So Cal fire question??

[HALLETT BOY]

A couple years ago in Ventura , hundreds of homes burned to the ground ...electric went off and the city generators failed to kick on and power the pumps that supplied up hill water . Just another example of failed govt .

 

[COCA COLA COWBOY]

In Clairemont near San Diego Bay a few weeks ago a guy was running up Gennesee boulevard starting fires about every ten yards. I think much of it is man made now.

In the old days people were too busy working and doing positive things in their life, now there is so much mentally ill that have nothing to do but be upset and cause harm.

 

[Subadvantage]

Did something change that I am unaware of?? Did they used to do some kind of fire prevention they are not doing now?

1. ENVIRONMENTALISTS!! They've forced many changes relative to the way things used to be done such as vegetation/forest management. Number 1 reason!
2. DUMB ASS STATE POLITICIANS. Passing laws in response to pressure from various lobbying groups, no matter whether it made sense or not.
3. ENCROACHMENT. We've moved into areas that are just plain difficult to defend.
4. FIRE FIGHTING. Hate to say it, but changes in OSHA and other fire fighter safety laws keep them from doing what they used to do. Hell, our fire department won't even come near a sewer spill nowadays, but they expect my maintenance staff to, which has much less safety gear than fire.

 

[Subadvantage]

Oh yeah, and fuck those Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Just spent our second round of 35 hours without power. Complete BS!

 

[Gramps]

the three main causes.............

Arson
Lightning
power lines/wind

of course I've only been fighting them since 1970.........still learning

 

[Gramps]

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.

tree huggers won't let you build fire breaks anymore

 

[Dirtbag]

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.

View attachment 810374 View attachment 810375 View attachment 810376

@Bobby V is that off village center?

 

[RitcheyRch]

Looks like they just opened the Northbound 14

 

[throttle]

Some contributing factors RD, a few thoughts...

[emoji843]Previous droughts?
[emoji843]Fuel moisture’s?
[emoji843]Relative humidity?
[emoji843]Temperatures, fuel, topography, wind.
[emoji843]Homes being built in places where fires have burned for years or even centuries, burn scars and patterns don’t change.
[emoji843]New developments love open areas and views of open land. It burns and does not always have enough space to defend it.
[emoji843]Resources are tapped quickly on these types of incidents and it takes time to establish of pool of outside resources for assistance.
[emoji843]human factors [emoji736]


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[Bobby V]

@Bobby V is that off village center?

No. Above the Smart and Final by the soccer fields.

 

[H20 Toie]

Well closing the 14 sure made my commute to Culver city and back sweet today, best commute ever
Wish it was like that all the time

 

[socal0487]

A couple years ago in Ventura , hundreds of homes burned to the ground ...electric went off and the city generators failed to kick on and power the pumps that supplied up hill water . Just another example of failed govt .

There were never any back up generators on the pumps. The city has some towable ones but never made it out

 

[socal0487]

the three main causes.............

Arson
Lightning
power lines/wind

of course I've only been fighting them since 1970.........still learning

so you consider accidental/negligence in what category?

 

[thetub]

as Gramps mentioned , i would say the main cause now would be

power lines/ lightning
accidental via cars, kids
arson
but would add homeless encampments

the last 3 or 4 fires caused near us were from homeless encampments...

news keeps it hush hush though...

 

[Gramps]

as Gramps mentioned , i would say the main cause now would be

power lines/ lightning
accidental via cars, kids
arson
but would add homeless encampments

the last 3 or 4 fires caused near us were from homeless encampments...

news keeps it hush hush though...

I want to say 30% (appx.) to each.........all of the other stupid stuff & accidents in the other 10%

 

[RiverDave]

as Gramps mentioned , i would say the main cause now would be

power lines/ lightning
accidental via cars, kids
arson
but would add homeless encampments

the last 3 or 4 fires caused near us were from homeless encampments...

news keeps it hush hush though...

Every time Havasu burns down by the lake that’s what it is..

 

[TPC]

Current, at this moment Bel Air Fire started at the edge of the 405.
Tossed Cigarette at 1AM no doubt.

I can’t say more because I have to watch more of the politicians introductions on TV.
Garcetti speaking in Spanish is the highlite.

 

[Meaney77]

Current, at this moment Bel Air Fire started at the edge of the 405.
Tossed Cigarette at 1AM no doubt.

I can’t say more because I have to watch more of the politicians introductions on TV.
Garcetti speaking in Spanish is the highlite.

Another Clown

 

[colenighthawk]

If any of you guys are in need of fire and smoke house cleaning give me a call. That's what we do.
Servicemaster
310.719.5025

 

[sintax]

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".

I was just talking about this with my lady, we never remember anything like this. Pretty much like we dont recall any mass shootings. I'm pretty sure these fire are just fabricated events, just like the shootings.

 

[kevin1988]

Fires have always been a thing. They always will. What's different is the way these massive fires were prevented before was by forest management and fire breaks.

Environmentalists are not fans of bulldozers running fire breaks when there is no fire. Nor with clearing out forests. The USFS is severely limited in clearing out federal forests in CA because every time they try to, they get hit with a lawsuit by some environmentalist group. In my Wildland Fire class the instructor basically said it's pointless to try fighting these lawsuits because it will drag out in court for years and by the time you can clear dead vegetation, a fire will have already taken care of it for you.

Camp Pendleton literally launches grenades into the brush. They have massive firebreaks throughout their impact zones. When a fire starts, it's contained quickly because the fire breaks are already constructed.

Also prescribed burns are not as common as they should be. A big reason is air quality. At my college academy, we were lucky enough to do live vegetation burns at Ben Clark. It was slated for Monday. We actually did it Thursday because South Coast Air Quality Management vetoed Mon-Wed due to air quality. The training Captain had to call SCAQM each morning and ask for permission. Come to think of it, same thing happened in my explorer academy with a house that was donated. (Side note, 14 years old, in full bunkers with SCBA, watching fire roll over your head was fucking cool.)

Now as far as it seems like fires happen more often. Take this into account, we now have widespread media coverage and instant sharing of events via social media. 20 years ago, if it wasn't on TV or in the paper, you wouldn't know about it. Unless you knew a person that was impacted by the fire.

Per Calfire's website, they have responded to 5,657 fires totaling 242,465 acres burned so far in 2019. Of those 5,657 fires, only 101 fires burned over 100 acres.

There are a lot of reasons how these fires start, but the reason they get so damn big is there is so much fuel available because it isn't managed properly.

 

[Singleton]

Current, at this moment Bel Air Fire started at the edge of the 405.
Tossed Cigarette at 1AM no doubt.

I can’t say more because I have to watch more of the politicians introductions on TV.
Garcetti speaking in Spanish is the highlite.

Yet the LA mayor stated fire was caused by a down tree branch that caused the power line to arc.
Not sure I believe that, everyone blames the power, watch the CA government approve huge increases in fees in the next year stating power company’s need $$ to maintain lines.

 

[Runs2rch]

Yet the LA mayor stated fire was caused by a down tree branch that caused the power line to arc.
Not sure I believe that, everyone blames the power, watch the CA government approve huge increases in fees in the next year stating power company’s need $$ to maintain lines.

So fucking true. Conditioning all these dumbass people.

 

[Justfishing]

I think most of it has to do with environmental policies. Cant trim vegatation because of animal protection. Reduced logging. Now you have an increase is fuel and more homes.

CA needs to come up with a plan that is not so environmental friendly or deal with the fires and loss of life.

To me it seems massive fires do more harm

 

[Go-Fly]

Instead of fixing the problems and coming up with solutions, I bet California will spend the next ten years admiring the problem and blame everyone down to the mail person.

 

[hallett21]

NBC is showing homeless people coming out of the bush where the fires at


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[HBCraig]

I found out a cool thing the other day. When the planes do their water drops with retardant they put seed in there so the vegetation will grow again

 

[Mike K]

Agreed!

 

[Gelcoater]

 

[Mike K]

Every year I keep thinking ... there has to be a better way to put out the fires. Yes ... it's better not have them start in the first place ... but year after year ... same thing. At what point do we do something totally and drastically different? Maybe it's time to take it out of the government's hands? Whats that definition of insanity ? Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. My Bro in Law lives in Sonoma ... he's been evacuated twice in the past 3 years.

 

[Gramps]

Every year I keep thinking ... there has to be a better way to put out the fires. Yes ... it's better not have them start in the first place ... but year after year ... same thing. At what point do we do something totally and drastically different? Maybe it's time to take it out of the government's hands? Whats that definition of insanity ? Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. My Bro in Law lives in Sonoma ... he's been evacuated twice in the past 3 years.

if you have a better way speak up, don't keep it a secret........from what I see every year is the private fire suppression companies are pretty much a joke

 

[Ultra912]

They used to clear fire breaks under power lines in the San Gabriel mountains when I was a kid. My father was a county fire camp manager and used to take inmates up and keep brush cleared under all the power lines. They used to almost look like roads

 

[EmpirE231]

homeless, arson, utilities etc.

but like mentioned above.... at what point do we get a solution to this? here are two dumb, basic ideas that will help

1. Prisoners... get them out there clearing brush before "fire season"

2. large lots / hills of vacant land anywhere near housing developments.... run some basic PVC lines with rotating sprinkler heads every x amount of feet. If a fire breaks out on this land or anywhere near it....turn on the valve. This will not extinguish a fire completely... but it can help keep it from spreading, maybe knock it down a bit so by the time firefighters show up, it hasn't spread to 200 acres. This can be done in a very basic cost effective way, but if the govt is involved... we all know costs will be 20x.

 

[bentprops]

just compare the fires to the UN agenda 21 map and ill think you will start to understand.

 

[530RL]

A couple years ago in Ventura , hundreds of homes burned to the ground ...electric went off and the city generators failed to kick on and power the pumps that supplied up hill water . Just another example of failed govt .

New developments have to have stand alone backup gas generators to fill water tanks when power is interrupted so that fire apparatus can still work efficiently.

 

[scottchbrite]

homeless, arson, utilities etc.

but like mentioned above.... at what point do we get a solution to this? here are two dumb, basic ideas that will help

1. Prisoners... get them out there clearing brush before "fire season"

2. large lots / hills of vacant land anywhere near housing developments.... run some basic PVC lines with rotating sprinkler heads every x amount of feet. If a fire breaks out on this land or anywhere near it....turn on the valve. This will not extinguish a fire completely... but it can help keep it from spreading, maybe knock it down a bit so by the time firefighters show up, it hasn't spread to 200 acres. This can be done in a very basic cost effective way, but if the govt is involved... we all know costs will be 20x.

Thanks to California’s voting to allow the early release of inmates, there’s a shortage of inmates. I left the camps because of this. My department went from 4-5 crews, to 2. Since their sentences are shorter, There isnt enough time to train them and then get them out to project too.

 

[JayBreww]

Thanks to California’s voting to allow the early release of inmates, there’s a shortage of inmates. I left the camps because of this. My department went from 4-5 crews, to 2. Since their sentences are shorter, There isnt enough time to train them and then get them out to project too.

Who you with?


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[scottchbrite]

San Bernardino County

 

[hallett21]

Spent last night getting a few homes set up on temp power in Moorpark. As of this morning sounds like people are still without electricity.

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[GRADS]

I bought stock in a generator company and it is doing quite well in the last month.

 

[hallett21]

I bought stock in a generator company and it is doing quite well in the last month.

I bet you continue to do well.


I can’t stress enough that people need to get their system set up before there is an emergency.

Usually falls on deaf ears.

Eventually we’re going to have an earthquake, and it’ll make the fires look like a joke. You’ll be going from days without power to possibly weeks.

And if you’re not set up for it. You and 19,000 other people in your neighborhood are going to be fighting over the 6 generators at Home Depot.


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[Mr. C]

Spent last night getting a few homes set up on temp power in Moorpark. As of this morning sounds like people are still without electricity. View attachment 812010


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Are you just helping them set up with extension cords etc.
Or do you do sub panal on the house?
If you are doing a Sub panal what roughly is the cost?

 

[hallett21]

Are you just helping them set up with extension cords etc.
Or do you do sub panal on the house?
If you are doing a Sub panal what roughly is the cost?

We do it to the panel so that people don’t have drag out the fridge etc.

Subpanel with emergency circuits runs $1,500-2,000 depending on conditions.

A lot of times though were able to install a lockout between your main breaker and a generator feed with a generator receptacle. Basically makes it impossible for the generator and utility to feed the main panel at the same time. (This is already done with an emergency sub panel)

This usually cost 50% less than the sub panel. I only do this for family and friends typically. Because you need to be aware of what circuits need to be shut off.

For instance you go outside switch from utility to generator. Then shut down your AC circuit, electric oven, pool sub panel, etc. Otherwise inevitably someone tries to turn the AC and jacuzzi on and the generator breaker trips. And now the whole house is dead.

Now you need to go out side and reset everything




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[GRADS]

I bet you continue to do well.


I can’t stress enough that people need to get their system set up before there is an emergency.

Usually falls on deaf ears.

Eventually we’re going to have an earthquake, and it’ll make the fires look like a joke. You’ll be going from days without power to possibly weeks.

And if you’re not set up for it. You and 19,000 other people in your neighborhood are going to be fighting over the 6 generators at Home Depot.


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Here's the company I invested in and in fact they came out yesterday and said that the demand is incredible and because they are installed generators they are having a tough time finding enough electricians to install them.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dema...rage-in-california-generac-ceo-143507971.html

 

[brgrcru]

We do it to panel so that people don’t have drag out the fridge etc.

Subpanel with emergency circuits runs $1,500-2,000 depending on conditions.

A lot of times though were able to install a lockout between your main breaker and a generator feed with a generator receptacle. Basically makes it impossible for the generator and utility to feed the main panel at the same time. (This is already done with an emergency sub panel)

This usually cost 50% less than the sub panel. I only do this for family and friends typically. Because you need to be aware of what circuits need to be shut off.

For instance you go outside switch from utility to generator. Then shut down your AC circuit, electric oven, pool sub panel, etc. Otherwise inevitably someone tries to turn the AC and jacuzzi on and the generator breaker trips. And now the whole house is dead.

Now you need to go out side and reset everything




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We have exactly done this to our house .

It works great. Just flip the switch on Main line power line.
Start generator . Can't use all your stuff , but keeps fridge on , a few lights .
Plus having the rv at Home , for other things.

 

[EL PROPO]

I was kind of thinking the same thing.

Also the agencies that are in charge of forestry etc. have their hands tied. They are or used to be tasked with removing or clearing areas (preventative) of brush and hill sides from old dead and fallen trees, leaves and brush, are being restricted more and more by environmentalist and that in turn is making fires more aggressive and unpredictable .

 

[hallett21]

While I’m on my soap box. Those of you who are still running incandescent 6” can lights should really look into LED retrofits. Saves a bunch of money on your bill.

But also one 65w incandescent can light = approximately 8-9 LED fixtures with the same light output (depending on fixture).

When you’re on the generator every watt counts.


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[Brobee]

View attachment 812278
I see these getting real popular.

Damn. I can’t get the picture to show up. It’s a meter base with a throw over and generator adapter.


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[77charger]

If they quit warning about high fire danger there probably wont be as many fires.It always seems like when they push the warnings fires break out.Ive seen windy days where nothing is said nothing gets burned.

IMO its like telling pyros its perfect to go out and spark your fire.

 

[Maestro]

Add police chase to the list. Jurupa Valley fire was so close(about two blocks or so ) couple neighbors thought my back yard went up in flames when it started. Apparently guy stole a car and wreck it. Something later cause. A fire to start. the pic is from the top of Laminite about a mile away. Burned over 300 acres of riverbend and a couple homes/structures. The winds were blowing away from my property but I took work off just in case the winds shifted. We had the truck and hauler loaded and ready to bail.
Being disaster Cert Definitely helped to be prepared.