Oregon, Washington and California are having a tough time right now.
We are even having forest fires on the coast. Not looking good at all.
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2020/09/08/oregon-wildfire-map-track-fires-burning-across-northwest/5745405002/
In Fumo Pax
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
Atmospheric pressure and crap.
Comments
I think some major clear-cutting is in order in the nw. What ain't there can't burn.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
The problem is the undergrowth.
When vine maple, blackberries, ferns, grass and alder grow extremely fast here, it is fuel for fires.
Normally, it wouldn't be a huge problem, because it is usually fairly wet, but this summer has been extremely dry and all that underbrush is dry.
Some of the areas where some fires started were clear cuts. The brush is where the fires started.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
We are probably going to see a lot of smoke here.
Right now, the north coast is smokey, but not terrible, if the wind shifts from the south, it will block out the sun, like the central coast of Oregon is now.
This is Depot Bay right now.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
The air quality is too poor to smoke and the smoke in the air gives everything a strange tint.
smoke these and you won't even notice:
How is a 46 ring considered "chunky"?
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
Stay classy old fool.
The animals are a big concern.
The wildlife is driven into the open areas when the smoke reaches a certain concentration, which also means they tend to go toward the roads.
Having deer, elk and bears close to the roads, isn't a good thing.
An added issue is that it was almost 90+ degrees here and water for wildlife and domestic animals is a concern.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
https://www.iqair.com/us/earth?nav
air quality map
>
Seriously @jd50ae ? I have to say, that's a boatload of hate you're carrying around. Do you read your stuff before you post? We all have knee-jerk reactions from time to time, but you've been off the charts lately.
That kind of intense hatred will eat your mind, and your soul, and your whole life. Spewing it out here will only serve to intensify it. Like a dynamo, turbo-charged.
Where is all this coming from? Ms. Pelosi may be the Grand Poobah of Authoritarian Socialism, a cynic willing to cash in her constituents for power, but that's no reason to wish horrible death and destruction on, well, anyone at all, much less a whole state.
Might be time to check in with a local Counseling Center, Preacher, Exorcist, something. At the very least turn off the Ringmasters who are driving you to this mental state. It doesn't play well here, and seems to be causing you suffering as well.
The old hippie inside me tells me you have Dragon fever. Save yourself before it's too late.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
@jd50ae We have the “Things I Hate” thread if you need to vent.
I thought the "Camel Toe thread of the Day" was for venting.
Depends on what you're venting LMFAO
It's been dark and crappy all day, @Guitarded, prepare for some nasty air quality.
They've been evacuating people all over south and inland from us.
There is talk of moving us techs around to cover the machines running the fires.
One of the techs south of me, has had to move his truck north and stage in an area that isn't on fire.
The smoke here, hasn't been too terrible, but 30 miles south and it's almost red during the day. If the winds change, it will get nasty here, really fast.
@Yakster The smoke looks to be hitting you from all directions.
Stay safe.
Looks like tomorrow, I may be road tripping into the depths of hell. LOL!
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
Stay safe, Tony.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
The OMPS (Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite provided this Sept. 7, 2020 image of the aerosols released from the wildfires in California. The aerosols have traveled east across the United States. (Image credit: NOAA/NASA)
more here:
https://www.space.com/california-wildfires-satellite-photos-september-2020.html
I love the smell of a good campfire, can't wait till it floats over me.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-fire-12-year-old-boy-grandmother-killed/
I guess I'd rather take the word of someone who's lived this than the governors who just want to blame the fires on climate change;
Welcome to the (Unnecessary) Mega Fire Generation!
By Del Albright, Fire Chief (retired)
25-30 years ago, a 10,000 – 15,000-acre fire was a huge conflagration. Now we are experiencing 100,000 - 400,000-acre fires regularly.
I would like to offer an explanation based on over 30 years of government service including 26 years with the fire service, as well as beginning my fire career with a Master’s Degree based on Prescribed Burning.
NO! It is not just global warming (climate change).
NO! It is not understaffed or ill-trained firefighters.
NO! It is not Mamma Nature getting even with our urban sprawl.
NO! It is not careless campers or hunters.
NO! It is not kids with matches.
YES! It is a combination of many things but more importantly, it is the LACK of forest/brushland/grassland management caused by wacko, radical enviro groups imposing excessive regulations, and restrictions on our ability to keep the west safe from wildfire.
Here are the key takeaways from this article:
· The lack of controlled burning/prescribed fire is directly responsible for the huge build-ups of flammable fuels.
· The end of maintaining fire breaks (roads) in forested areas leaves firefighters with inadequate access.
· The end of logging and good timber management as we used to know it is directly responsible for forests that are now tinderboxes.
Let us take a deeper look at these reasons.
CONTROLLED BURNS:
Going back to Native Americans in America, controlled burning (later called Prescribed Fire) have saved the west from huge conflagrations. By burning large brush fields and using fire to thin understory brush in the forest, we kept the big boomers at bay. We had programs designed to reduce “chaparral” in the west, thus limiting the ability for fires to get ragingly out of control.
In the early days of settling the west, ranchers regularly burned brush fields to make way for grazing and wildlife habitat.
This entire program of controlled or prescribed fire is a near thing of the past.
ROADS/FIRE BREAKS:
When I started with the fire service in the 1970’s we had regularly scheduled building, repairing, cleaning, and maintaining fire breaks around rural housing areas and developments. We kept fire roads cleared and usable for large fire equipment. We had access to remote areas which allowed us to attack fires when they were small. Roads provided a place to start a safe backfire. Oh, backfires! Another art nearly lost today due to liability and excessive oversight by the media and radical enviro groups who have political power.
LOGGING/TIMBER MANAGEMENT:
If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you probably remember sawmills. They are all gone for the most part because the radical environmental rules have made logging a financial nightmare. You wonder why wood is so expensive these days? We cannot log; that’s why. Yes, there are still a few holdouts logging here and there. But the feds are hampered by so many regulations and restrictions that our timber stands either get bug infested or succumb to wildfires.
We used to thin forest stands regularly – fire crews, inmate crews, machines that munch up underbrush, and yes, even pesticides to keep the forests healthy. Now, you can pick about any state in the west with timber and you see more bug-killed trees than live ones!
In our western grasslands, the lack of proactive landscape management in desert states has resulted in vast acreages dominated by a cheatgrass-fire cycle that is ruining wildlife habitat and causing bigger and more damaging conflagrations. This invasive species needs to be managed or these western deserts will never be the same – nor will our wildlife species.
In timber areas, for the most part, we no longer control pests and bugs; we no longer do any substantial thinning of the underbrush; logging is kaput, and forest management is a façade. It is not the fault of our public land managers; it is the imposition of radical regulation. It is politics.
SUMMARY:
Public land management is no longer based on science but rather politics. The same goes for wildlife management. Radical enviro groups lobby politicians (and raise untold dollars in support) to STOP all the things that will make our forests, brushlands, and deserts safe and healthy. It is ironic (and pathetic) because for all their efforts to “save the world” they are destroying our world, piece by piece.
To see fires in California reach half a million acres is beyond belief!
What can we do? We must STOP the silliness and over-regulation and allow sound public land management, never forgetting that public lands are FOR the public. Help good politicians get elected and stay in office. Recall bad politicians. Do everything in your power to negate, refute, or STOP the radical movement that has stagnated management of our resources.
I was thinking about that very thing earlier, in regards to Yosemite. When John Muir "discovered" Yosemite ( I don't know if he was first, but he was instrumental in publicizing it) and the D.C. crowd became enamored with the place, one of the main objectives was to rid the place of those pesky Native American types who were encroaching on this "untamed wilderness".
In the decades that followed the place became less and less "pristine", because the people who'd lived there had been taking care of the place for generations, many generations.
This mistake has been repeated more than once. Seems to me that a few years back President Bush authorized clearing of underbrush in many federal forest lands, and the so-called environmentalists came unglued. Shortly after, those lands that had been cleared of underbrush survived the fires, and those that hadn't been cleared went up in smoke. Much longer recovery time.
People have no sense.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
^^This. Exactly.
I worked in the logging industry for 10 years and there is no question that politics had taken over the timber industry (well, everything) in the last 30 years.
Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy cigars and that's close enough.
I certainly agree that politicians should never have been allowed to manage forests.
I also think fire fighters and others tasked with protecting the forests should be given the authority to protect our forests over politicians and greedy companies.
And in my humble opinion arson should be made a capital crime.
4 more arsonists have been arrested. How many does that make? Anyone keeping count?
https://www.foxnews.com/us/arrest-four-possible-arson-west-coast
https://www.foxnews.com/us/portland-cops-man-started-small-brush-fire-with-molotov-cocktail
Plus a local contact of mine in Washington state says there have been at least 12 arrests from people there starting fires as well. It seems to be a conflagration of idiots who've found a new way to protest, probably funded by Soros knowing how things have been transpiring lately.
Not to detract from the post @peter4jc made about lack of back burning the grassland areas and the environmentalists getting all up in our business for preventing fires in the first place. Obviously, it's a combination of events I'd say.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/oregon-man-portland-arrest-fires-interstate-205-wildfire-warning-fire-weather-police
Oregon man arrested twice in 12-hour span for starting 'multiple' fires near Portland freeway
Were gonna need an "Oregon Man" thread soon.
Trapped in the People's Communist Republic of Massachusetts.
I am already of the opinion that MOST of the fires are deliberate arson. The miss management by "government" experts is just an added and serious problem. I feel so much, for the trained and professions fire fighters. Is this going to become a useless battle?
I wonder if anyone does controlled burning anymore. I don’t think they do here anymore. Luckily we’re not as dry a climate. But once the heat is bad enough that the trees start burning it’s bad.