#thomas fire

[bikerlovertexas]

[laboradorescence]

Southern Californians are a tribe of car people. There are no vibrant public squares. There are very few marketplaces catering to diverse audiences. In other words, the spaces to encounter the other are few and far between. We hop from homogeneous silo to silo.

Jonathan Bastian of the Santa Barbara Independent 

[rjzimmerman]

Investigation Finds Southern California Edison Power Lines Sparked Massive, Deadly Thomas Fire

While power lines often spark individual wildfires, climate change makes the hot, dry conditions that encourage them more widespread.

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to the story that told us that PG&E’s a failure of its electricity transmission lines was responsible for the Camp Fire. What I said then applies equally to this finding that Southern California Edison’s failed transmission lines caused the Thomas Fire in 2017:

Keep in mind that this fire, and most of the recent others in the west, have multiple “causes.” If the PG&E power line had snapped in terrain that was wet and the plants weren’t dried out after years of drought and insect infestation and death, it’s unlikely the resulting fire would have been as fierce and large. If the winds hadn’t been blowing so strongly………if local zoning laws had discouraged building in fire-prone areas……….if only……..etc. The PG&E electric wire was the ignition that lit the fuel. That doesn’t excuse anything, anybody or any corporation. It simply says we can’t see this event, or others, from a narrow, pin-the-blame causation perspective.

Drought + other effects of climate change + human factors = tragedy.

Excerpt from this EcoWatch story about the Thomas fire:

Another California utility has been found responsible for sparking a deadly wildfire, according to the results of an investigation announced Wednesday.

The massive Thomas Fire, which burned through 281,893 acres of Southern California in 2017, was sparked when two Southern California Edison (SCE) power lines slapped together on the night of Dec. 4, 2017, the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) said.

"A high wind event caused the power lines to come into contact with each other, creating an electrical arc," the fire department said in a statement reported by The Los Angeles Times. "The electrical arc deposited hot, burning or molten material onto the ground, in a receptive fuel bed, causing the fire."

The findings come a month after Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), California's largest utility, said its equipment would likely be identified as the cause of 2018's Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history. The utility filed for bankruptcy to protect itself from billions of dollars in liability; in addition to likely igniting the Camp Fire, the utility was found responsible for at least 18 of 21 significant California wildfires in 2017.

SCE is protected from bankruptcy because of a 2018 law that passes liability on to customers. The utility could owe $1.3 billion in insurance claims from direct victims of the fire, as well as $400 million in claims from victims of a massive mudslide near Montecito in January 2018 that was caused when heavy rains struck a hillside stripped of vegetation by the flames. At least 21 people were killed.

[thechembow]

Light Winds From the North-Northwest

Please see today’s post on the wildfires, and see for yourself how they lie about the direction on the winds to make excuses for not extinguishing the fires. We are not experiencing Santa Ana conditions, which are hot winds from the east. Winds are from the north-northwest, and there is a lot of rain over the ocean. By tomorrow morning, there will be precipitation off of the entire coast of California, and temperatures are moderate to cool. They say that these conditions which are not actually happening are the “new normal.” In reality, everything is the same as it ever was, but now they don’t make any effort to stop these fires and let them rage out of control for weeks sometimes, as they did last year with the Thomas Fire in Ventura County.

[joekeerys]

my entire city (ventura) has pretty much gone up in flames and people are in desperate need of help. if you live in the area, evacuation centers (the ventura county fairgrounds, the mission church, oxnard college, rio mesa high school, pacifica high school, and oxnard high school) are looking for volunteers and asking for donations of food and water.

if you don’t live near here or can’t volunteer, donations can be made by on the united way of ventura county’s website, over the phone at 805-485-6288, or by texting UWVC to 41444.

the humane society of ventura county is also looking for donations to help the hundreds of animals that have been misplaced since the fires started. you can bring supplies (alfalfa hay, timothy hay, cat food, rabbit food, flashlights, headlamps, lanterns, water troughs, bottled water, fruit, snacks, hoses, and power generators) directly to the shelter at 402 bryant st. in ojai, or donations can be made on their website. 

things are really bad out here right now and anything helps.

[mypubliclands]

#NotYourOrdinaryJob: Thanking Our Heroes

Story and photos by Justin R. Robbins, Outdoor Recreation Planner for the BLM King Range National Conservation Area

This past holiday season was like no other for me. For two weeks I was asked to serve as a Resource Advisor on the Thomas Fire in Southern California. While on the incident, the Thomas Fire became the largest fire in California history and it proved to be the toughest fire assignment of my career. Seeing and walking along mountain ridge after mountain ridge, once covered in green vegetation and now burned black gave me plenty to think about each day on the fireline. On the final night of my assignment, a chance encounter proved to be the biggest challenge of all and humbled me to my core.

I sat quietly and alone in a restaurant booth. Tired and exhausted from long days on the line I stared straight ahead and sipped hot water. Across from me at another table, the scene was very different. 

At this table, everyone was smiling and laughing. Three generations of the same family had gathered to share food and enjoy each other’s company. I took an immediate liking to all of them.

“What nicknames does your dad call you,” one uncle asked his niece.

“Pookey,” she proclaimed. I smiled as I looked on.

“Go sit with your uncle,” the dad told his young son.

“Uncle David bites,” said the young boy struggling to free himself from his dad’s clutch. I smiled again. This smile caught the eye of grandma. She turned to me and asked if I was enjoying the conversation. I nodded yes.

She followed that question with another. “Are we being too loud?” I shook my head no. 

She began to beam with light as only a grandmother can. She gave thanks for my patience. I looked to them all and began to speak, “I’ve been with firefighters for the last two weeks. I am enjoying your conversation immensely.” They all began thanking me profusely. They said I was a hero and described all the damaged they has seen from the Thomas Fire as they drove up the coast to Santa Barbara. The family kept calling me a hero. I felt embarrassed and unworthy of such attention and so thanked them all for the kind words.

I am not a hero. There were many heroes on this fire and others, and I was not one of them. The real heroes, people who risked their lives in selfless acts of courage to control the largest wildfire in California history, deserve this family’s praise and to be honored by every family affected by the fire. That is not me, not even close. The real heroes deserve real praise.

Please allow me to sing praises to our firefighting men and women. They come from every corner of our country. They each have their own story of sacrifice and courage. They all deserve our praise, our gratitude and our commitment to help them when their time of need comes. It will come. It comes to all of us. Remember their service and be the grateful nation they so deserve.

On behalf of our public lands and on behalf of the American people I thank each firefighter and each person who worked to support firefighters in 2017 and for these eleven days of 2018. Thank you.

Justin also captured firefighters in action not only on the Thomas Fire in Southern California but the Rebel Fire, Horse Creek Complex on the U.S. Forest Service - Willamette National Forest and the Salmon August Complex on the U.S. Forest Service - Klamath National Forest. 

[fresherbrine]

[earthstory]

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WIldfire at night in the mountains over Santa Barbara. This fire is on the verge of being the largest recorded fire in California state history, and there is no rain in the current forecast until after New Year’s Day