[WaydayTew]

oh. speaking of fire. the other night there was a car that got torched. i saw it on the way back to my friend's house. that was some scary ****.

[Blotassefesek]

lol LOL

[HaroldMY]

On a more serious note - people has a tendency to rescue personal things like pics and letters while leaving the flat screen back in the flames.

[bpejjssoe]

At least we know that they're working hard to save rich peoples' homes!!

Seriously, what is going on in California... there has to be things that could be done to prevent these insane fires. Is it all the environmentalists' fault for not allowing more preventitive logging (forest clearing), or is there something deeper wrong here?

[chechokancho]

Originally posted by snoopy369
At least we know that they're working hard to save rich peoples' homes!!

Seriously, what is going on in California... there has to be things that could be done to prevent these insane fires. Is it all the environmentalists' fault for not allowing more preventitive logging (forest clearing), or is there something deeper wrong here? If there are environmentalists preventing the logging of sage-brush and cheat-grass... sure.

Hot + Dry = Fires. Windy makes them big. You get some arson, some lightning, a careless campfire or other accident... and that's all there really is to it.

The reason they tend to happen all at once is because of how the weather works here. The Santa Ana winds turn what's usually a somewhat moist and mild environment into a hot, dry, windy one. Usually happens in the fall, when the grasses are already dying regardless, and it just turns most of SoCal into a tinderbox waiting to ignite.

[bapimporb]

well her house is. according to the BBC. i'm now officially fully informed on what's happening in the world.

<img src=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44190000/gif/_44190784_malibu_fires_sat416.gif>

in related highly important news, tom cruise made a statement about the california fires
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7057888.stm

who the --bleep-- cares?!?!?

[Coollabioto]

Oerdin, how are things (since your thread got closed and all...) ?

-Arrian

[lollypopz]

Originally posted by MarkG
<img src=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44190000/gif/_44190784_malibu_fires_sat416.gif> Sting is screwed

[Chiquita]

I'm in Oceanside (N San Diego County). There's fires N, S, and E. We have the ocean W... luckily it's not on fire yet. But where I live isn't threatened. Yesterday afternoon we started to get a slight breeze from offshore, so hopefully the Santa Anas are dying down.

http://www.calfires.com/

[ITYfl01c]

Impressive
Pictures from NASA (right) show how the powerful seasonal Santa Ana winds have fueled the unusually large-scale outbreak. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/cal...res/index.html

[Mediconlinee]

Those pix are good at showing how strong the wind is in certain areas. In some of the canyons (which act as wind tunnels), it can surpass hurricane strength.

[Kvkcgktl]

Good to know you are ok Zkribbler.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0...8ac31fe3357571

Here's another map I found that shows the evac orders, and the burn areas, at least for San Diego, which has the largest fires.

I haven't seen one for the area north of LA.

[bortycuz]

My aunt and uncle in San Diego may have to evacuate. Last I heard, the fires were less than a half mile away from their house.

[Emedgella]

Geeez! I had no idea. Hey, just finished rereading 'The Alien Years', anyone see anything unusual in LA? Hmm, that's kind of an open question...any space aliens starting fires with space ship exaust?

[erelvenewmeva]

Originally posted by Lancer
...any space aliens starting fires with space ship exaust? I can tell you're from the sticks. Everyone here in the big city knows there's no exhaust from space alien ships because they have magnetic-drive engines.

Things here are getting better. The winds continue to stay moderate (although the humidity remains in single digits ). Temperatures are starting to decline.

[dHXaE2h9]

When do they shoot the other one?

Is the person who shot the theoretical arsonist dead guilty of murder or considered a fire prevention specialist?

[QxmFwtlam]

Not the worst either.

[v74ClzKY]

BBCWorld and CCN are reporting:

$1 billion in damage.
1 million people displaced.
1 thousand homes lost.

So:
Sell your stock in insurance companies;
Buy stocks in home repair and hotels

[Wrencytet]

President Bush flew into California today. I wonder if he'll be able to find a hotel vacancy.

[Corporal White]

Actually a lot of the homes burned weren't rich peoples'. (Malibu excluded.)

People live out away from the coast because it's much less expensive most of the time. One of the first places that burned was a trailer park. Some may want their cake and eat it too, but a lot of people live out there because they can't afford to live in the cities with anywhere near the same standard of living.

It seems like a big disaster... but we spent more in Iraq during those 4-5 days than we will rebuilding. (And we spend more than $1 billion per day on our military overall.)