Trump threatens California with no federal aid for wildfires

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Only 3% of California forests are state-owned, and Malibu is not a forest.
Trump is absolutely full of s**t.

That's propaganda.

The state owns most forestry areas in California.

Excluding some exceptions, when you buy a home, you NEVER own the land the home is on, but rather get private use of that land, however, ownership of the land ALWAYS stays with the local, state governments.

That's how government entities can pass property taxes, regulations, evict you, and reclaim their land if you don't keep grass cut/ice shoveled and/or don't pay them.

So, if the state wants to implement best practice fire prevention on "private lands" they can.

CNN's meteorologist Tom Sater disputes LNH's and Trump's notions that the current fires are caused by poor forest management:

https://earther.gizmodo.com/cnn-meteoro ... 377986/amp

If I recall what I've read correctly, the Camp Fire is primarily a grass fire, not a forest fire.

As our valued member Raleigh could no doubt confirm, Australia has been experiencing terrible wildfires on a scale never known before, at an increasing ferocity and rate, with terrible loss of life, animals, livelihood, homes, everything. It is not just California that is experiencing this phenomenon, nor is it in (sadly) the USA that such dire tragedies are politicised, though most people in Australia recognise that the danger has increased due to climate change, not trees and the calculated scapegoating for political manipulation is spine chilling. Soul chilling. The indifference to the human loss stuns me.

The increasing dryness is a core hazard for Australians affected by it:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... to-no-rain

I agree with Fnord: blame is not a solution; it's a useful blindfold for some though.

I think something worth mentioning here is the reason that forest fires are so devastating when they occur, and that's what is known as the "Smokey Bear Effect." Since the inception of the National Forest Service over a century ago, there has been a no fire policy. What happens when we stop naturally occurring fires from doing their beneficial job? You get a buildup of dead wood on the forest floor, which ain't good. The devastating fire that hit the Smokies two years ago was a long time in coming. Before the establishment of the GSMNP over 80 years ago, fires normally occurred every seven to ten years, burning mostly below the tree canopy. I know, we can't be allowing fires in and around habituated areas, right? Probably not. But when we go against the natural order, there's a price to be paid. Nature has no sympathy for humans.

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have our wildfire season, too, same as California. I wouldn't put it past Trump to threaten to withdraw our federal fire funds in the future.

Most of the fires in California are NOT in conifer forests but in hilly, semi desert regions covered in dense brush and chapparel.





Every year, at the end of a hot, dry summer, many regions of the state experience Santa Ana winds, or Diablo winds. These are strong, dry, often hot winds. The wind, combined with the very low humidity increase the likelihood of sparks from static electricity, and fans flames of fires that do start in the dry vegetation. While some fires are undoubtedly started by arsons, the past few major fires were started unintentionally by human activity/services.

As the population of California grows, more housing is being built into the hills and canyons, bringing with them construction and electricity, making the odds of a fire from electrical sparks more likely.

In conifer regions, once fires start in Diablo wind conditions, it does not matter if there are 200 trees per acre or 40 trees per acre because the force of the wind creates a fire storm.

That being said, Trump is trying to exploit a tragedy for political gain by appealing his voter base in the north eastern part of the state informally referred to as "Jefferson" by some of the residents there, who want to increase logging in the local forests because the region has little in the way of industry and jobs. The problem is, logging is not a sustainable industry for the region, and residents there know it.


In any case, most fires in California are not in forests and do not involve conifers.



Shame on him for positioning himself as an adversary to those he is supposed to serve. His mentality is treasonous.

Well said.

Well, Trump can say California isn't properly preventing fires of sage brush (sarcasm).

ICE has been diverting funds from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to pay for detaining more and more immigrants:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-is-im ... 000-people

the modern-day Pharisees and their acolytes still are straining at gnats but swallowing camels.

Well said my friend.

thank you good buddy or as a famous troubadour sang, "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

! !!

Scientists: Wind, Drought Worsen Fires, Not Bad Management

And the water from the mountains is not diverted from the rivers due to environmental laws. The rivers naturally run in to the ocean and the water that is diverted is diverted for human use. California environmental laws prevent water from being diverted from it's natural course.

The title is dumb.

Obviously, bad management in anything worsens a situation.

After months of Trump complaining, California just passed 1 billion dollar fire fighting bill that eases up on environmental laws. Are these scientists trying to say this won't help? That fire experts are dumb, and don't know how to prevent fires? Or that 1 Billion dollars won't produce better fire prevention management? If so, then that's a slam on California for being reckless with tax money, and/or that they have inept people working for them

California has a plan
-1 billion dollar state fire fighting bill passed in September 2018
-relax logging rules on private land statewide to make thinning forests easier
-allow trees up to 30 inches in diameter to be cut without landowners obtaining a state timber harvest permit — up from 26 inches now
-allow logging roads up to 600 feet long to be built on private land without a permit
-greenhouse gas reduction fund
-reduce the amount of flammable material in forests by thinning out brush and dead wood

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/31/ ... fire-risk/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/12/califor ... ilout.html