8 replies to this topic

[dorocks]

For those of you who don't know the most common type of fire we have here in San Diego County here are some pictures of the Valley Fire 2020. Cleveland National Forest is primarily dense brush which burns like crazy when something ignites it, especially in September hot weather. Stupid people. arsonists, utility poles, not climate change, are the main causes of fires here, despite what Governor Newsom says. I talked to to some Fireman today who still watching the area for awhile after the fire is contained and they say we rarely have lightning fires because the lightning here is usually accompanied by heavy rains, and it usually torches trees not brush and can be usually be quenched easier. Yearly backcountry fires have been normal here for my entire life. And I will be 70 soon.

 

https://keithbarnes....n-Diego-County/

 

 

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[PaulT]

A former co-worker of mine that grew up in your general area told me that the vegetation there was “little dead brown bushes”. Those photos would seem to agree. The fires must be short lived but intense.

 

Paul

[ski3pin]

Not little brown bushes, but 4 to 10 foot high impenetrable chaparral if it hasn't burned in generations. In the fall of 1970 I was the last of the kids still living with Mom and Dad and starting junior college. My dad built the house I grew up in in 1953 at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. Nothing had burned in over 100 years, Smokey Bear - although in hindsight misguided - was doing a good job back when citizens paid attention and cared. The Santa Anna Winds blew. The fuel load was massive. The fire started near Devore and spread west with the wind consuming 30,000 acres in a few hours. Mom, Dad, and I loaded items - what you think is important at times like this - and drove down the hill, fleeing. The east wind storm was blowing smoke and burning embers horizontally across the landscape. The galloping wall of flame coming at us was massive. I will not forget that sight or the heat. The wind turned around just as we left. You could barely stand. The fire was so incredibly huge it was sucking air into itself. In an extremely risky move, firefighters backfired at that moment and the fires burned into themselves. It stopped the advance on the southern edge. The rest of the San Gabriels burned west over to near San Antonio Canyon.

 

Our home survived. We were the last house on the end of the road. Now multi million dollar homes dot the steep terrain above where the old house still sits. Property tax revenues are more important than common sense. The causes and issues of the massive wildfires are many and intertwined. It would be a mistake to lay them on any single doorstep.

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Nice story Ski.Yes lots of causes and issues.

Frank

[Vic Harder]

how long does it take for it to grow back?  Up here in the Canadian Rockies, the trees (Lodgepole Pines grow back first) take 30 years to get about 12-25' tall (how fast they grow depends on a lot of things!) but in the first year there will be fireweed and other shrubs that pop up quick.  Indigenous folks used to start fires to encourage new growth and the animals that graze on it.

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Born, raised, and live in SoCal, 65-years “young”. 😂 I’ve seen my fair share of fires, my dad worked many of them as a Red Cross professional. Couldn’t agree more about the “ignition” cause of these fires, so I’ll respectfully tiptoe around any political positions regarding them. Suffice to say, I do believe that climate change has changed the intensity and behavior of these fires. Coupled with the widespread expansion of homes into geographic transition zones, we now see dramatic increases in property destruction. I also agree with the Smokey the Bear analysis, but I think we need to come up with a new, modern education program, especially if newbies continue to access camping areas and forests for the first time. 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Mighty Dodge Ram,nicely said. A lot of truth in your words.

Frank

[ski3pin]

how long does it take for it to grow back? 

Not long for brush - such as chaparral down south. In the King Fire (2014) burn scar (near us), the brush (not chaparral up here) is 4 to 6 feet tall. Give it some sun - burn all the trees off - and it goes to town with growth.

[craig333]

I really noticed that on the 2006 moonlight fire in the Northern Plumas NF. Even roads, the minor ones, are completely grown over with brush. It still looks like a hellscape 14 years later.