Bush fires are threatening suburbs in Southern California. ...several homes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were evacuated. Seven-hundred fire-fighters battled the blazes, the largest covered 2,800 hectares. The fires were whipped by high winds of up to 70 km/h. Some homes were destroyed and flames and smoke were visible for several kilometres.
Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/09/29/california_fires20050929.html
And that article is a couple of years old. Yesterday CBC was reporting:
Firefighters in Southern California are battling more than a dozen wildfires that have destroyed 16,000 hectares of land and forced the evacuation of more than 250,000 people from their homes in the area. ...Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a state of emergency late Sunday in seven counties where fires have killed one person and injured dozens, said Monday that "it's a tragic time for California."
Read more here: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/22/fire-california.html
Gracias amigo, si, the gringos are loco. The most sane thing Arnie and George could do would be to seek advice from your real fire experts like Professors Richard Minnich (USA), Steve Pyne (USA), and Hank Lewis (Canada).
Politicians and the media, in Australia, have made an art form of seeking fire advice from the wrong people, so we have ever worse fires, just like California, Greece etc. Summer is icumen in down here. White pella 'e blurry fool wit fire.
It's arson. My belief is it's ecoterrorism. Mexicans don't have any pretensions about being eco friendly or worshipful of mother gaia, plus they don't have media politicos and celebrities hammering away at how they are all dirty little rapers of the planet. So no fire starting planet crusaders south of the border.
James,
Assuming you are writing from California (?) are Prof Richard Minnich's views on the role of mosaic burning in making fires easier to control (not, of course, preventing them altogether) being discussed in the US? Also, has anybody commented on the apparent lack of large, dangerous fires south of the border, down Mexico way? Perhaps climate change has not yet arrived in Mexico?
Here is a satellite pic of the California fires.
http://patterico.com/wp/wp-content/images/wildfires-from-space.jpg
Pay close attention to the wind blowing off the big desert region. See the grey patch inbetween the ocean and that sand colored plateau? That's Los Angeles.
You see the white patches in that desert?
Those are all dry lake beds. A long time ago there use to be a lot of water.
So you can see that southern California had been drying out a long time before Al Gore invented global warming - just like I said.
'Much anti social behaviour here is just kids with a grudge. Schools are their usual targets.
Understanding dropouts takes years. Dealing with extreme forms of vandalism is something the whole human race has yet to concur.'
Posted by: gavin at October 25, 2007 05:25 AM
Clearly you have a penchant for ill-informed, brash statements, but you might like to read this report on arson from the Australian Institute of Criminology:
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/61/
I thought this blog was about evidence??
Doesn't change the fact that these were weather-driven fires.
http://motls.blogspot.com/2007/10/wildfires-due-to-global-warming.html - research.
1998 was a so/so year for wildfires on the global scale. 1997 was a good year for fire but for global warming, not so much. In fact there is no correlation between fire and global warming at all when you look at the statistics...
FBI Investigates As Arson Linked To California Wildfires
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_16088.aspx - more research.
'JD’s “There is a wealth of research in Australia and the US about 'weather driven' fires, where fuel is not the dominant driver of fire behaviour” seems like a classic cop out.'
'Industrial experience has taught me both fine fuel and wind are necessary to create an inferno'.
Well, duh!
It's called science Gavin. All fires need fuel. Of course. For fuels to burn, weather conditions must be conducive. Of course. There will be fires where fuel is the dominant driver of fire behaviour, and these are more easily suppressed. There are also fires when weather is the driver of fire behaviour (and fuel, including quantity) is less important, and suppression is difficult.
Funny, I just read in the paper that weather conditions have eased and they've been able to get some of the Cali fires under control.
Re Santa Ana winds, wiki is up to date with the L A Basin smoke pic.
IMO, down slope “at typical speeds of 35 knots” they would hardly blow out a candle.
There must be something wrong with the heater hey.
I can guess from the above posts, James is also harbouring a grudge but uses a keyboard to express his frustrations.
Tracking arsonists is something I did over decades with an interest in clearing the air during industrial type disputes and campaigns to attract overtime through the hotter holiday months etc. Much anti social behaviour here is just kids with a grudge. Schools are their usual targets.
Understanding dropouts takes years. Dealing with extreme forms of vandalism is something the whole human race has yet to concur.