On Wed, 14 May 2014 17:30:42 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 5/14/2014 5:30 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Lew Hodgett wrote:
It is 101F outside my window.

In Carlsbad, a beach front community halfway between
Los Angeles an San Diego and home to wrec members
is in trouble, so hopes that qualifies as on topic.

Serious wind driven brush fires, fueled by Santa Ana winds
(offshore) 20-30 MPH sustained with 45 MPH gusts has
closed both north and south sides of I-5, has set several
structures on fire, and evacuated 11,000 people.

The temperatures (100F) and the winds are making firefighting
efforts very difficult.

Many buildings have had to be left to burn since there has been
no way to fight the fire attacking them.

Lego land has been evacuated.

This one is going to make the 6:00 PM news.


Hey Lew - we jab back and forth, but it's not good to hear of these things.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. You guys gotta be running out
of land to burn with those Santa Ana winds...


Ditto the well wishes Lew. But what planning has gone wrong that these
natural disasters are becoming such a danger?

Mother Nature uses fire to cleanse and renew forest land when there
are no humans to mess things up. Said pesky humans want to live
in/near the forest but don't want the work of clearing brush, etc and
heaven help anyone who suggests that they've built in a potentially
dangerous place.

Eventually, the scrub will be thick enough and dry enough that almost
anything can light a major fire. The winds that are pushing this one
come on a regular basis, so having them to help the fire isn't news -
except to those who never pay attention to anything but sports and
fashion.

Also remember that there's a shortage of water out that way and that
the number of fire hydrants in most wooded areas is few to none -
mostly none because it would cost too much to run the lines and those
pesky humans would complain about the pristine forest land being dug
up to install water mains.

I like the shade our trees provide, but I move several times my body
weight in leaves each year to keep from having a knee-deep fire
hazard. If you want to play, you gotta pay...