Wildfire(s) Out West

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

Meltdown99

If you are going to San Fran ... book Alcatraz well in advance and make sure you do not miss your time and date.  That happened to me on my San Fran trip ... mixed up the date, and the only way to get a ticket on short notice is show real early where the tickets are sold and hope they have room...I didn't bother going to show up and wait in-line.  The front desk clerk said people start lining up at 4AM ... 

That was the last time I'll ever go to California ... the congestion is just terrible.  Sequoia was great though!  

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

oftenreading

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

brianlux

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

oftenreading

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

It was great..... provided you were fond of pulp mill effluent. 
 

brianlux

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

It was great..... provided you were fond of pulp mill effluent. 
 

As long as they aren't paper mills.  I live on the Olympic Peninsula for a few years and had to pass a paper mill any time I went to Port Townsend and that mill found it cheaper to pay the fines than to put proper filtration on their smoke stacks.   The smell was nauseating!

oftenreading

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

It was great..... provided you were fond of pulp mill effluent. 
 

As long as they aren't paper mills.  I live on the Olympic Peninsula for a few years and had to pass a paper mill any time I went to Port Townsend and that mill found it cheaper to pay the fines than to put proper filtration on their smoke stacks.   The smell was nauseating!

Pulp and paper, the bedrock of northern B.C.  

PJ_Soul

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

It was great..... provided you were fond of pulp mill effluent. 
 

As long as they aren't paper mills.  I live on the Olympic Peninsula for a few years and had to pass a paper mill any time I went to Port Townsend and that mill found it cheaper to pay the fines than to put proper filtration on their smoke stacks.   The smell was nauseating!

There are paper mills too (unless they all shut down since I was last there, which is possible).
My own feelings about the BC northwest is basically that it can be very beautiful, just amazing forested wilderness as far as the eye can see and beyond - the kind of place you could wander into and never been seen again, lol. Plus the occasional quaint and charming little place you happen upon, the occasional novelty, such as a completely random snow mobile museum on the side of the road and shit like that ... And some pretty crappy mill towns that really fucking stink, and now lots of brown, dead trees due to pine beetle, which harms a lot of the views unfortunately. It's a great place, but you might not want to romanticize it very much because that could lead to some disappointment.

brianlux

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

oftenreading said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

brianlux said:

PJ_Soul said:

I wouldn't mind visiting San Francisco once - such a historical place that's not broiling hot. I wouldn't be caught dead in Southern California though.

Coming from the Bay Area, I'm biased but I try not to put down southern California to much.  That area has produced so much great film and music- for that alone it deserves recognition.  But I don't have any desire to visit So Cal any time soon.

If you haven't been to San Francisco, I would highly recommend doing so.  It has gone through changes since the years I lived in or near the city, but it still has so much going for it.  If you ever do plan a visit, let me know.   We make day trips down there from time to time.  You might like seeing some of the popular tourists spots but there are also lesser known parts of the city that are very much worth seeing.  I'm also more of a fan of S.F. off season and on week days.

I wasn't putting down Southern California for anything other than the climate. I hate that climate, and of course the results of it, which is drought and fire.

Yeah, someday I'll probably swing through San Fran. Actually, I did go there as a very little kid, but I have no memory of it. Just a photo.
I don't tend to go to popular tourist spots at all because I don't like the whole tourist trap vibe usually. I managed to go on a trip to NYC and didn't see the Statue of Liberty and didn't even consider paying money to go up the Empire State Building, haha. My main interest when travelling is indeed history. Any little historical museum or building or church is where I'll be found! All that said though, I would still like to visit Alcatraz. I know it's a crazy tourist location, and I think expensive too, but old prisons with a rich history simply fascinate me too much to pass that one up.

I like your style of visiting places.  Very cool.

Ironically, having grown up in the Bay Area and living in San Francisco itself for four years, I've never been to Alcatraz.  Go figure!

I wish I could say i grew up somewhere fantastic and was too cool to go see the sights, but in  reality I grew up in northern B.C. and we didn’t even have a mall until I was in junior high!  

LOL.  Alcatraz always kind of freaked me out.  I would go down to the piers at night back when they were not so touristy- in fact, they were kind of dark and dangerous- and look out at Alcatraz and think, Oh man, that place looks creepy!

I'm hoping to get to see some of Northern B.C. next year on our way to Alaska.  I kind of romanticize the far North West from reading Jack London, etc.  But of course, reality could be quite different!

It was great..... provided you were fond of pulp mill effluent. 
 

As long as they aren't paper mills.  I live on the Olympic Peninsula for a few years and had to pass a paper mill any time I went to Port Townsend and that mill found it cheaper to pay the fines than to put proper filtration on their smoke stacks.   The smell was nauseating!

There are paper mills too (unless they all shut down since I was last there, which is possible).
My own feelings about the BC northwest is basically that it can be very beautiful, just amazing forested wilderness as far as the eye can see and beyond - the kind of place you could wander into and never been seen again, lol. Plus the occasional quaint and charming little place you happen upon, the occasional novelty, such as a completely random snow mobile museum on the side of the road and shit like that ... And some pretty crappy mill towns that really fucking stink, and now lots of brown, dead trees due to pine beetle, which harms a lot of the views unfortunately. It's a great place, but you might not want to romanticize it very much because that could lead to some disappointment.

That's what I was afraid of.  The pine beetle plague is wreaking havoc on forest all across the west.   

I wonder how many centuries before things come back into balance?  I do believe in the power of nature to restore balance.

tbergs

Ugh, two firemen died battling a blaze in Redding this morning. Our continued environmental impact on these areas coupled with the unrealistic livability of these geographical regions we keep building in is just never going to end until it all burns or we die off. Realistically, it will probably be a combination of the two.

Northern California wildfire moves into Redding

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/us/california-carr-fire/index.html

brianlux

tbergs said:

Ugh, two firemen died battling a blaze in Redding this morning. Our continued environmental impact on these areas coupled with the unrealistic livability of these geographical regions we keep building in is just never going to end until it all burns or we die off. Realistically, it will probably be a combination of the two.

Northern California wildfire moves into Redding

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/us/california-carr-fire/index.html

Oh, that's terrible news.  This is a bad one.  44,450 acres and only 3% containment.  Redding used to be this really small town at the far north end of the central valley and for some crazy reason a lot of people have moved there (the place has a lengthy hell-hole of a summer- why anyone wants to live there is beyond me other than maybe it's proximity to Mt. Shasta and the Shasta reservoir.

We still have the worst 8 to 10 weeks of fire season ahead of us and already the place is going to hell.  Ubiquitous haze or smoke combined with temps in the low 100's.  Welcome to paradise.

brianlux

Looking at these fire maps of the Carr fir,  I'm almost in shock.  A major portion of Redding is on the west side of the I-5.

https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/fire-tracker/

brianlux

The Carr fire nearly doubled to over 80,000 acres over night.  I don't recall ever hearing of a fire move this quickly.  And still only 5% contained. 

http://abc7.com/carr-fire-expands-to-127-square-miles-near-redding/3838809/

Meltdown99

brianlux said:

The Carr fire nearly doubled to over 80,000 acres over night.  I don't recall ever hearing of a fire move this quickly.  And still only 5% contained. 

http://abc7.com/carr-fire-expands-to-127-square-miles-near-redding/3838809/

Thats terrible Brian.  In Ontario we are having a bad fire season as well.  Been very dry, not the worst summer for heat.  Just a lack of rain.  My front yard is harder than cement.

brianlux

Meltdown99 said:

brianlux said:

The Carr fire nearly doubled to over 80,000 acres over night.  I don't recall ever hearing of a fire move this quickly.  And still only 5% contained. 

http://abc7.com/carr-fire-expands-to-127-square-miles-near-redding/3838809/

Thats terrible Brian.  In Ontario we are having a bad fire season as well.  Been very dry, not the worst summer for heat.  Just a lack of rain.  My front yard is harder than cement.

Sorry to hear that, Meltdown.  Fall can't come too soon this year!

brianlux

Sorry in advance if this sound like a whine or self-pity.  I know a lot of others are dealing with far worse.  It's just that I've never seen so much far-reaching smoke-haze in all my years. ((I posted a photo with the camera pointed at the setting sun on the AET sunset thread.  You can't tell there's a sun in that photo due to the haze and smoke.)  And the intensity with which some of these fires are taking off this year!  In Redding, some of those people had only two minutes warning to clear out.  Some didn't make it.  The threat of earthquakes when I lived in San Francisco never bothered me much- very little in fact.  But this is way different and the odds are not good... things feel dicey as shit.  I can't wait for fall, damn it!

unsung

Gotta admit I haven’t read all replies...but maybe start the selective logging again?

brianlux

unsung said:

Gotta admit I haven’t read all replies...but maybe start the selective logging again?

It never stopped.  Logging goes on all the time here.  Getting rid of the trees is not a solution.  They are being logged as it is, both healthy trees (to a lesser degree) and salvage cutting in areas that have burned. 

Environmentalists never opposed all cutting.  We have mainly opposed cutting old growth trees and trees close to riparian habitat. There is even logging planned for Redwood National Park and other redwood forests which has been proposed by environmentalists.  The plan is to restore natural conditions (an imbalance previously caused by over-logging) and to reduce competition for sunlight and water.   But those areas are in the north-west part of the state which is much more moist and sees much less fire anyway. 

The fire problems we are seeing in recent years is due to a combination of:

-Many previous years of fire suppression.  Control burns happen every year when it is safe to do so but only in recent decades.  Previously, rather than control burn, the USFS did everything it could to put out even small fires. Mother Nature used to maintain a balance here with natural fire caused by lightening strikes which kept vegetation down in drier areas, reducing what is referred to as the "fire ladder".  That natural process was suppressed for about 100 years.

-Bark beetle infestation is killing literally millions of trees.  Drought is the main reason the bark and other pine beetles are killing off the trees.

-Ecological imbalance s caused by overpopulation, pollution and climate change.

Humans have played a huge role in creating the problem by upsetting natural balances.

brianlux

It snowed ashes in Placerville today.  Ashes, high heat, ubiquitous smoke.  Living on the edge of the apocalypse.