regrow to their previous levels for hundreds of years. I know that I have a mountain near me like that. It used to have vegetation all over it on one side and it burned in the mid 2000's. Not a thing has grown for over a decade there because it doesn't get enough water anymore.People near the proposed controlled burns often object to the burn. Ironic isn’t it. Also, environmentalists have also taken actions to prevent them. They have been quite effective here and across Europe in curbing large wildfire outbreaks in areas where they are conducted. A thousand years ago California would experience millions of acres burned annually. Just part of the cycle out there. Man obviously now has a vested interest in keeping the number of acres burned as low as possible even if we haven’t necessarily done all we should to accomplish that objective.
Some of that insurance fund could go towards think tanks for finding better ways to encompass a controlled burn without it jumping it's bounds.Controlled burns happen all the time in the US too. And they occasionally jump their bounds and become really expensive to put out. I spent every summer of my childhood going to Grand Teton / Yellowstone for a month. I very vividly recall multiple time that "controlled fires" became "uncontrolled fires". It's not just the US dealing with this either. France has been having problems with wildfires recently as well as the Aussies. I'm not saying that controlled burns aren't good combatants to wildfires, but we've already been doing them for decades and things are just getting worse.
I have some problems of logic with some of the statistics that are being sited for Historical California wildfires.... they're saying that 4 million acres + were burning yearly in pre-European times.... but we have little to no record or mention to my knowledge of large amounts of haze in the sky from these fires. To compare, we've had 3.2 million acres burn in California this year and it's visibly noticeable all around the mid-US to the point that it's hazy several states away for me when I look out my window. You would expect, if that many acres were burning historically, that we would have some kind of mention of it through oral histories or through pictograms considering the Native Americans were pretty conscientious about recording yearly changes in the nature around them on rocks, or on their winter counts, etc... I've seen some mention of histories of aboriginal burning back east, but it's all been speculation as far as I can find historically out West (thought there are some mentions in the Comanche / Apache lands of the Southwest US near Texas / New Mexico / Southern Colorado)One has to remember that the landscape in parts of California is not naturally occurring. For thousands and thousands of years fires have periodically swept through the countryside out there and thinned the vegetation and underbrush out. Man has seen to it that this rarely now occurs. Resulting in massive fires when they now occur.
What kind of egomaniac thinks he can control the climate?Rioters are burning our cities. Now it appears the burbs may be done for as well
Of course that is more cost effective and pretty much everyone involved wants to do more of them. There things though, one of which is purely a political problem:Regardless of whether it is correct or incorrect to blame this on climate change, I find it hard to comprehend this situation. No matter what the causes have been, there has been a serious increase in the West of forest fires. Ones that cause a great deal of property loss and death over the past 5-10 years. Can't imagine why they haven't been extremely proactive on doing controlled burns. Would seem to be more cost effective to do this.
Maybe they need to get all the insurance companies to chip in some funds. I'm pretty damn certain the insurance companies wouldn't have a problem paying a reasonable industry wide tax for this purpose. They could cut the tax down when the fires stop being such a problem.
Call it a tax, call it a voluntary state fund contribution for the area affected. I'm sure if there was an independent study done on the issue, about funds provided, versus funds needed, that insurance companies wouldn't mind volunteering funds to make up the difference if it was less than the projected insurance claims for the next several years. That would make some new jobs for retired, out of work, or newly trained fire trained workers to jump into that industry.
Millions of acres may have burned, but not necesarily as catastrophically as they are now. By letting underbrush pile up unregulated, we’ve created a situation where the fires are more devastating and kill more vegetation than they would in a natural fire cycle. An underbrush fire through a forest once a decade that leaves many of the trees alive is a very different thing than what we are seeing today, where many areas haven’t burned in a hundred years, much to their own detriment.People near the proposed controlled burns often object to the burn. Ironic isn’t it. Also, environmentalists have also taken actions to prevent them. They have been quite effective here and across Europe in curbing large wildfire outbreaks in areas where they are conducted. A thousand years ago California would experience millions of acres burned annually. Just part of the cycle out there. Man obviously now has a vested interest in keeping the number of acres burned as low as possible even if we haven’t necessarily done all we should to accomplish that objective.