California Dreaming No More 4

[Garbage1]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/09/susan_crabtree_fires_obliterate_emissions_gains_from_californias_green_policies.html

 

[TugboatEng]

This is what happens when a state blows all of its money fighting climate change (high speed rail, eg) instead of building infrastructure to withstand the historical climate.

 

[Sym P. le]

Ha Ha Ha!!! Here we have an expert on fires only to find out it's a hit piece on Deomcrats!, Deomcrats!, Deomcrats!, Deomcrats!, Deomcrats!, .....

It's difficult to take the news item seriously, though I wonder what man made schemes could counter these conditions and how much they would cost. Oh right, Taxes!, Taxes!, Taxes!, Taxes!, Taxes!, .....

 

[Just Some Nerd]

Can you all at least *pretend* to make this thread engineering related?

 

[Sym P. le]

Yes, what man made "schemes" can stop these infernos? They are on a massive scale.

 

[TugboatEng]

Forest management, controlled burns, water storage, new infrastructure,

California is all about distributed energy right now. Why not have distributed water storage. Every house in high risk regions must have 2000 gallons of stored water on site with some type of connection to an automated fire fighting grid. Houses that border the open space should get deluge systems that are fed by the distributed storage network. Be goal being to prevent that wildfire to urban fire jump.

Give homeowners a break on their property taxes for participating.

 

[Sym P. le]

Will that be one deluge or two? Maybe three. One for each stooge.

 

[GregLocock]

"Yes, what man made "schemes" can stop these infernos? " I'd imagine getting water to the fire hydrants would be bit of a man made help. Not topping up the high altitude reservoirs is a man made decision, as is failing to do control burns.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Removal of fuel before it burns I would have thought is the only viable method.

Or controlled burns

 

[btrueblood]

But if you do controlled (or uncontrolled) burns, then the hillsides turn to mud and slide when the rains come back.

 

[TugboatEng]

The concept behind the controlled burn is that if done frequently enough the fire burns only the underbrush and not the larger trees and such. Without regular burns, the brush accumulates and the fire burns hot enough to kill everything and can even burn the roots.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

From extremely distant geography schooling...

Its been done ever since humans discovered how to make fire.

As Tug says its only the underbrush and not the trees and larger root system plants which stabilise the local ground.

 

[DirteJoe]

Why even continue to build, live, and operate in an area that's been burning nearly every year? I suspect that if CA never diverted water and drainee countless bodies of water in the name of mining and agriculture this would not be such a problem all the time.

 

[dik]

There could be a downside to climate change.

 

[TugboatEng]

How could there be a downside? These areas have always burned historically. Climate change would mean they don't burn any more.

 

[Eufalconimorph]

The area that burned this year hasn't burned in the last few years, so it's hardly "an area that's been burning nearly every year". Unless you mean the entire state of California!

Eucalyptus trees are part of the issue. They were imported for several reasons, and invasively spread across southern CA. You can't really do a controlled burn and only get the underbrush with Eucalyptus forests, because they catch fire very easily due to their high oil content. And they tend to explode, sending flaming oily wood around the area to spread the fire better. They do stabilize the slopes against mudslides, so any removal also has to replace them with something else that will grow in the climate and help prevent the hills from collapsing. Of course as with all invasive species removal is an enormously difficult effort.

 

[TugboatEng]

Don't forget, California banned the sale of gas powered chain saws last year...

I have a feeling why. When you google Gavin's nickname "Snowblower", now all of the results are now about the engine driven tool ban and not his cocaine addiction.

 

[waross]

There could be a downside to climate change.

The understatement of the decade. grin

 

[TugboatEng]

Oh no, increased food production from higher CO2 concentration, higher precipitation, and slightly warmer temperatures. A thriving planet is totally a downside.

 

[Garbage1]

Super Scooper