More than 1,000 missing as California wildfire rages on

[Common]

This is just horrific

Florida goes through droughts and floods, when we are in a drought year, the grass crunchs under your feet and everything in the woods is kindle. Florida has controlled burns, where they burn all the underbrush and that vastly reduces the risk of wild fires.

I have no idea if that would work or not in california, but I read that they wanted to clear underbrush and environmentalists stopped it for some reason.


Eight more bodies were found in the deadliest wildfire in California history, bringing the death toll to 71, officials announced Friday evening.

The number of people unaccounted for also increased to 1,000, according to a local sheriff’s office.


The blaze, named the Camp Fire after the road that it started on in the Northern California county of Butte, entered its eighth day on Friday.


The fire had burned 142,000 acres in the area by Friday morning and was 45 percent contained, fire officials said.


The flames swept through Butte County — about 95 miles north of Sacramento — starting on Nov. 8, reducing the town of Paradise to ashes and trapping many residents who were attempting to flee in their cars.


It was not immediately known where the eight additional bodies were found on Friday evening.


Effects of the inferno were felt hundreds of miles away on Friday in California’s Bay Area, with the air quality in Oakland and San Francisco deteriorating because of the smoke.


Both cities recorded the worst Air Quality Index measurements in the 20 years that they have been keeping track of the number.


Areas closer to the flames recorded the worst air quality numbers in the world, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index.


The agency assigns numbered scores based on how harmful prolonged air exposure would be, with levels between 201 and 300 deemed “very unhealthy.”


Levels in towns Oroville and Chico were around 500 on Friday, according to unofficial readings by the private air-quality-tracking company Purple Air.

https://nypost.com/2018/11/16/more-t...fire-rages-on/

[Helena]

Is is horrific.

I remember years ago listening to a radio talk show host lay out all of reasons why some environmentalists were wrong about controlled burns and where it would lead. Yep, turns out, they were and are wrong. Dead wrong. Well, they're not dead, but still dead wrong. Also, our forest management using controlled burns led to greater forestation, not less, as some environmentalists would have you believe.

I haven't looked into it, but I'm betting some of the reasons they wanted to prohibit clearing brush and other fire preventions had to do with saving animals as opposed to humans. Now look. Wildlife as well as civilization adversely affected.

[MisterVeritis]

This is just horrific

Florida goes through droughts and floods, when we are in a drought year, the grass crunchs under your feet and everything in the woods is kindle. Florida has controlled burns, where they burn all the underbrush and that vastly reduces the risk of wild fires.

I have no idea if that would work or not in california, but I read that they wanted to clear underbrush and environmentalists stopped it for some reason.


Eight more bodies were found in the deadliest wildfire in California history, bringing the death toll to 71, officials announced Friday evening.

The number of people unaccounted for also increased to 1,000, according to a local sheriff’s office.


The blaze, named the Camp Fire after the road that it started on in the Northern California county of Butte, entered its eighth day on Friday.


The fire had burned 142,000 acres in the area by Friday morning and was 45 percent contained, fire officials said.


The flames swept through Butte County — about 95 miles north of Sacramento — starting on Nov. 8, reducing the town of Paradise to ashes and trapping many residents who were attempting to flee in their cars.


It was not immediately known where the eight additional bodies were found on Friday evening.


Effects of the inferno were felt hundreds of miles away on Friday in California’s Bay Area, with the air quality in Oakland and San Francisco deteriorating because of the smoke.


Both cities recorded the worst Air Quality Index measurements in the 20 years that they have been keeping track of the number.


Areas closer to the flames recorded the worst air quality numbers in the world, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index.


The agency assigns numbered scores based on how harmful prolonged air exposure would be, with levels between 201 and 300 deemed “very unhealthy.”


Levels in towns Oroville and Chico were around 500 on Friday, according to unofficial readings by the private air-quality-tracking company Purple Air.

https://nypost.com/2018/11/16/more-t...fire-rages-on/

Thanks, environmentalists. Thanks, Siera Club. Thanks, Earth First!

[Captdon]

I fear the worst for the missing. By now, they should have reached a place they could call someone to let them know they're ok.

[MisterVeritis]

California is home to radical environmentalists. California is getting what it wanted.

[Helena]

[roadmaster]

I had to turn off the scanner alerts in that area when it was going on. The desperation calls. A lot of old people don't like driving in the dark as it is, they couldn't hardly see, traffic was moving slow, some having to escape on foot. The radio should have stopped all coverage except this in their area and gave instructions of which way to go. No they had to listen to junk no one cares about trying to flee for their lives.

[roadmaster]

five more people found in Northern California wildfire rubble, bringing death toll to 76.

[gamewell45]

Is is horrific.

I remember years ago listening to a radio talk show host lay out all of reasons why some environmentalists were wrong about controlled burns and where it would lead. Yep, turns out, they were and are wrong. Dead wrong. Well, they're not dead, but still dead wrong. Also, our forest management using controlled burns led to greater forestation, not less, as some environmentalists would have you believe.

I haven't looked into it, but I'm betting some of the reasons they wanted to prohibit clearing brush and other fire preventions had to do with saving animals as opposed to humans. Now look. Wildlife as well as civilization adversely affected.

it's not that easy doing controlled burns on the west coast; several factors include the Santa Anna winds which can push a controlled burn out of control very quickly; hot & dry weather is perfect for brush fires plus you have a lot of scrub pine bush and pine trees which burn rapidly and fiercely. Once you get a fire burning with all those combinations, it makes it tough to control and hence the long periods of time, manpower and resources required to get the fire under control. Unfortunately deaths do occur whereas its not too common to hear of a death on the east coast due to a brush fire.

I've fought east coast brush fires that have lasted 3 or maybe four days at most, but conditions are so much different compared to the west coast fires which make ours seem like a little campfire compared to the other side of the country.

[Tahuyaman]

it's not that easy doing controlled burns on the west coast;...

They were doing it successfully for decades before the environmentalists gained control of our forestry service.