California is on fire again.

Worst air on the Earth and becoming toxic. I wish I they would stop polluting our Earth.

Oops, their solar powered fire trucks don't work in the smoke.

Ohhh man I didn’t even think about that. I hope the solar panels aren’t blocked from the sun.

Reliably, nearly every year I can recall, Aug & Sep are full of bad fires there.
Bad deal all around, and I have a friend north of Santa Clarita who's had to sweat that out every year he's been there.
He actually has a water truck he keeps ready.

That would absolutely be me. Preparation is the key. I'd have sprinklers, water tanks, oxygen to breath, fire barriers/breaks established, etc.. I do that on my property now, and the fire risk is almost zero.

I once noted that ants are industrious, but stupid. I would wreck their home every week with the lawn mower but they would rebuild it right back up. If my abode was being destroyed on a regular basis I would move. I did however live in Florida for over four decades though, so there is that...
I feel bad for those people and hope no one is hurt but damn, just move. There are other great places to live in this wonderful country, just don't come here.

Yep, pick your battles. I don't think any place on Earth is immune to Mother Nature's wrath.

Agreed, but it seems with the tree huggin Kali people they just don't seem interested in deforesting their living areas to prevent these massive fire storms, obviously they like setting up shop in a tinder box...

Well sure. But you can choose to live somewhere that floods constantly, lik NOLA, you can choose to live somewhere that gets hammered by hurricanes, FLA, you can choose to live somewhere that suffers tornadoes KANSAS, you can choose to live somewhere that is susceptible to earthquakes and fires CALIFORNIA (dumbasses)

I chose northeast Ohio. We don't have any of the above problems, it's been 40 plus years since our last crippling blizzard. I like my odds.

My flood was man-made. We have the best flood protection system. But the Parish President turned the pumps off.
I moved my house anyway {UP!}
I will take no snow and a T-Shirt in December thanks

Forest mismanagement and more and more people moving into densely wooded areas.Back when we cleared the underbrush we didn't have these kinds of fires, but the tree huggers put a stop to that so we burn. Today's air here in the San Joaquin Valley felt like Los Angeles in the 1970s...

Seems like there is huge private business profit potential in California to help customers solve fire problems, and now electrical power interruptions when electricity is needed most. This private business opportunity is overwhelmingly government created, so it is a risky business that should be rewarded with high returns. It is painful to watch, but CA and DC areas rake in profits.

California and a lot of the people that live there are kinda messed up. It’s a shame because it’s a beautiful State.

good luck to everyone in California near the fires !

Carsten

Id be asking who is getting rich from all these fires and walk back from there and follow the trail.

Cali has had more then enough time, YEARS, to deal with this issue... as with the power grid and water, ect.... for being so "progressive" they sure seem to have there heads in the clouds.

I am amazed at the mis-information presented and illusions some have of the situation and people in CA. It's well known many believe everything they hear.
Unfortuntely insurance companies have set the stage. Laws exist to abate nuisance vegetation and prosecutors rather not enforce laws and ordinances.
It's ironic that people whom decry they will do what they want (here) regularly have opinions about the condition of how people allow their property to become fuel. It's their choice right?
Myself? I maintain our property firesafe and CAL Fire inspects bi annual and gives me A rating - no additional work required, I live in the woods.
Before settlement regular fires kept the environment in check, and regular HUGE fires were a part of the earth. FIres in the great plains would burn for months until the rains came.
Without straying into the politics of global weather pattern shift in my short (geologic) life I have seen a shift in weather patterns AND vegetation stands.
Quit worrying about minuscule happenings like fires (that bother insurance co's the most) and beware the next time a Krakatoa, Vesuvius, Barringer Meteor or Yellowstone let loose.
Fires sheesh, we can't handle a pandemic, watch out when something big happens.

So why do the people in cali put up with it year after year? What keeps people there when there are far less costly place in the country to live and work?

FIres in the great plains would burn for months until the rains came.

Where and when is this? Within a mile of my house/farm we have had three dry grass fires from lightening, one with 40 mph winds.

Two small vol. fire departments and a few guys with big tractors and discs had all three out in short order, 2 hours.

But yet Cali runs currently a 54 billion deficit.

The feds should fine them daily for there poor air quality. The greenies are setting a poor example. Ya know its bad when immigrants from China are going back home due to air quality.

The Sierra Club and other tree hugger groups have pretty much put a stop to clearing the underbrush and doing the other things necessary to keep fires from becoming huge. More people also live in fire prone areas.

As to why people still live here. Aside from the fires (and this is the worst I've seen them in my 60 years as far as so many at the same time) there is no place on earth that has our natural amenities with our great weather. I can drive north and be in Yosemite in an hour, 2-1/2 hours west and be at the ocean. Our San Joaquin Valley feeds the world in spite of our California politicians playing with water allotments. There are days that I would rather be somewhere else, but most days I love where I live.

Mr Potato head, the fires of the great plains were an integral part of the vast grasslands, as it is for the coniferous and oak woodlands. Some trees and shrubs cannot replicate without fire.
Between environmental regs, warm dry weather patterns and change of firefighting strategy (liability and environment improvement fires are becoming larger and more devastating because people live at the interface and no maintenance buffer exists.
The problem is manual clearing of undergrowth is not the answer. The only way to get the environment to grow back into the mixed cover types (grass, shrubs, hardwood and coniferous) is to let nature do her thing.
There is simply too much biomass generated every year to be manually removed. A lot of the areas burning in California have recently previously burned, the grass and shrubs that first reappear burn regularly.
A huge issue is the conversion of cover types and woodlands are being replaced by grass and brush. and inadequate winter rains and loss of top soil will not support tree growth for many years.
I can't agree with Jim more of life quality. In the sparsely populated north california provides access to some of the globes most pristine scenic lands, air and water.
Cost of living is not bad in rural areas and taxes are protected by prop 13.
Now, if we were not a donor state and could retain our wealth we would be excelled in infrastructure and maintenance of our public places. But, apparently other states need Californias money more.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/arti...r-is-playing-a-role-in-rolling-blackouts

Sample quote

California has also lost a good deal of the generation capacity that it had in years past, Berberich noted. “In 2006, we had a lot more capacity on the system,” including the now-closed San Onofre nuclear power plant and thousands of megawatts of natural-gas plants that have since closed. California is set to close even more gas-fired power plants in the coming years, including several coastal plants targeted for retirement to reduce their harmful effects on marine ecosystems.

End quote

For those that do not know, San Onofre got a complete rebuild, then when it tried to run again it was found that the new steam pipes were defective.

CA still has huge reserves of oil, natural gas, even coal.
There are even hot volcanic rocks near the surface providing the heat to run a electric power plant.
There are many spots where “pumped water storage” could be built.

You can't compare CA to the Midwest. California is incredibly mountainous, whereas the Midwest is largely vast rolling hills. Also, Southern California's rainy season is in the Winter. Vegetation grows all over those "hills" (many would call mountains) in the Spring, and then dies off in the heat of Summer; then comes wildfire season. Ever seen a tumbleweed burn? They burn fast and hot, very much like a Christmas tree. Imagine a hillside covered in dry Christmas trees burning; that's what So. Cal firefighters have to deal with. I grew up in Riverside (birth - 19 yrs old) and left in the early 80's. That was before the place turned into what it is. Back then, the hills weren't terraced off and turned into neighborhoods. Firefighters would post trucks around a fire and try to keep it from jumping the road(s). Now, well...I'm sure they just do the best they can to minimize property damage. There probably is some mismanagement, but there's also some that in unmanageable. Believe me, I'm no fan of what has become of my home state, but wildfires are just a fact of life for Californians. Just my opinion...

How do you "deal with" lightning? Pray? Many of the current fires were set by lightning a week ago and more thunderstorms are forecast.

Proper preparation, remember the dust bowl was unlivable, non farm-able for a long time almost 100 years ago... people figured out a fix and its worked.

Although id agree Cali is a whole different animal, but one would think they would stop letting people build in high fire areas or spend more tax money on mitigation/prevention.

There has to be a fix. It may just have to be the people go.

Ha ha on the praying thing.

People, not nature, caused the Dustbowl.

Actually it was both in a way, the first say ten years were exceptionally wet and crops grew and prospered so they tilled and tilled and tilled then came the dry spell creating the problems.

Still today the best and seemingly only way to keep it from happening again is keep vegetation present.

Even in my home yard, I figure by the amount I bring in each year in a 1 acre yard I loose 3000lbs of soil to the wind.

There are some really good docs on the dustbowl on utube and netflix.

One our place on the divide this was the min. we had to do for defensible space, ive done a bit more after this.

I would like to hear more about what you mean by this?

One of my places is in a donor state and until the virus there was no deficit, state law requires a balanced budget. So currently its 3 billion.

More federal tax dollars leave than come back...

Yeah, I get that, but those are tax dollars paid by individuals and companies.....it’s not paid by State of Cal money.....

dEfUnD California until they get their sh!t together !

I need to correct that. Just this year CA sends about as much as it receives.
There are 8 States that pay more than they receive, and 42 that a handful are a wash (send/receive) and the rest get more than they send in.
It's odd that under Trump, CA has benefited in a huge turnaround in the amount received. Most appears to be concentrated in two contracts for Healthcare (McKesson and Healthcare West) and the California Institute of Technology.

It does look like California is even this year. It hasn't in the past though.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...to-federal-government-than-they-get-back

The report: https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/ (far right tab "balance of payments" shows historical data)