The fires in the US - 700 deaths?

News suggesting that possibly 630 people are still missing, mostly from the retirement community of Paradise that was hit by the fire in northern California, this on top of the 70 odd already found dead.

The thought of 600 grannies and granddads being unable to escape the fire, probably due to lack of mobility, as it engulfed their home - is not a pleasant one.

 

It's absolutely appalling.

I lived on the edge of a national park in Oz and saw a bush fire first hand. It is incredible how quickly it can move and change direction.

We can only hope those that lost their lives went as quickly and painlessly as possible.

 

Lets hope the majority are just unaccounted for and have not perished. Hopefully the majority have managed to just get away elsewhere and are staying with relatives or friends unbeknown to the authorities who have listed them as missing.

 

Very possible.

 

I don't know how quickly they would have died, but I'd say at the very least they were panic-stricken. I was a forestry worker for a while in Queensland and assisted volunteer firefighters by creating fire breaks for them. Even from a relatively safe distance away from the fire, the heat was tremendous - but the worst thing was the noise, almost like standing next to a jet getting ready to take off and regular explosions as trees blew up. Scared the sh*t out of me - I imagine those actually caught up in it would be affected even more.

 

I've never been that close but there was one north of Sydney in about 2005 that started heading our way. There was a fog of smoke and bits of burnt leaves falling like snow (made a real mess of the pool!). That was plenty scarey enough for me.

I just hope those that have lost their lives didn't have long in that state of panic and the final death toll is a lot less than the 631 number being quoted.

 

It’s alright. The orange one says we’re going to have ‘great climate’.

 

Fortunately the impact of wildfires has reduced hugely in recent years. The area affected is down 24% between 98 & 2015 according to NASA.

The expansion of land for farming (as opposed to leaving it as bush or forest) creates breaks. This reduces the impact of fires more than a drier climate increases it.

Whilst wildfires in CA, Oz, Portugal & Greece tend to be the ones we hear about, 67% of the burnt area is in Africa.

 

One of the best climates you've ever seen. An amazing, perfect climate which will make all other climates look terrible

 

Soooo, deforestation = good?

 

Fewer trees, fewer fires.

Or, at least, gaps in the trees means fewer fires.

That's the scientific conclusion.

I suppose nature is a continual process of selective destruction. This doesn't always square with eco values, which makes you wonder on what the eco values are sometimes based.

 

In reducing forest fires yes. In fact, no trees, => no fires. Fortunately the aim of eco policies is not to reduce forest fires.
[Sorry didnt read RD's post before posting this.]

 

My turn to panic now - there are around 200 bushfires currently raging around Queensland, the worst of which is where my oldest son & his family live. The whole town, around 8000 residents, has been ordered by the Qld. Fire and Emergency service to evacuate, although it's not exactly clear where to. There's only one road out - Highway 1 - and the police have closed it both to the north and to the south. No mobile phone service either, so a worrying time for my wife & I...

 

Gosh, that is a worry. Really hope everything is ok.

If that's Gracemere, Rockhampton, quite a lot of chatter on twitter. Roads certainly closed into Gracemere, but it does seem as if evacuations taking place out of there towards Rockhampton.

Appreciate a big worry for you when you can't find anything out directly.

 

I was quite glad when the Trump 'wheel of blame' spinner stopped on forestry management as the ones to be deemed culpable for the wildfires.

Of course there have been fires in the California hills. just about every year for many, many centuries. If you see the nature programmes on TV sometimes, they show how even the nature there is adapted to it and grows up fresh from the ashes.

Anyway, when I was living there, there was only one thing that was to blame for the fires. There'd be no fires if it weren't for them!

Mexicans!

Their camp fires y'see. They're up in the hills there, big groups of them. Not a care in the world. Stupid? Vindictive? Who knows. But they'll happily spark up their camp fires, leave 'em burning, don't understand about fires y'see. They go wandering off and leave them and then next thing you know, all around is cinders for miles and miles as far as the coast. Absolute proven and non-debatable fact. Mexicans.



The deaths reported are an absolute tragedy, but you do have to wonder whether Californian housebuilding and town planning shouldn't adapt in the same way that nature has? The fires happen regular as clockwork. Surely they can do something with clear zones around towns or at least use more fireproof materials. Defences were obviously completely inadequate at that town.

 

It is. I'm not overly familiar with Rockhampton, but I do know that the road north from there has been closed too, with small townships having also been evacuated. Not knowing anyone who lives there, we're keeping an eye on the Rockhampton council's website for an information line to ring.

 

Figures have now been revised to 88 confirmed dead and a further 25 still listed as missing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46421177

 

If only they'd copied Finland by raking the forests.