California declares emergency as wildfire advances on town

[UnrepentantLiberal]

Source: Reuters

By Mary Slosson
August 22, 2012

RED BLUFF, Calif., Aug 22 (Reuters) -California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in three Northern California counties on Wednesday after a wildfire that has already destroyed 50 buildings advanced with 75-foot flames on a tiny community at the doorstep of a national park.

Firefighters scrambled to head off the so-called Ponderosa Fire, which had already scorched 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares), before it reached the outskirts of Mineral, a community of less than 200 people just south of Lassen National Volcanic Park.

Authorities issued an evacuation warning for Mineral as flames roared 75 feet (23 metres) high on the side of Highway 36, the main route into town, and burned through a rocky canyon where firefighters struggled to make a stand.

Crews also bulldozed a trench to serve as a last line of defense between the fire and the town.

Read more: http://touch.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-71923571/

[tama]

1. Fighting an ecosystem

that is based on annual fires (indian fires).

[UnrepentantLiberal]

2. Yup.

Preventing small forest fires creates dense underbrush that burns very hot.

[tama]

4. Yup

And the indians, who lived as organic part of the California ecosystem - forest garden - used small annual fires to prevent dense underbrush and big fires that burned also trees. Very smart, they had both maximum growth old forest - biggest trees in the world - and 1st succession phase annuals - field and forest - together in perfect coexistance. And the game for their meat enjoyed that ecosystem also very much and were also bountiful.

[joshcryer]

5. Way past the point of no return.

A let it burn policy can't be enacted until all that underbrush is cleared out.

[tama]

6. You can

restart the practice of annual indian fires gradually, adding area year by year. Or give the land back to tribes if that is too difficult.

[lunatica]

3. I read a study that scientists in UC Berkeley on California climate change

They project that there will be longer and longer dry spells and droughts which will cause trees to dry up which in turn will cause massive fires. The woods and forests will be gone.

[allan01]

7. re:California declares emergency as wildfire advances on town

howdi all. first off i live in ca. secon, we are in our classic summer time mode here , ie : clouds on the coast thunderstorms on the sierra crest and very hot in the valleys . also there is a low pressure center stuck in the 4 corrners region supplying monsoonal moisture on the sierra nevda range.crest w buildups evry day . with the low pressure ,stuck in the 4 corners region the low pressure is trying to fill into a high pressure , thus creating hot dry santa anna winds which are a downslope down canyon compressional wind. fires have been known just to spark from that (calles spontanious comustion) it has been very dry since last winter and the fire season has just breally begun. with low fuelstick indicators and low humidity , there you go. @ tama you are correct

[XemaSab]

8. There are a bunch of gnarly fires up here

The Reading fire is burning in the northern half of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The Ponderosa fire is burning up near Shingletown which is between Redding and the northern entrance to LVNP.

There's a big fire burning on the south side of Lake Almanor south of LVNP.

There are fires near Oak Run and Big Bend northeast of Redding.

There's a massive fire up in Lassen County north of Susanville.

I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting.