Forest fires out West

[John Kasaian]

Have a Plan "B"
With the current heat wave and all the growth from the wet Winter, I'm fearful we're heading into another brutal fire season which might close access to much of the National Forests and Parks in the US.
Cal-fire publicized importing a giant aerial tanker and crew from Australia to bolster the fleet.
My last trip up the hill I was expecting to see cows grazing to keep down the native grasses, but oddly, not much on the hoof to be seen.
Tere was a lot of dozer work cutting fire breaks on fence lines though.
The wild flowers are done around here and the grass is already brown.
We're just waiting for something to go terribly wrong.

[Drew Wiley]

And here we are with Tioga Pass still closed due to snow well into July. They've scheduled control burns in some of that same area which was catastrophically impacted a couple years ago, such as Jose Basin, not because of more dead pines, which were pretty well wiped out, but due to all the lush deep grass which grew up afterwards.
But you've still got big swaths of beetle-killed yellow pine in the Bass Lake area. Much of it up above Mariposa is already wiped out.

A bit inland around here people are finally beginning to wake up. Goat herds and their shepherds are being leased, control burns are going on, fire breaks are being plowed, and urban fire departments are being seriously trained in brush fire control too. Cattle have always been employed in most of our Regional Parks. Our biggest risk is eucalyptus groves (plus serial arsonists - three of them were arrested last week in the south Bay).

[Jim Fitzgerald]

I say "burn them at the stake!" If they catch an arsonist that should be the punishment. I know it is not PC to say this. If we allow arson to keep happening without harsh punishment it will continue.Our forests are way too important.

[John Kasaian]

Right now, smoke from the Pika Fire has closed some trails in Yosemite NP and caused visibility problems in Yosemite Valley.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-pu...ke-information

[Lachlan 717]

Arson is a very dangerous act, and not only for the obvious reason.

FBI profiling pioneer, John Douglas, is very clear on arsonists, especially if their behaviour stems to sexualised offending as well. He puts forward the theory that psychopaths can share three common traits - as children they were bed-wetting, animal-abusing arsonists. He reasons arson is a sexual offence. In the early days of profiling, he had the NYFD video crowds who were found at bin fires.

Good read, but disturbing content…

[Drew Wiley]

Arsonists get in really deep poo-poo if they are caught and convicted. And here in CA at least, to bolster their sentencing time, each incident they light one counts as an additional offense. The guy who lit 30 grass fires in a row the same day, along a single rural road, got indicted and sentenced for each, with the prison time added up - basically a life sentence. Likewise, those who import, make, or distribute illegal fireworks in bulk volumes get serious sentences. But what kinds of spiders weave their cobwebs inside the heads of arsonists is something the Shrinks can discuss, or movies decide (remember Backflash?).

I lived through a couple of big arson incidents, when just one wacko managed to burn a cumulative 450,000 acres in three successive incidents. But back then, they simply locked him up in a nuthouse for the rest of his life. Hot ash was raining down for two weeks; and even though we had an aluminum roof, we'd be outside day and night hosing it with water too. Lots of other families lost everything, and one older couple, their own lives. I don't know if John K. remembers that one, the Deadwood Mtn Fire when Ahwahnee and Nipiniwassee were destroyed - same year as Kennedy was assassinated.

[John Kasaian]

Yup, I remember Deadwood.

[Michael R]

Lots of fire in northern BC and Alberta now.

[domaz]

The Northwest has been pretty clear of smoke and active wildfires so far. Get in your hikes while you can though.

[Greg Y]

388 Wildfires currently in BC..... 240 out of control!
https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map
117 in Alberta but only 5 of note....
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboar...a11939186f3d3a
https://srd.web.alberta.ca/wildfires-of-note