Question for those who live in California

[jyoutz]

I see your point… an 8 or 12’ wide line isn’t much.

The grape grower created his break disking under his vines in ever widening circle…

He cleared hundreds of feet disk under when he could do no more…

Sometimes a freeway will stop a fire and others times not.

From my Oakland Hill Firestorm experience it was the combination of low humidity, fuel and unrelenting windstorm.

The windstorm was the wildcard and 3000 homes lost.

Wind is tough and changes the game. But that’s why indirect control lines are built sometimes miles from the fire front. By burning out and holding that line, your effective fuel break can be a half mile to a mile wide. Fires are stopped by black ground and no more fuel to burn.

 

[ultrarunner]

or bodies of water… as was the great fire more than a century ago that only stopped when it burned to the bay.

Which brings me to a random thought…

Wouldn’t the risk of a catastrophic repeat fire be low when all was burned for miles in every direction?

If I was selling insurance it would seem I would want to be in a post fire area… instead of no where near?

 

[jyoutz]

or bodies of water… as was the great fire more than a century ago that only stopped when it burned to the bay.

Which brings me to a random thought…

Wouldn’t the risk of a catastrophic repeat fire be low when all was burned for miles in every direction?

If I was selling insurance it would seem I would want to be in a post fire area… instead of no where near?

It’s true that there will not be a running crown fire for many years after a high severity fire, but these areas can reburn if they regrow to heavy brush. Or even burn as a grass fire, but the severity obviously wouldn’t be as much compared to a high density forest crown fire.

 

[deserteagle71]

There was a report on wild fire tactics and overall negative… that is unless you happen to be one where your home survived.

Here is excerpt

Ingalsbee wrote that dozer lines are ineffective because of today’s landscape of overgrown forests, rampant droughts and extreme weather events. He said they are essentially linear clear-cuts that fragment forest habitats, damage Native American artifacts and create “ghost roads” for illegal off-road vehicles.

The above report may be true in tall forests. It is patently false out here in sagebrush country. Even the BLM has seen the light here in northern Nevada; in many fire-prone areas they are essentially widening bare-earth firebreaks by clearing all vegetation back at least 30 feet on each side of a road. They do this every year now.

"Fragment forest habitats"??? Damage Native American artifacts? I can see where this guy's priorities lie. And a fire sweeping through the area does no damage to forest habitats or native American artifacts?

A simple narrow road stopped this fire from spreading near my house:

 

[jyoutz]

The above report may be true in tall forests. It is patently false out here in sagebrush country. Even the BLM has seen the light here in northern Nevada; in many fire-prone areas they are essentially widening bare-earth firebreaks by clearing all vegetation back at least 30 feet on each side of a road. They do this every year now.

"Fragment forest habitats"??? Damage Native American artifacts? I can see where this guy's priorities lie. And a fire sweeping through the area does no damage to forest habitats or native American artifacts?

A simple narrow road stopped this fire from spreading near my house:
View attachment 858750

Very light fuels are a different thing. However if it were windy, that narrow road wouldn’t stop the fire from spotting across it. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that narrow road held because it was burned out and held by crews. The uniform burn pattern is an indication of being burned out by hand crews.

 

[California]

Here's the volunteer fire break that was controversial - in retrospect - a few miles north of me.

Community Heroes in Cazadero and the Cazadero Dozer Crew

EDITOR’S NOTE: Natasha could not submit her column this month, but I wanted to make sure the rest of our commuity knows who the Caz heroes are who helped keep others from losing their homes to fire - THANK YOU EVERYONE! Donations for the Cazadero Volunteer Fire Dept.

www.sonomacountygazette.com

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ Call me old fashioned but this is what gives me hope for the future.

Almost like hearing President Kennedy famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you but instead what can you do for your country”

Unfortunately this can do spirit seems too often lacking in Urban settings.

 

[ultrarunner]

Mountain Lion attack kills one and injures another... same county where bears notoriously have free reign... and includes Lake Tahoe

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/us/mountain-lion-attack-leaves-one-person-dead-and-another-injured-in-california/index.html

 

[ultrarunner]

Some call it a reckoning regarding homeowner and farm insurance... I call it a fundamental change underway.

Back in 2017 I applied to 7 companies for Homeowner coverage and only 2 provided quotes and the home and myself were excellent prospects except California burns.

State Farm and CSAA quoted me and State Farm was slightly less but I went with CSAA figuring it would be harder for a California based company to leave California...

Spoke with the local State Farm agent and the owner will most likely retire... which seems to be a common theme with the neighborhood mom and pop community based offices.

My Farmers long time friend and agent was forced to retired a few years back... Farmers bought his book of business and he was not happy about it... now, looking back he is glad to be out of it.

 

[DarkBlack]

Why can’t the California overlords simply allow insurance companies to charge a price that allows them to at least offer insurance in that market?
How would having a choice of expensive insurance be worse than no insurance possibilities at all?

Are they too proud of their destructive policies, to if not permanently, at least temporarily remove the restrictions?