American Wildfires

I went to visit my son who was house sitting in a neighboring community(Indian Falls) when we were sent evacuation orders and told to leave the area immediately. I rushed over to my best friend's house who also lives in Indian Falls and helped pack as much as we could into his vehicles, then went back over grabbed my son and the dog that he was watching.
I drove home which is about 15 miles away and figured I would keep the dog at my house until things calmed down. I got home and immediately got an evacuation notice for my house. My wife rushed home and we grabbed my daughter my two dogs, six chickens, and everything we could fit in our cars. We then drove to a town about twenty minutes in a different direction from where the fire was headed, to a family friend's house who let us set up camp in his yard, dogs, chickens, and all.
I set up camp and was just smoking a joint when we got an alert that the town we were in was being evacuated because of a separate fire(Fly fire). I'm in a good spot for now, and it could have been so much worse. My best friend lost everything in Indian falls, it's beyond heartbreaking. He built the house with his own hands and he raised two kids there, both of his kids were born inside the house. There is no monetary value that can be equated to losing something that has had so much of yourself invested in it.
He and I were also building a tiny home there to sell, it was beautiful, with hand-milled cedar siding from local trees, been working on it in our spare time since October, it's toast.

The Dixie fire was started by PG&E in the same spot that they had started the Paradise fire from that killed 85 people. It's still under investigation but it looks like they also started the Fly fire that eventually merged with the Dixie fire and took out the town of Indian Falls.
I have a hard time understanding why they(PG&E) are still allowed to operate in our state, at what point do their actions become acknowledged as a threat to public safety. I'm pretty sure that if I committed negligence that resulted in 85 people losing their lives that I wouldn't be walking around free let alone allowed to keep doing the same job that I was proven to have been negligent at.
The victims of the Paradise fire sued PG&E but they simply passed the cost of the suit on to the customers by increasing the cost of their services. And here we are again, deja vu, they weren't held accountable for their actions because they are a rich corporation, and they did the same thing again, in the same area! It's hard to understand.

Funkentelechy said:

I went to visit my son who was house sitting in a neighboring community(Indian Falls) when we were sent evacuation orders and told to leave the area immediately. I rushed over to my best friend's house who also lives in Indian Falls and helped pack as much as we could into his vehicles, then went back over grabbed my son and the dog that he was watching.
I drove home which is about 15 miles away and figured I would keep the dog at my house until things calmed down. I got home and immediately got an evacuation notice for my house. My wife rushed home and we grabbed my daughter my two dogs, six chickens, and everything we could fit in our cars. We then drove to a town about twenty minutes in a different direction from where the fire was headed, to a family friend's house who let us set up camp in his yard, dogs, chickens, and all.
I set up camp and was just smoking a joint when we got an alert that the town we were in was being evacuated because of a separate fire(Fly fire). I'm in a good spot for now, and it could have been so much worse. My best friend lost everything in Indian falls, it's beyond heartbreaking. He built the house with his own hands and he raised two kids there, both of his kids were born inside the house. There is no monetary value that can be equated to losing something that has had so much of yourself invested in it.
He and I were also building a tiny home there to sell, it was beautiful, with hand-milled cedar siding from local trees, been working on it in our spare time since October, it's toast.

The Dixie fire was started by PG&E in the same spot that they had started the Paradise fire from that killed 85 people. It's still under investigation but it looks like they also started the Fly fire that eventually merged with the Dixie fire and took out the town of Indian Falls.
I have a hard time understanding why they(PG&E) are still allowed to operate in our state, at what point do their actions become acknowledged as a threat to public safety. I'm pretty sure that if I committed negligence that resulted in 85 people losing their lives that I wouldn't be walking around free let alone allowed to keep doing the same job that I was proven to have been negligent at.
The victims of the Paradise fire sued PG&E but they simply passed the cost of the suit on to the customers by increasing the cost of their services. And here we are again, deja vu, they weren't held accountable for their actions because they are a rich corporation, and they did the same thing again, in the same area! It's hard to understand.

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That is horrifying man, I am happy you are safe.

blu3bird said:

I'm drinking and having an American wildfire on my yard tonight
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Hilarious.

Funkentelechy said:

I went to visit my son who was house sitting in a neighboring community(Indian Falls) when we were sent evacuation orders and told to leave the area immediately. I rushed over to my best friend's house who also lives in Indian Falls and helped pack as much as we could into his vehicles, then went back over grabbed my son and the dog that he was watching.
I drove home which is about 15 miles away and figured I would keep the dog at my house until things calmed down. I got home and immediately got an evacuation notice for my house. My wife rushed home and we grabbed my daughter my two dogs, six chickens, and everything we could fit in our cars. We then drove to a town about twenty minutes in a different direction from where the fire was headed, to a family friend's house who let us set up camp in his yard, dogs, chickens, and all.
I set up camp and was just smoking a joint when we got an alert that the town we were in was being evacuated because of a separate fire(Fly fire). I'm in a good spot for now, and it could have been so much worse. My best friend lost everything in Indian falls, it's beyond heartbreaking. He built the house with his own hands and he raised two kids there, both of his kids were born inside the house. There is no monetary value that can be equated to losing something that has had so much of yourself invested in it.
He and I were also building a tiny home there to sell, it was beautiful, with hand-milled cedar siding from local trees, been working on it in our spare time since October, it's toast.

The Dixie fire was started by PG&E in the same spot that they had started the Paradise fire from that killed 85 people. It's still under investigation but it looks like they also started the Fly fire that eventually merged with the Dixie fire and took out the town of Indian Falls.
I have a hard time understanding why they(PG&E) are still allowed to operate in our state, at what point do their actions become acknowledged as a threat to public safety. I'm pretty sure that if I committed negligence that resulted in 85 people losing their lives that I wouldn't be walking around free let alone allowed to keep doing the same job that I was proven to have been negligent at.
The victims of the Paradise fire sued PG&E but they simply passed the cost of the suit on to the customers by increasing the cost of their services. And here we are again, deja vu, they weren't held accountable for their actions because they are a rich corporation, and they did the same thing again, in the same area! It's hard to understand.

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PG&E are only now considering putting power lines underground. Oh, but it's gonna cost so much and we must think of our shareholders, so the cost will be passed on to the customers. I've escaped the destruction the last 3 years, but it was very close, 15 miles away. I wish you, your family and friends the best, brother. I'm crying.

hanimmal said:

That is horrifying man, I am happy you are safe.

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One of our brothers here lost their home in this Dixie Fire. I’ll let him come on here himself and tell you guys when he feels like it. It’s one of our bros from right here in the politics section .

i’m still waiting for the pg&e lawsuit to be settled on my behalf. Or rather, paid out by the trustee. I wanna sell my property up in Paradise but am advised not to until after. Prob won’t be much but the money could def help me finish my new house i’m building. Fuckin PG&E.

Fonzyyy21 said:

It's disgusting to see people on social media saying "oooo they're all liberals that wanna loot, riot and destroy our country! Let em burn"
What have we come to as people?! Instead of feeling sympathy and compassion, we hate each other so much!
You know, disasters usually bring people together, help your neighbors out right???
It's just very sad to see the state our society Is in!
I've always wondered if the worlds always been shitty and I'm just now realizing, or it really is getting worse! Lol
Stay safe everyone! Much love!

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We have the ability to share information extremely quick (like wildfire- sorry…) but to me it seems like those who are prone to fear and looking for a “savior” figure are the most likely to promote ideas that harm people (un-like them), because they are listening to the loudest, angriest voices that tend to come from a political end that knows “faith in a higher power” often lowers people’s guard to “faith in provable facts”, and use this to promote an agenda.
I believe there are many things we’ll never understand until we experience them.
But letting a “class” of people that has typically perpetuated fear and hatred of other people that are not like them (wealthy; Caucasian; descendants of genocidal colonists (I’m part-that), act like they are somehow victims and having their “rights” taken is just some pure baby-crying bullshit, to use a nonmenclature of our times.
But we still have to baby them or get rid of them.

It fits within the idea of “Evolve or Die” model.

I used to say, “Live and Let Live”, but when niceties fail- the predators take over.

May not be much greatness if self-centered ignoramuses inherit the Earth.

Aeroknow said:

One of our brothers here lost their home in this Dixie Fire. I’ll let him come on here himself and tell you guys when he feels like it. It’s one of our bros from right here in the politics section .

i’m still waiting for the pg&e lawsuit to be settled on my behalf. Or rather, paid out by the trustee. I wanna sell my property up in Paradise but am advised not to until after. Prob won’t be much but the money could def help me finish my new house i’m building. Fuckin PG&E.

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That is horrifying, I am so sorry man.

I accidentally burnt my house down as a kid, and can't imagine how bad it is out there.

schuylaar said:

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There are some Jewish space lasers that are very offended at the omission.

MAGpie81 said:

We have the ability to share information extremely quick (like wildfire- sorry…) but to me it seems like those who are prone to fear and looking for a “savior” figure are the most likely to promote ideas that harm people (un-like them), because they are listening to the loudest, angriest voices that tend to come from a political end that knows “faith in a higher power” often lowers people’s guard to “faith in provable facts”, and use this to promote an agenda.
I believe there are many things we’ll never understand until we experience them.
But letting a “class” of people that has typically perpetuated fear and hatred of other people that are not like them (wealthy; Caucasian; descendants of genocidal colonists (I’m part-that), act like they are somehow victims and having their “rights” taken is just some pure baby-crying bullshit, to use a nonmenclature of our times.
But we still have to baby them or get rid of them.

It fits within the idea of “Evolve or Die” model.

I used to say, “Live and Let Live”, but when niceties fail- the predators take over.

May not be much greatness if self-centered ignoramuses inherit the Earth.

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the 30% have been against popular vote since The Revolutionary War when they sided with monarchy and have been this way ever since.

every century has to deal with them and their particular brand of crazy depending on how tech advanced we are..every single century since inception.

I hear the Oregon fires are expected to burn until the fall rains.

captainmorgan said:

I hear the Oregon fires are expected to burn until the fall rains.

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That's how fires in Trinity County are typically handled. Just let them burn until rain, or lack of fuel stops them. The problem is, they don't run out of fuel.

I'm still on evacuation, last night the Dixie fire passed within about a half-mile from my house, it was a tense night.

I really hope that the models that predict fire behavior and determine how fires are fought can be changed in this country. Climate change has changed the way that fire behaves but the way that we predict fire behavior hasn't changed in a long time. Like Topcat mentions the primary way that they handle fires when they occur in an unpopulated area is to just let them burn until the season changes and rain comes and/or they run out of fuel. The problem is the fires are not running out of fuel, and they are starting earlier in the year.

It used to be that most fires started in September or October and seasonally it would start raining at the end of September to mid-October, so if a fire started in an unpopulated area it could be lightly monitored and largely allowed to burn until it fizzled out once the rainy season came. Now the fires are starting in July or June and the rain/snow starts in November and the rainy season produces less moisture than it used to.

Another problem is that the amount of man(or woman) power the is allocated to a fire is based on a proportional response model that is totally antiquated. At the moment when a fire breaks out, it has to reach a specific size before X amount of crews are sent in, and as the fire grows they wait until it reaches certain predetermined thresholds before they send in more. Given the way that the climate has changed/is changing and as a consequence fire behavior has inexorably changed, the way that we approach fire needs to also change.

According to reports, a PG&E employee observed a tree completely engulfed in flames and notified authorities, after being notified it took nine hours before anyone showed up to fight the fire, a fire that started in the same area as the Camp fire, talk about not learning from your mistakes. Even when crews showed up the response was measured at best to the point of being lackadaisical. And now the fire has burned its all the way through the unpopulated area where it began into populated areas.

Despite having up to 6,000 firefighters devoted to the fire in recent days, the fire has now burned 45 houses and is threatening thousands more. This could have been stopped in the beginning and with far fewer crews, spending far less money if they would have attacked this fire aggressively when it started. This whole business of waiting until a fire gets big to justify sending in crews does not make sense given our current climate reality. Every new fire needs to be approached as if it could turn into the next extremely dangerous fire that is going to burn down whole towns, they need to put these fires completely out while they are still small enough to still do so. It would cost less money, protect forests better, and provide more effective protection of structures, and lives.

Don't get me wrong, my complaints are not with the fire crews out there busting their asses, it's with the higher ups in CalFire and the Forest Service for both long term mismanagement of our forests and a fire management approach that doesn't take into account the unfortunate current reality of climate change or the consequences of climate change on our forests. Climate change is real, there need to be changes made at the administrative level regarding how we respond to fires going forward that take the reality of climate change into account.

PG&E blew up an entire neighborhood less than a mile from where I grew up in Pacifica. San Bruno, I think. Many dead. Passed the costs of that on to its customers as well. They're a menace.

If a nation has any concern whatsoever for stability, then infrastructure has no business being privatized.

After the Camp fire PG&E became an LLC, which protects them from liability, making it even harder to legally hold them responsible for wrongdoing.

Money = horsepower, but LLC's aren't well protected in California and even when you have an out of state LLC to try to dodge accountability, you still have to register in California if your business operates in California, which increases exposure. I might point the finger to CPUC and all of us as a whole for their lack of true accountability.

topcat said:

PG&E are only now considering putting power lines underground. Oh, but it's gonna cost so much and we must think of our shareholders, so the cost will be passed on to the customers. I've escaped the destruction the last 3 years, but it was very close, 15 miles away. I wish you, your family and friends the best, brother. I'm crying.

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They will find a way to make laterite clay burn. Just wait.

Hopefully @doublejj is doing okay with this new one popping up...