[Lynn O. Doughty]

This might not be exactly woodcarving related but every year it seems that California catches on fire. I was setting here reading the posts and here comes another "ALERT" that the Santa Ana winds are again causing the state to catch on fire. I know it's probably a dumb question but don't those people out there know how to clear brush from around their homes? My wife and I rake our leaves and have cleared our property enough to, hopefully, prevent a fire from getting too close to the house, shop or gallery. As this happens on a constant basis out there you would think that after a while someone would catch on and grab a rake and chainsaw and start clearing a little brush.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[woodtrapper]

Lynn, I was born and raised in calif.We use to watch fires from our roof top from a distance.Everyone had sprinklers and hoses on the ready.I have been gone from cal. for a while but if you have never experienced a santa ana wind before it is miserable.A chainsaw is useless against a tumbleweed.I agree that you can take precautions but mother nature does take her coarse.Even Calif. has to expierience bad weather once in a while. I just wanted to say that the fires we saw from the rooftop were some miles away and we were concerned how close they were getting to our own homes.

[Claude]

Lynn:
Not quite that simple...I lived in San Diego area for 30 years as an adult before moving to Virginia - much of the area is built on mesas around the omni-present canyons. The canyons stretch for several hundred feet across and relatively steep angles, and the county(s) won't let you clear the brush (might impact the spotted brush fly, which is endangered...). If fact, if you clear the brush, you end up with mud slides the next time it rains, and your home becomes part of the debris at the bottom of the canyon. A cubic yard of the adobe soil will saturate with a cup or two of water (slight exaggeration, but not much), and then it slides like mud on top of grease! Some people get away with planting iceplant at the tops of the canyons next to their homes, and keeping the brush away, but they can only do that for a few feet, while the bottom of the canyon may be 500 feet below them. When that tinder-dry brush starts on fire, not much short of Noah's flood will put it out, and it just roars up the canyon side. Sometimes a person will stand in his back yard and soak the house/roof with his hose, as long as the water pressure holds...(amazing how much a few fire hoses drop the water pressure. If you notice, many of the homes next to canyons have stucco walls and clay tile roofs - stucco and tile won't burn!! On the other hand, there are a lot of idiots living in $1Million homes with wood siding and shake roofs, right next to a canyon, and they whine about their insurance rates... (best insurance I can think of is an old Navy P250 pump and a swimming pool in the back yard...)

Claude

[Nancy-ID]

Originally Posted by Lynn O. Doughty

This might not be exactly woodcarving related but every year it seems that California catches on fire. I was setting here reading the posts and here comes another "ALERT" that the Santa Ana winds are again causing the state to catch on fire. I know it's probably a dumb question but don't those people out there know how to clear brush from around their homes? My wife and I rake our leaves and have cleared our property enough to, hopefully, prevent a fire from getting too close to the house, shop or gallery. As this happens on a constant basis out there you would think that after a while someone would catch on and grab a rake and chainsaw and start clearing a little brush.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Lynn, I been there done that. Our place (still ours, not sold yet probably because of the fire damage) is right in the middle of the fire area , Sawtooth Complex fire, that happened in July. ou are right, clearing the area is what kept our buildings from going up, along with the fact that my husband got trapped there and fought it. BUT, you would have to experience something like that to get an idea of how fast and how hot those fires get. The biggest problem is that so many of the species of plants there, even some of the weeds, are protected and you will be fined heavily for removing them even from your own property. Joshua Trees go up like gasoline. $10,000 for distrubing them. Much of the stuff ,dead limbs, Yucca stalks etc. you aren't even supposed to pick up off the ground (shame on me . You want "tree huggers" go to CA. Sucks. I'e posted some photos our neighbor took as they were evacuating. Photos 5 & 7 are of their house before and after. They live directly across from our place so after the fire finished with them it came over us, a huge wall of flame and smoke.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Nancy.....You and Claude pretty well confirmed my suspicions. I sincerely hope there are no other woodcarvers living in those areas where a bush or bug is considered more important than a home or a family.

[Kenny_S]

Amen Lynn. Thank you Lord for Common sense here in the heart land!

[AlArchie]

Can't say that I have that much experience living in California, but several years back I did spend about a month or so camped at the Mataguay Scout Camp up near Julian and Warner Springs, north of San Diego. The next year a fire went through that area and pretty well ravaged it. I spent considerable time hiking the mountains around Mataguay, and believe me, I have NEVER encountered brush like that aywhere else I have hiked, and I've hiked an awful lot. I'm 6'2" 230 lbs and the creosote brush and chapparall were way over my head, and so thick that covering 100 yards through it took well over half an hour. There were a few game trails and openings where range cattle had opened paths up, but if they weren't going where you were, it was a brush busting battle. I can't even imagine what a fire in that stuff would be like, or how it would possibly be fought from the ground. There were litterally thousands of acres of the stuff from the foothills into the mountains and lined the canyon and draw walls so thick I couldn't see the sides untill I got within 10 or 15 feet of them.

We have brush and grass fires here in Michigan and they are fairly easily contained and controlled by cutting back the new growth and keeping the residential areas mowed, but that creosote/chapparall is a whole nutter nasty beast!

Al