Yes, fires are natural in Southern California. Sometimes you can't just be a little bit natural. If people are going to live there in large numbers, the forests near them must be cleared out regularly.
Yes, fires are natural in Southern California. Sometimes you can't just be a little bit natural. If people are going to live there in large numbers, the forests near them must be cleared out regularly.
Not that easy, the brush is being cleared out in the fire zones, to be replaced with wooden structures called houses, restaurants, small businesses, power lines, and poor government. The pictured neighborhoods, burned out, had zero brush buildup, but lots of planted trees and landscaping. The houses were the fuel. Clearing brush will help in the deep woods but where these fires were, urban congestion was the enemy. Have you visited SoCal? It is naturally built to burn, wet and dry seasons, vegetation build-up then drying out and burning. Recycling is done by burning. It produces rich soils that just help out with vegetation build-up. Just like the prairie fires of the Great Plains.
The forested areas near the developments very rapidly become developments. Much of the “forested” areas are not forested but grassland with small shrubs, which burns like crazy. To stop the vegetative build-up, you will have to clear out the new growth every single year. That will not happen, so it becomes the job of the fires.
Maybe a good idea would be to install concrete fire breaks enclosing residential areas wide enough to stop fires. Unfortunately, arsonists do not locate fires in wild areas.
Yes, fires are natural in Southern California. Sometimes you can't just be a little bit natural. If people are going to live there in large numbers, the forests near them must be cleared out regularly.
Not that easy, the brush is being cleared out in the fire zones, to be replaced with wooden structures called houses, restaurants, small businesses, power lines, and poor government. The pictured neighborhoods, burned out, had zero brush buildup, but lots of planted trees and landscaping. The houses were the fuel. Clearing brush will help in the deep woods but where these fires were, urban congestion was the enemy. Have you visited SoCal? It is naturally built to burn, wet and dry seasons, vegetation build-up then drying out and burning. Recycling is done by burning. It produces rich soils that just help out with vegetation build-up. Just like the prairie fires of the Great Plains.
The forested areas near the developments very rapidly become developments. Much of the “forested” areas are not forested but grassland with small shrubs, which burns like crazy. To stop the vegetative build-up, you will have to clear out the new growth every single year. That will not happen, so it becomes the job of the fires.
Maybe a good idea would be to install concrete fire breaks enclosing residential areas wide enough to stop fires. Unfortunately, arsonists do not locate fires in wild areas.
Just went gold mining in Julian on Sunday and was appalled to see just how many houses had tree lines right up to the house.
No one learns until it is to late.
Exactly, Ben, people learn by surviving disaster. The only thing stupider than people is government as all levels prove time and time again.