Fires

The primary reason for the severity of the So Calif fires was the Santa Ana winds, gusting to 70 MPH, that blow into California deserts from the 4 corners states... The cold air increases in strength as it warms across the sandy deserts and then gains tornado like speeds as it goes over the coastal and Sierra Mountain ranges and travels 7-9,000 feet down hill from the mountains into the suburbs... the winds, couple with no or very low humidity, dry out the vegetation and any spark starts fires with embers being blown over a mile away to start more fires. Fortunately the 80+ degree (F) temps have cooled a little, the winds have died down dramatically and on shore ocean breezes have increased the humidity and allowed cooler nights. Most of the So Cal fires were started from sparks when tree branches or other items (even bald eagles) have shorted the high power wires of So Cal Edison or Los Angeles DWP causing sparks into brush, wind taking over and growing the fires at Amazing acreage per hour that burned the grasslands and farmlands that the cities and increasing population have creeped into.... thus so many tract or ranch homes were destroyed... fortunately just in the low hundreds of homes this time and not the thousands during recent past fires. Very minimal loss of human life this time, compared to previous fires, but so many farm animals were trapped and died from the rapidly spreading fires..... The Santa Ana winds are basically seasonal during OCT and NOV and into DEC, like the lake effect snows of winter in the Great Lakes area or the tornadoes of the MidWest and Eastern states... Praying they diminish and end soon. Unlike the rest of the country, the Southwest desert area of the USA gets much smaller amounts of rain normally during the winter/spring rain season... although last year we got heavy rains, causing extensive grassland and shrubbery growth which provided the fire energy this year.

The recent months of fires in California had limited involvement with forests and tree filled forest land, mostly occurring on agricultural and farm suburban lands... California has extensively used controlled burns where possible to cut back on grasslands in rural areas but those types of burns have lead to extensive fires in residential areas in past years when winds suddenly picked up and blow embers great distances. The current President of the USA displays his ignorance when he pouts that Calif needs to manage forests better.... only 3% forests owned by Calif, 57% owned by Federal govt, and 40% privately owned.... he threatens cutting back on fed funds to be used for control of forests, yet the Fed govt owns 57% of the forest land and they are responsible for caring for that land....duhhhh....

In addition to sparks from high power electrical transmission lines bringing electricity to the cities, some fires were started in very brushy river areas inhabited by a large vagrant population with their camp fires blowing out of control, a couple started by arsonists (again mentally ill homeless vagrants) and a couple in So Calif started from car crashes. A nearby rural and river bottom parks lands area fire which consumed a dozen homes and killed many animals was caused by a stolen car being chased by police after an early morning robbery at 1 AM wherein the 2 suspects crashed over curbs of center islands causing them to drive on rims throwing extensive sparks into the blowing winds, then crashing through a chain link fence at a ranch and setting the farm fields on fire and consuming a moderately sized community.....

I have several members of family (nephews, neices, cousins, uncle) working with county and stare fire agencies who have been working for more than a month with no days off, really looking forward to winter rains arriving and being able to get some days off to rest up and see their families again. The thoughts, prayers and concerns of so many on NWT forum are certainly appreciated by we Californians and those emergency responders who have been exhaustively trying to keep everyone safe.... THANKS