Californian Fires

I do hope that the authorities can contain the Wildfires that are raging across parts of California soon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7055721.stm

 

It's nothing new, we burn annually, although this is the second big one in the past few months. Malibu is notorious for burning then when the rains come a big portion of real estate ends up on Pacific Coast Highway.

 

I didn't realise that this was such a frequent event in CA It is just that i have seen it on the news here and immediately thought about the members here on MG's

Hope everyone is okay though

G

 

Right now it's taking out high dollar homes.

 

I have to apologize for making light of the situation, True we burn every year, at times 2 or 3 going at once but now there are seven if in fact they can be separated. Seems Los Angeles to San Diego is on fire and some north of LA.
Last year I was complaining that one fire in particular was circling and burning over and over . Same with the Santa Barbara (Zaca) fire that burned over a month.
Also in the past when fires broke out you would see fire companies from all over the state plus companies from other states, some near some not so near.
It makes me wonder what with our new administration if money is an issue and waiting until it's too late for many. I personally have been a California resident all my life and even though wild fires are a part of life here the decision to take action once the danger is evident is becoming more and more laxed.

 

I think Australia will be sending over firefighters to help out. :major
Quotes on TV mentioned "more fires than firefighters".
Hope they get it under control asap. Over 250,000 evacuated. Terrible. Bazza

 

this just came up on the wire service.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7020003,00.html

@DARLENE i hope you stay safe and all your friend as well

 

Darlene, you are safe aren't you? Fires have a life of their own sometimes and can be unpredictable, so please don't get too lax.

Just concerned.

 

I'm good thank you all, in a canyon, (sounds as I'm breaking into Oh My Darlin') up hill about 50 miles from the newest outbreak.
Our Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is already taking flack for holding back on arial attack, his defense was they could not take off because of the winds. High hot winds called Santa Anna or Santana are also a annual dread here especially during fire season. Going to be a lot of angry people for sure. When it affects the owners of multi million dollar homes someone will be blamed.
Now being declared a disaster the state is eligible for federal funds, anyone here displaced by Katrina? You appreciate what a joke that is then. Sad, Sad

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21436901/

 

Geez guys, my first post and I have to be a grammar nazi. 'Californian
Fires' would mean people from California are on fire. Correctly put it would be 'California Fires', since it is the State that has the fires, not the people. Besides this happens every first real Santa Ana wind of the season kicks up and the current pot crop is ready to pick and market. Plus a lot of our firemen are pyromaniacs that want overtime just before Xmas....regards...j

 

LOL We have already had a thread on grammar. Of course, you are correct. Some journalists and reporters probably need to note the error as well.

Welcome to MG!

Cheers

LS

 

@ legalsuit: thanks for setting me straight on the issue. sometimes i scan things to fast to catch everything i should. i shall endeavor to slow down some next time....regards...j

 

Oh, one other thing. The last time I was an E-2 was in 1969 while in the Navy. I hope to advance within the ranks here quickly. I've been using these machines for quite awhile and was in the manufacturing of the earlier ones they used to design these back in the 70s. regards...j

 

Advancing in the ranks here will have to start with resigning as the grammar police. Not a great way to make an entrance.

 

Hi Jack and welcome aboard :wave

Maybe I should have written American fires! LOL

That aside, is there any disaster fund set up for the area? I would like to send a donation to help the unfortunate people that have been affected - anybody got a link?

Cheers
G

 

We are at 27 fires, 12 under containment, CRAZY!! Never been this bad, thats so sweet Grumbles I think Laura has the right idea suggesting the Red Cross.
Not to pick jack_alexander but the man (Grumbles) who started this thread is in Scotland, so all considered he did good. :wave

 

The Santa Ana (sp?) fires happen nearly every year and "they" want to rebuild in the same area again (and again and again ...).

Maybe the State should say we are not allowing houses to be built in the respective areas again.

Similar here, in Queensland, when the councils allowed houses to be built right on the beach and they get flooded again and again ... costing the Council, State and other Ratepayers lots of $$$ to fix again.

To bad, greed and money allow such stupidity. Too late, and too expensive for the State (and Councils) to change back to the pre-build days, I guess.

Too much litigation would result. Bazza

 

This year's fire is far more devestating than in the past.

The fires weren't caused by the Santa Ana winds, by the way

 

I guess I should have said the Santa Ana winds are an annual event, spreading the fires. Terrible images of the fires on our TV news programs every day. Reminds me of the fires and devastation we had in our capital, Canberra, a few years ago. Never seen intensity like the Canberra fires and those in San Diego county right now.

I also heard they caught one arsonist and shot dead another. Bazza

===

 

LOL Was wondering when someone else was going to make a comment.

 

Unbelieveable Darlene. Seen it on the news.

Are you guys getting help fighting those fires? eg. Firefighters from outside, "water dumpers" like that US "Elvis" we had here at one time for dumping water on our fires.

Stay safe...fires can change directions too.

 

Now they're bringing in more help. One reporter said too little too late. Schwarzenegger was being interviewed by a female reporter who was making statements form other sources, like the planes not being used sooner, he told her they could not get off the ground because of the high winds, when she kept talking and saying there were no winds to begin with, he grabbed her hand smiling saying, "listen to me" poor thing she looked around as much to say hep me, she kinda smiled but could tell she did not appreciate being treated like a child. Knowing he was full of it too.
I have seen planes at the first sign of brush fires in the past, and if close to water like a lake there are helicopters with huge buckets. I don't think any of that was utilized. Showed many firefighters standing around their trucks waiting , for what I do not know. One man on camera said here we stand watching my house burn down, thank you very much! I'd be pissed too.

 

Well, I am not there, but, I did read that anything the planes were dropping was evaporating from the heat before it even hit the fire.

 

In the past hardly any structures were lost. Houses in remote areas are usually expensive houses with horse corrals tennis courts like that.
Santa Ana itself is a densely populated city, neighbor to Disneyland. Los Angeles and Orange counties are a mass of housing buildings, you be lucky to find greenery. It's the outlaying areas the folks that can afford to go rural. Malibu is on the coast, I mean ON it gets washed out at times also.

 

my home state is burning...my thoughts go out to all of you dealing with tragedy...good luck and i hope your lives aren't deeply affected by this. Good luck!

 

Something ironic - my daughter's friend's son is coming home from Iraq, will arrive tonight at midnight.
Was supposed to meet his wife in San Diego, she has been evacuated due to the fires. How sad is that? :cry

 

How awful Darlene...on a positive note, I bet the wife will still be ecstatic at seeing her husband again...perhaps that is some cheer(?).

I hope all is well for that wife and her house will be safe and sound for her upon her return home with her husband.

 

I hope all you guys over there are alright

Yeh these are rich white peoples homes I hear 1.5 billion has already been spent..

check this out

http://www.break.com/index/no-sympathy-from-phone-company.html

In fact this will cost the the UK a fortune, I know someone who is in the insurance business who insure's most of the insurance companies in America when large disasters take place and they cant cope,we took a huge hit after katrina and few of them had insurance, the bill on this one will be huge!

 

Think she was living on base (Camp Pendleton) had to shut it down so she is probably home, think Arizona, newly weds, kids. I'm sure they'll find each other.

 

Isn't that something. They'll be making a public apology I bet. I never liked AT&T, left them years ago, so who takes over our service? Haven't had to fight with them yet, knock wood.
Saw a news clip last night where fireman was spraying a 3 million dollar house with fire retardant foam. To bad they couldn't do that to ALL the homes.
Disasters like this happen and insurance companies have shut down. FEMA the federal assistance program takes forever, if in fact they come across at all. So yeah everyone is affected. This didn't have to get this bad, if they had been more aggressive when it started.

 

they caught one young guy but it's doubtful if they can do anything.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKN3025192220071031

 

FEMA is too busy making fake news conferences. Just want to make them selves look good instead of helping the devastated!!

 

Well, I didn't say I was graceful did I?:wave

 

10-Year-Old With Matches Started a California Wildfire

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/us/01wildfire.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

Thats usually what it turns out to be or a campfire or simply a peice of glass on dry grass, one down 26 to solve :confused

 

cheap attempt to scapegoat a kid for the state's emergency response shortcomings. they better get it together cause they wont have anyone to blame when the big quake strikes.

 

Fires don't start themselves.

I don't see how searching for Arsonists has anything to do with quakes, either.

 

A 10-year-old boy admitted.........

Yea a scapegoat for sure rolleyes

off topic They are still dealing with earthquakes also.

 

I'm in SoCal. Was right in the middle of all the fires, but not in any danger. Still have one fire burning and almost contained. Had a friend who happened to be driving home right when and where the Witch Creek fire started. He was having to knock on peoples doors and get them to evacuate. They hadn't even been notified and the fire was practically on top of them! Anyway, what saved this one guys home was big tankers in the air dropping either retardant or water on the fire right when they were trying to evacuate. This was when the winds were just screaming. So all this talk about not being able to fly when it's windy is just not true. I think it's the bureaucrats favorite lie to tell when they don't know what to say.

Another thing I heard was that the military helicopter fleet at North Island was ready and waiting for the OK to go to help, but the call never came!! Same thing happened in 2003 when we had another big fire here. I just don't get it!

 

Glad to hear you came out alright. What a shame the response is to say the least lacking. Even though we have always had fires it seems to becoming more and more of a danger. Your right that it's bureaucratic.