Although many fires are started intentionally/unintentionally by people,
what Michael says of his part of Australia is true of large parts of
California as well. Many fires are started by lightning and have been a
part of the ecosystem since before there even were people anywhere, let
alone 'civilized' ones living here. Many plants, including the Giant
Sequoia, depend on fire as part of their reproductive cycle. Their cones
(tiny little things on the biggest trees of all) don't even open and let
the seeds out until heated by fire and the seeds of many other species
require fire to start their germination.. We just had the obligatory
newspaper story on the subject today, larger than usual because of the
SoCal fires.
Those fires are making an serious effort to exceed the destruction of
lives and property of our local '93 fire. I hope for the sakes of those
hwo live there that they don't break the record. We've also had hot East
winds for the last few days, got to about 90F yesterday and a little
less today, very hot for this area. Fortunately, both people and Nature
have been careful so far. The big fire also profoundly affected how our
fire departments prepare for and respond to fires. Now on days like
this, they have trucks hanging out in and patroling the dry hill areas
so they can responding very quickly. Where a reported fire would have
received a small initial response before, initial response is much
larger. They've decided they would rather send equipment back unused
than not have enough in the cruical initital stages.
Moose
Michael and Elizabeth wrote:
Fires have always been part of our landscape. I can remember bad ones, in
the mountains, as far back as the mid 1950's. The big difference now is a
lot more people live in these areas resulting in more personal and human
loss. It is lovely to live with the trees and wildlife but sometimes there
is a big price to pay. These wild fire storms cannot be stopped and a
change in the weather is what brings them under control.
James N. McBride wrote:
One of these fires was started by a lost hunter who was trying to signal his
friends. At least one other was believed to have been arson. /jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "TMLee"
From halfway round the globe, I watched in horror on TV at how the fires
razed many homes. Many many homeowners were terribly devastated.
What started these fires ?
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