Fires getting worse

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begreen

begreen

Mooderator
Staff member
Nov 18, 2005
104,700
South Puget Sound, WA
Wildfires are getting larger and more out of control. The tragedy in Lahaina is heart-breaking. I don't know if they will ever heal from their losses. High winds, hot temps, and tinder dry conditions are turning areas around the planet into tinderboxes

Up in Canada, a huge wildfire is consuming small town of Hays and heading for the NW capitol of Yellowknife which may be evacuated soon. Alberta has seen a huge area burned this year. Over a million and a half hectares have burned this year there. In Alaska there are several major fires. The Andersen Complex threatens Fairbanks if they lose control.

Locally, we are watching fires eat up wilderness. 52 miles of Hwy 20 across the north Cascades is closed due to two growing fires. That will affect hundreds if not thousands of hikers in the next month or two. The air quality index at Diablo read 1192 yesterday afternoon. To the south, several large fires on the CA/OR border burn away. And the fire season still has some months to go.
 
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Yellowknife is being evacuated as I write this
An unprecedented year for fires with no relief in sight
 
johneh said:
Yellowknife is being evacuated as I write this
An unprecedented year for fires with no relief in sight
Click to expand...
Unbelievable. 20,000 people, the largest city in the region and the capital. How do you do this in a day or two with just one road out? Canada is having the worst fire season in history. More than 230 active fires are threatening other cities and towns in this region.
apnews.com

Residents flee, airlifts begin as wildfire approaches capital of Canada's Northwest Territories

Residents of the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories are fleeing an approaching wildfire in long convoys of cars, while air evacuations are underway for those who cannot leave by road.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
I’m convinced that we have given almost no thought to wild fire protection when we planned cities. We had a controlled burn near by get out of control. Burned 14k acres. I’m not sure our city could even pretend we are prepared to fight a wild fire. I’ve looked at my lot. It’s basically 100’x400’. Rear property line is now defense-able. But with high winds I’m not sure even 100’ is safe. The long leaf pines were harvested for pitch like you might harvest maple sap. But the pitch is flammable. (Really more like rubber).

I remember playing sim earth. I thought the wild fires were excessive but once you built a fire department or two they were usually held in check. I wonder what a current version of that game would be like.
 
One thing that surprises me is that cars for miles are in a very slow moving single lane heading out of town. I am surprised that the police have not set things up to permit both lanes to be used as a one way exit. In all the pictures and videos I have not seen one vehicle in the other lane. The road is wide enough that a third lane could be opened up if needed for an occasional vehicle with police escort.

yellowknife.png

In India, this would have turned into a 4 lane road.
 
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I saw a story on the news implying that, not only was the fire in Lahaina likely caused by previously-admitted deficiencies in their electrical utility equipment, but that the utility actually had some of the roads required for evacuation blocked with equipment, making repairs unrelated to the emergency. NBC Nightly News actually had a short video clip of a traffic jam. people trying unsuccessfully to escape the fire but stuck in a traffic jam, where they panned forward to an electrical utility truck causing said traffic jam.

It's early days, in figuring out what went wrong and who or what is to blame. But based on the little information available so far, it is really starting to appear that some of the management of their electrical utility should be spending the rest of their lives in jail.
 
Ashful said:
I saw a story on the news implying that, not only was the fire in Lahaina likely caused by previously-admitted deficiencies in their electrical utility equipment, but that the utility actually had some of the roads required for evacuation blocked with equipment, making repairs unrelated to the emergency. NBC Nightly News actually had a short video clip of a traffic jam. people trying unsuccessfully to escape the fire but stuck in a traffic jam, where they panned forward to an electrical utility truck causing said traffic jam.

It's early days, in figuring out what went wrong and who or what is to blame. But based on the little information available so far, it is really starting to appear that some of the management of their electrical utility should be spending the rest of their lives in jail.
Click to expand...
This is the Lahaina fire, correct? Yes, the electric utility is definitely on the hot seat. Unfortunately, there was no wild fire evacuation plan in place. Not that this is uncommon. Officials were in a tough spot for decision making and no one anticipated the speed at which the fire spread when fanned with 60+ mph winds. The tsunami alarms were not turn on because of concern that it would drive people into the fire. The power was not turned off due to concerns about medical needs and power for the water system pumps. No one was prepared for the speed at which the fire spread. The bottom line is that we are woefully unprepared for the extreme weather events that are becoming much more common.

The real tragedy is that a lot of the feared missing are kids that were at home while the parents were at work. The community may never recover from this generational loss. There are no words that can express their grief.
 
House values ($1.4 million median home price) and rental costs are high in Maui.
Now predatory investors are trying to buy the land the burned houses sit on. The governor is trying to figure a way to halt land sales in the burned area but it may be impossible legally. Another bad thing is some land may be condemned due to the toxins which will not be known until later.
I also did not realize how frequent forest fires occur in the USA:
August 18, 2023

Fourteen new large fires were reported yesterday, four in California, three in Montana, two in Texas and Alaska, Colorado and Washington each had one. Currently 92 wildfires have burned more than a half million acres in 14 states. Nearly 11,900 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents across the United States.

More than 35,700 wildfires have burned 1,699,381 acres since January 1, 2023. This is below the 10-year average of 38,042 wildfires and 4,523,391 acres burned. Hot and dry conditions will continue in many states over the weekend.

National Fire News | National Interagency Fire Center

www.nifc.gov www.nifc.gov
 
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