California Fires

[ERD50]

...
I grew up in NorCal and simply do not recall the constant annual carnage of fires that seem to be the norm now. And these towns were always there, so its not like they just built in some dangerous mountainous area. For anyone reading this that questions the affects of climate change, I present ground zero.

"I do not recall" is not data, nor is it scientific in any way.

Climate change may well be part of the problem, but no one should be swayed either way by "I do or do not recall".

I hope to spend some more time on this later, but so far I've ended up down a rabbit hole. It's complicated, so many variables, and the timing of those variables. Seems a wetter spring followed by drier fall may fit an average rainfall pattern, but is worse than average, because the wetter season creates more growth that dries out. Couple that with population shifts, PG&E maintenance issues, regulatory issues, environmentalists protesting tree cutting, and probably some we have not even thought of...

Do you have some data?

-ERD50

 

[rk911]

if only there was a govt program to save us all....!!

 

[MichaelB]

Can we please stop with the snarky comments and name calling? It’s no longer funny, and lots of people are suffering.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

For anyone reading this that questions the affects of climate change, I present ground zero.

I am not arguing that there isn't climate change, but this isn't the lone cause. Much like an aviation disaster, it is rare (never) that a single cause can be attributed to the end result. I think that population increases, lack of tree maintenance, government action (or inaction) are just a very few reasons that it has gotten worse over the last number of years.

Increase the CA electricity price enough to pay for moving the transmission lines underground. Won't stop all the fires but will stop those started by electricity.

Seeing some of the purported costs of *just* clearing the vegetation around the lines, I think this would be very costly.

On the other hand, Georgia Power has been fleecing customers for several years on the Vogel Nuclear plant project that will cost over $25 billion dollars.

The two new reactors were expected to cost a total of about $14 billion when the expansion was approved by the PSC in 2009, but the latest estimates from analysts put the current cost at $27.5 billion.

 

[GrayHare]

I suspect some of the snickering is a turnabout of sorts as for decades much of the rest of the country watched California pursue unsustainable approaches to building, business, and governance. The advocation of those approaches especially via Hollywood, and to a lesser extent tech, long ago grew tiresome for many. Like a bad movie that telegraphs its ending, many of us knew the time to pay the piper would come, and would not be pleasant. Even so, I don't enjoy seeing it happen.