Tom Sito:
The thing to remember about the LA fires is this is not new. Prairie scrub and underbrush have been drying out and burning since the Ice Age. The pioneers used to call them prairie fires. The strong dry autumnal winds similar to the Sirocco or Mistral was named Santa Anna Winds in the 1880s. In 1946 Raymond Chandler wrote a story set during one of these called Red Wind. Joan Didion wrote about them also.
The difference this time is Climate Change. We had two wet years which grew a lot of wild scrub followed by the driest year on record. With climate change the winds are much stronger than normal, almost hurricane force. Whether this fire storm is just a one time thing or represents a new normal remains to be seen.
Wow! To think it's FaceBook that is needed to set so many people straight on the facts of life. I remember learning why The Blue Hills outside of Boston are named "The Blue Hills." It was first thought by English colonists that it was haze from fires. Smoke. Why? Many areas in the "New World" were forested and nature deals with it all with fire.
Fires are part of nature. No preventing them all.
quotes
L.A. Was Prepared for Serious Fires. But It Wasn’t Ready for Four.
“There were too many houses to protect, and not enough engines,” one fire captain in Los Angeles said. Though fire officials say they were well-prepared and simply overwhelmed by the elements, questions are being raised about whether the intensity of modern fires requires a new playbook.
“There were too many houses to protect, and not enough engines,” one fire captain in Los Angeles said. Though fire officials say they were well-prepared and simply overwhelmed by the elements, questions are being raised about whether the intensity of modern fires requires a new playbook.
www.nytimes.com
The alert came in blaring, hot-pink, all-caps: Be prepared for a “LIFE THREATENING & DESTRUCTIVE WINDSTORM!!!”
The notice on Monday was one in a series of warnings issued by the National Weather Service about the powerful Santa Ana winds that were about to blow through Southern California, which hadn’t seen serious rain in months.
Officials in Los Angeles, a city that is accustomed to treacherous fire conditions, turned to a well-worn playbook. The city predeployed nine trucks in vulnerable areas and called in 90 extra firefighters. The county fire department moved 30 extra engines into the field and called up 100 off-duty firefighters. The U.S. Forest Service brought in trucks and support units, as well as bulldozers, helicopters and planes.
But by Tuesday afternoon, five hours after a fire ignited high in a canyon in the oceanside Pacific Palisades neighborhood, it was clear their preparations would not be enough. As furious wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour tore through the city and propelled showers of embers that ignited entire neighborhoods, Anthony Marrone, the chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, stood at a command post on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
