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So Cal fire question??

RiverDave

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I spent 3:4 of my life in So Cal and I remember there being fired once a year but that would be from Santa Barbara to San Diego kinda deal. Hell there were some years where there might not have been any fires at all? (That I remember anyways)

Seems like now it isn’t if there’s going to be a fire this year type of question.. but rather how many, how bad etc every time there’s any kind of hot weather / Santa Ana winds or ???

Did something change that I am unaware of?? Did they used to do some kind of fire prevention they are not doing now? Are people just more careless and that’s what is lighting these things off 3-4 a week in these conditions?

Or is it (very real possibility) I am just paying more attention to them now because I have friends that live in these neighborhoods?

RD
 

shintoooo

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I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".
 

monkeyswrench

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Tree Hugger.......Climate Change
Libs.....................Trump
Homeowners......Homeless
Homeless............Illegal Aliens
Illegals................."no habla"

Me personally, too many people that are careless. More houses being built and landscaped in areas that haven't been built up previously.
 

RitcheyRch

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My wife and I think the same thing.

I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".
 

Go-Fly

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I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".
Here's the answer. Almost all fires around the country are human caused. We have some sick people living among us. Like I said in another thread, they think this is OK.
 

Mr. C

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We used to also have brush /forest clearing etc to help prevent the massive fires you see now.
a certain group of people help kill those programs from what i can tell.
And now you get many more bigger fires.

The winds were always here, the dry weather was always here. etc.

And i agree with shintooo, I think you have more who are starting them these days.

But in reality, it's all SCE and PG&E faults:rolleyes::rolleyes::D sarcasm, relax everyone
 

RCDave

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Poor management of electrical grid. Sanctuary cities. Mentally insane people. The media pushing the insane to start fires.

All combined to cause higher number of fires.

However these weather conditions have been unchanged over many many centuries. Global warming may be blamed by the politicians but that is total BS
 

hallett21

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From 1994 to 2012 we lived in Malibu at the top of Las Flores canyon. (Schueren, Piuma, Rambla Pacifico intersection).

My dad had us equipped with a 10,000 gallon water tank tied to a well, fire pump for pool, hydrants around the property and 1,000 ft of fire hose.

I rolled it all out one time for the 08/09 fire in Malibu that burned up Malibu Presbyterian Church.

We were always on alert but I wanna say the major Malibu fires were 93, 95, 03? 05? 08 and this past fire 2018.

I’m convinced today’s fires are the car chases of the 90s for the media.

I just grew up with fires being a reality so when one lights off I just start checking fuel levels, chain saws, pumps and get ready.

I think there are a lot of people living in fire country that are 100% not prepared or are ignorant of the dangers.

The only reason my moms and in laws houses survived last years fire is because we rolled out our own hoses and fought back. That and the 5-6 neighbors that stayed back. We went yard to yard as a group taking care of each others homes.

You can’t expect the fire dept to handle every Inch of a fire when it’s just ripping through the canyons.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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welldigger00

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There’s been radical fires up in the San Bernardino mounts during sant Anna’s since I can remember. I’ve seen this mountain burn over many times. About every ten years or so. My folks ranch has burned over three times now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

rivrrts429

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Homeless people and a small fraction will be the result of an aging infrastructure within the utility companies.

When utility companies prefer to pay dividends rather than invest that money back into their maintenance programs it’s an inevitable dance with the devil. If not addressed now it needs to be a primary focus moving forward.

Overall I think you’ll find that the homeless epidemic and our coddling of these folks is going to far outweigh the risk of fires in the future than Edison or PG&E though.
 

TPC

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The Fires are the old normal.
Nothing’s changed except more homes are in harms way. Lots more.

Newsome showed up the last fire and tried to politicize it calling it the Climate Change new normal and quickly got shouted down.

Look up the Bouquet Canyon fire burned all the way to waters edge in Malibu.
Not unusual its just how strong and long the winds blow, what direction, humidity, temperature.
Nothing’s changed, it the old normal except more structures in the way.
 

Rvrluvr

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15 minutes of fame is the cause of most fires nowadays IMHO
 

bowtiejunkie

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I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".

It sucks to even consider this, but I'm starting to lean this way myself. But, I also think it's a combination of many things: Increased dead wood on the ground and lack of letting natural fires (from lightening) burn, both due to what is now regarded as forestry mismanagement thanks in part to environmentalists. Dead trees, more homes in forests or high risk areas (leading to man snuffing out natural fires), power lines that should have never been run in areas, but power company forced to by the state. Power companies not maintaining the equipment. Lawmakers pointing the finger at everyone, but themselves. Then you have sick people starting fires and the ever present careless ones who don't know how to extinguish a camp fire or flick cigarette butts into dry grass along the road.
 

Danger Dave

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I remember there always being fires as a kid in San Diego. Seemed like Cowles Mountain would burn every couple years when I was a kid.
 

TPC

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The Calif Nat Guard used to have C125s fitted to fight the fires. They hammered the fires.
Quietly one year legislation was passed to cut that off.

Word was the fix was in by the aircraft MFGs in an attempt to get new specialized aircraft sold instead.
Most guilty was Bell Helicopters and Lockheed.

Used to watch Capt Max Schumacher and Larry Sheer in the 1950’s cover the fires for KTLA in the Ch 5 telecopter.
 

H20 Toie

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We used to also have brush /forest clearing etc to help prevent the massive fires you see now.
a certain group of people help kill those programs from what i can tell.
And now you get many more bigger fires.

The winds were always here, the dry weather was always here. etc.

And i agree with shintooo, I think you have more who are starting them these days.

But in reality, it's all SCE and PG&E faults:rolleyes::rolleyes::D sarcasm, relax everyone
As with a lot of things in California mismanagement has a lot to do with it. add the idiots that stopped the controlled burns that use to happen.
Now we also have way more homes up in the mountains that make fighting fires a lot more diffulct, when i was a kid these same fires happened but just burned open area,
I remember in 1970 a big fire went thru Malibu canyon and destroyed a couple of homes and burnt right up to the back of our house. if that same fire happened today it would take out 100s of houses
 

WhatExit?

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Imagine if you're "into fire" - you set a fire on a very windy day - of course you've picked what you think is a good spot with lots of combustible material and plenty of acreage for it to spread - and you hang around in the area to watch the response and "your fire" spread. You can even go home and watch it on multiple TV channels.

Hell, they've even been notified by the media as to what day will be best to start "their fire." THIS is what we're dealing with. People who can't produce anything but they can set a fire and they're into all the "excitement" about what they've "created." It's their "accomplishment" and they can be proud of what they've "made" - it's a guy thing too. Women would likely never do this.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".

3 factors are causing them:

1 Legitimate accidents and crazy arsonists (same as it ever was)

2 Homeless - way more of them now in remote areas

3 Housing costs driving people further into remote areas to live and the for profit monopoly utility companies not monitoring their equipment properly.

That is it.
 
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RCDave

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As with a lot of things in California mismanagement has a lot to do with it. add the idiots that stopped the controlled burns that use to happen.
Now we also have way more homes up in the mountains that make fighting fires a lot more diffulct, when i was a kid these same fires happened but just burned open area,
I remember in 1970 a big fire went thru Malibu canyon and destroyed a couple of homes and burnt right up to the back of our house. if that same fire happened today it would take out 100s of houses

That was the Clampet fire. It burned from aqua Dulce to Malibu in 2 days
 
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MSum661

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The Fires are the old normal.
Nothing’s changed except more homes are in harms way. Lots more.

Newsome showed up the last fire and tried to politicize it calling it the Climate Change new normal and quickly got shouted down.

Look up the Bouquet Canyon fire burned all the way to waters edge in Malibu.
Not unusual its just how strong and long the winds blow, what direction, humidity, temperature.
Nothing’s changed, it the old normal except more structures in the way.

Exactly.
The Santa Clarita area has burned over and over again like this for decades.
Its a perpetual cycle of a low lying fast burning fuel, rain, re-growth of sage, grasses, etc.......then burn again.
Repeat process.

The other issue is water.
A lot of those water wells in that area went dry years ago and a lot of people are reliant on trucked in delivered water for water.
A home burned to the ground last night directly across the road from the home my wife grew up in. Horse Ranch area on acreage in the Baker Canyon area. Some of the access roads going in and out of some of those canyons have horrible egress.
Put poor egress, horses and livestock, evacuations and it spells bigtime problems with flames in your backyard.
 

hallett21

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Topanga cyn is what I have my eye on.

There is so much fuel in there. When it finally goes I doubt they can stop it. Plus other than a few off shoots there is only one 2 lane rd in and out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bobby V

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This was my neighbors house that got burned in the YL fire about 10 years ago. Started by a bad catalytic converter on the 91 freeway. Most of the homes in the hills that burned down was built in the 90's or later. If there wasn't any homes, it would have just been a smaller grass fire contained quicker. Was very windy that day. Just like today.

Yorba Linda Fire 11-15-08 004.jpg
Yorba Linda Fire 11-15-08 002.jpg
Yorba Linda Fire 11-15-08 007.jpg
 

LowRiver2

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Good article on public utilities and Dept. of Forestry. It's a combination of both industries and their leaderships that are large parts of the current mess. The fact the city of Paradise voted on a single lane road into town for "small town looks" vs safety for evacuation isn't just that city. Hard for a city guy like me to understand "looks" over safety, but that is what happened there and is a systemic problem. Can't point fingers at an issue when people voted on it lol.

http://www.ocregister.com/pge-and-californias-state-gop-john-phillips
 

LowRiver2

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Exactly.
The Santa Clarita area has burned over and over again like this for decades.
Its a perpetual cycle of a low lying fast burning fuel, rain, re-growth of sage, grasses, etc.......then burn again.
Repeat process.

The other issue is water.
A lot of those water wells in that area went dry years ago and a lot of people are reliant on trucked in delivered water for water.
A home burned to the ground last night directly across the road from the home my wife grew up in. Horse Ranch area on acreage in the Baker Canyon area. Some of the access roads going in and out of some of those canyons have horrible egress.
Put poor egress, horses and livestock, evacuations and it spells bigtime problems with flames in your backyard.

Half of LA city first responders live up there. I call it the sand box: blistering hot summers, cold winters, and 0 water in little canyons. I have no idea how the Tejon Ranch project will make this situation better with a couple thousand more homes.
 

2Driver

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Fires, tornados, hurricanes, etc.... back in the day there wasn’t national coverage 24/7 of every rain storm not to mention social media LOL where most news gets their news today.

If it happened back then and it wasn’t in your area chances are you didnt know it ever took place.
 

brgrcru

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I grew up in the foothills of the san Gabriel's , still live in the foothills .
Fires have been around , these hills, my entire life .

Nothing you can do.
Make sure you have a defendable space. We get a notice ever year , to clear your brush 200'. From property line . 90% of the time it works .
Most new developments , the contractor must have this in there plans.
We also have a gas powered pump for our pool , with a fire hose .
 

zbudman

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I worked for Santa Barbara Sheriff since 1977. There have ALWAYS been fires here.
 

RCDave

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Topanga cyn is what I have my eye on.

There is so much fuel in there. When it finally goes I doubt they can stop it. Plus other than a few off shoots there is only one 2 lane rd in and out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Its a miracle it hasnt gone up in the last decade.
 

DaveC

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I live in NorCal and have boated in Napa and Solano counties for 30 years. There is a fire in Solano county right now.

These are the counties that had large fires up here the past couple years. They are mostly rural, agricultural land with rolling hills, trees, valleys with vineyards everywhere.

Years ago it was very sparsely populated, just those that lived near towns or on the various farms or ranches.

What has changed over the years is these areas are vastly more developed with housing now than they were 30 years ago

Now people have moved in and built these rural “estates” everywhere. It seems every hill top is occupied now with pimp ass house. Everyone wants a big rancher house on a hill top surrounded by vineyards. Houses everywhere surround by trees and vegetation. They don’t stand a chance in a fire

Now fire insurance has become a problem. My buddy bought in Napa and had to call 25 insurance companies before he got a yes. Some insurance companies will not provide homeowners coverage at any price for these areas. We have been looking at insurance for a place in the foothills and it’s outrageous if you can find it at all

My $.02
 
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brgrcru

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I also think now with the fixed wing and helicopter drops , they make a huge impact ,
Years ago we didn't have , what they have now . I think those pilots make a 100% difference . On saving homes .
Some of these catch basins , just in the LA basin like Hansen Dam , Santa Fe dam , suplveda basin , should have a good amount of water stored, through the fire season . To make turn arounds that much faster .
 

LowRiver2

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I grew up in the foothills of the san Gabriel's , still live in the foothills .
Fires have been around , these hills, my entire life .

Nothing you can do.
Make sure you have a defendable space. We get a notice ever year , to clear your brush 200'. From property line . 90% of the time it works .
Most new developments , the contractor must have this in there plans.
We also have a gas powered pump for our pool , with a fire hose .

100% same in La Habra Heights : 200’ clearance
May 1st every year the city starts citing property owners out of compliance
They bring in crew and charge those who don’t comply in 30 days

Pretty ridiculous as 80% of property owners in LHH are getting paid a couple hundred bucks a month by matrix oil
For lines running under their property.
 

westair

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Calif has gone from 20 to 40 million people since the 80's ….. fires a result of over population. Nothing has gotten better here
 

PDQH2O

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As with a lot of things in California mismanagement has a lot to do with it. add the idiots that stopped the controlled burns that use to happen.
Now we also have way more homes up in the mountains that make fighting fires a lot more diffulct, when i was a kid these same fires happened but just burned open area,
I remember in 1970 a big fire went thru Malibu canyon and destroyed a couple of homes and burnt right up to the back of our house. if that same fire happened today it would take out 100s of houses

THIS.
 

C-2

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As mentioned too, the way we share info thru social media and the news is also likely to blame.

People are people, right? Their medical or psych issues have existed since the time man has existed. People have always been sick, depressed, killed themselves, or murdered others.

Suddenly though, we have an onslaught of child suicide, a transgender explosion, everybody has some type of medical condition that limits their work abilities, I'm reading about PTSD after playing high school football, and the mass shootings.

Plus, big ass fires during what would otherwise be known as the windy season. Heck, our in-laws from New Zealand asked us how we survived "the winds."

Everything is a spectacle these days, it's a wind "event," it's an "active shooter," "see something, say something."

I think I'll go throw myself off a bridge now lol. :eek:
 

BTR

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Like many said, it’s houses built in bad areas. When I was a kid, they did not even fight fires. They’d just let them burn themselves out clearing the brush for the next 30 years of growth then repeat. You are not going to beat Mother Nature, simple as that.
 

TPC

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All the TV stations split the cost of a helicopter. Foreign language stations too.
It ain’t cheap.
Used to just be Ch 5 for decades then Ch 4 (remember Francis Gary Powers) got one then they all wanted in.
A Long Ranger seats up to 7. A seat for every ass.
Like someone said it’s the new car chase.
 

Bigbore500r

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I was talking to my wife about the same thing last night. Santa Ana winds have been in existence for a long time. I don't remember this many fires in the 90's or even in the last decade. I hate to say it but I think they are lighting the fires on purpose to support their claims for "global warming".
It has to be arson. This shit never happened on this scale. It doesn't help that the media pumps up every forecasted windy day with "FIREWATCH 2019" and "POTENTIAL WIND EVENT" or "RED FLAG CONDITIONS COMING". Sicko's feed of that shit.
 

riverroyal

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I watched the LA fires last night, bad deal.

This morning at 4am Mrs RR's cell was blowing up with a neighborhood alert. There was fire near us, about a mile. A transformer blew up. Cal State san Marcos and few other schools are closed in the area. Fire is out. Windy as fuck at 4am. Nice timing for transformer to let go. Also, the transformer had NO space around it burn on its own.
 

riverroyal

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and to answer your question, its global warming, duh
 

Singleton

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It has to be arson. This shit never happened on this scale. It doesn't help that the media pumps up every forecasted windy day with "FIREWATCH 2019" and "POTENTIAL WIND EVENT" or "RED FLAG CONDITIONS COMING". Sicko's feed of that shit.

Combo IMO.
Arson and aging power grids in areas not being maintained.
The family cabin in WI has power lines running in the back 40. Twice a year the power company comes in and cuts what they want to clear the lines. Leaves a huge mess that we clean up. In addition every 5-7 years we go in and maintain the area, so it does not get overgrown. Since it is private property we have ability to do that. We back up to WI state land, state no longer maintains that area (overgrown PIA forest that is not healthy).

Big issue IMO, is we are not maintaining wildlife areas like we used to. They get overgrown and once dried out; look out whatever starts the fire (humans most of the time), the fire will burn and burn good.
 

81eliminator

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We used to also have brush /forest clearing etc to help prevent the massive fires you see now.
a certain group of people help kill those programs from what i can tell.
And now you get many more bigger fires.

The winds were always here, the dry weather was always here. etc.

And i agree with shintooo, I think you have more who are starting them these days.

But in reality, it's all SCE and PG&E faults:rolleyes::rolleyes::D sarcasm, relax everyone
Every ridge in the local mountains used to have a fire break cleared. Now they are over grown. no money spent to maintain them. Also used to have a ranger station every few miles, All closed, if you see something going on and try to report it, a ranger has to come from miles away and it's too late.
 

stephenkatsea

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Much larger population means much more arsonists and pyros, also more houses, larger electric grid. The grid is very poorly managed. Very little put back into it for maintenance and repair. Private electric companies such as PG&E, SoCal Edison etc will go BK due to well deserved law suits. Then the CA State Government will take it over. Now that will be one giant shit show.
 

RiverDave

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Fires, tornados, hurricanes, etc.... back in the day there wasn’t national coverage 24/7 of every rain storm not to mention social media LOL where most news gets their news today.

If it happened back then and it wasn’t in your area chances are you didnt know it ever took place.

I was kind of thinking the same thing.
 

spectras only

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Our small community of Heritage Hills, part of Okanagan Falls, were invited to a fire awareness and preparedness meeting last night. Presenters were Bruce Blackwell from Vancouver and a RDOS [ regional district representative ] official. Bruce has been involved in forestry and fires. He had some eye opening observations for us. My house has stucco finish and a new shingle roof, that's better than lot of homes with wood and vinyl sidings and cedar shake roofs.My front and back yards has xeriscape, but, having quite lot of Juniper bushes that I didn't know, is full of sap and oil to fuel a fire:eek:. He pointed out that those type of shrubbery should be 10meters [ 30 feet ] from a house.Biggest concern with fires is wind obviously, carrying embers far away. 15 mph wind can carry embers 2-3 miles, increasing further with wind getting stronger. It can, affect homes and property far from fires.I'm going to have to check all the vents too if have screens, that's PIA now. Should have asked the roofers about it two years ago.:oops: One other thing came up, maintenance of fire hydrants. When was the last time you saw firemen testing the valves [ we have a private company that provides water pumped from our lake to the hill, into 3 reservoir tanks that gravity feeds our water needs. Still, once the tanks run dry in case of fire fighting, we're at the mercy of the water pumps below at the lake. Even in Vancouver where he lives, he admitted that, water pumped up high in North Vancouver, they can run out of water if sustaining winds keep fueling the fire. So, to sum it up, living in foot hills is a concern for many. He showed a map, dating back 1920, number of fires, large % started by humans.
http://www.treefrogcreative.ca/where-theres-fire-theres-bruce-blackwell/
https://www.bablackwell.com/associates/
 
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