California Burning
The single most destructive wildfire in LA history is now burning uncontained. Fierce Santa Ana winds, sometimes at 100 mph, are fueling multiple fires around LA. Thousands have already evacuated their homes, some running for their lives. At least 5 people are confirmed dead so far. Others have suffered significant injuries. The fires have destroyed entire neighborhoods of every socioeconomic class, from the scenic West Coast to the suburbs. Water hydrants have run dry.
The causes of all of this devastation are a direct result of woke policies. It seems that the priority has been to hire DEI candidates to the LA fire department, sending firefighting equipment to Ukraine, keeping the homeless safe, protecting fish, and adopting green policies which diverted valuable fresh water out to the Pacific Ocean. In January 2022, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Kristin Crowley as fire chief, simply to make her the first female, LGBT chief in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass slashed the LAFD budget by $17.6 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year. She was busy attending a presidential inauguration in Ghana, of all places, when the fires began. She flew back and refused to answer questions on the fires. Another problem has been the homeless encampments where homeless people start small fires in the early morning hours to keep warm. in 2018, ABC LA reported that there was an average of seven fires a day at encampments in Los Angeles. In 2021, that number recently jumped to 25 fires a day. It was only 4 months ago that Donald Trump warned of this happening on the Joe Rogan show.
Outgoing president Joe Biden, who had little time for recent disasters, cancelled a trip to Italy to fly straight out to California. He appeared alongside Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, at a fire station in Santa Monica. “ We’re prepared to do anything and everything, as long as it takes, to contain these fires and help reconstruct, make sure we get back to normal,” Biden said. The White House said it had arranged for Navy helicopters to join the firefighting effort. The next question will be how much the cost will be. Congress recently replenished FEMA's funds. More money will almost certainly be required for the ongoing disaster.
In other news:
Trump meets with GOP Senators to plan the advancement of the MAGA agenda.
Jimmy Carter's state funeral will take place today bringing together all five living presidents. Biden will give a eulogy.
The Israeli military found the body of a hostage in Gaza.
Russia bombed the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine.
The Chinese government is separating Tibetan children from their families and placing them in camps where they are indoctrinated in loyalty to Beijing.
The dockworkers’ union on the East and Gulf coasts reached a deal with their employers.
The Biden-Harris administration will issue millions of dollars in refunds to illegal migrants who applied for an amnesty program that was struck down in court.
Lawyers for President elect Trump have asked the Supreme Court to block the bogus New York trial sentencing.
Good morning.
The house in Albuquerque that played Walter White's house on "Breaking Bad" is on sale for $4 million.
In keeping with the fact that there can be two sides to a story, and that stories that demonize the Chinese government may be deliberately misleading, it being part of the campaign to contain China:
LINK -> Boarding schools ensure fairer education in Tibet - West China - CQNEWS_English
I imagine that will happen faster than it has for western NC and eastern TN.
I think we can all agree that Joe Biden never was president for all Americans.
I think we can agree that Biden was only a PINO.
Never a leader, nor much of a man either.
Fifty years of mooching off the American taxpayer and every single one of those years a failure.
To America he was beyond a failure, but to Obama he may have been the answer to a prayer. I don't know how many recall it but during an interview with Stephen Colbert, Obama was asked if he would like one more term (a third term.) Obama, who seemed to be joking, said he'd like to deliver lines to a stand-in who would be wearing an earpiece. Was he joking? Biden took the country where Obama might have liked to see it, but dared not do it himself.
The Biden-Harris administration still putting illegals before citizens. THANK GOD they are leaving.
It seems like it is taking an eternity for Jan 20th to arrive.
Good thing the fire chief prioritized DEI over preparing for foreseeable disasters. It really paid off.
I just read somewhere that there is a 7-year waiting list to get on the LA Fire Department ... if you're white. Right now, none of it matters as fire fighters are standing by empty fire hydrants watching buildings fall to the ground.
I saw Adam Carolla talk about that. He had to wait 7 years after signing up to take the test. At the test, he was sitting next to a black women, who said she registered the week before.
There it is!
Another A+ today, Sean.
Did you now ... unlike Vic I'll give you at best an F.
Adam Carolla Is, Without Question, Absolutely Full Of Sh*t
https://www.wonkette.com/p/adam-carolla-is-without-question?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Lol. Wonkette. It's the best when someone actually posts an article that supports the point they are trying to disprove.
Thanks for showing that the LAFD did engage in discriminatory hiring against white men when Carolla applied.
Indeed, and the site(s) you drew on for the now standardized DEI accusations tossed about by the monkey hear/monkey say crowd?
Why are you whining about Wonkette? Did you read the article ?
There 12 links to other sources in the Wonkette article.
You reminded me about Wonkette though. I think I'll seed some Wonkette articles.
Did you? She says he's "full of shit" and the only information she provides supports his claim. It's the typical progressive response to discrimination. They call bullshit and then justify why it happens.
Bass and Harris were apparently the two finalists for the VP position.
Hopefully this will teach future Presidential candidates to never limit their options by biological factors.
Watch her in action and despair over a system that she can rise to power in. "All of this can be found at URL"
One can only hope.
In the meantime, I have my chain gang working on roadwork. I think I'll keep my eye on Garland. He has been known for trying to escape.
How abysmal is Bass that she lost out to Harris? or did Harris have a particular compelling talent that Bass didn't present?
The state of California by Mark Levin:
"Fire hydrants out of water, LA mayor out of town, governor out to lunch, president out of his mind."
Have they not figured out that they have the PACIFIC OCEAN to draw water from?
I assume saltwater works just as well as fresh water. At this point I think we should give MS Crowley a call.
Saltwater works just as well. Other costal cities use it all the time for fires. It will require assistance to move the water from the coast to the fire but it will work.
Issue of getting water transferred for use in Wildfires is really difficult. Ya can't just siphon it - equipment will clog MASSIVELY with flow and various chemical reactions.
Yeah - it's been thought about - and, at this time, no viable alternatives are workable.
I didn't say it would be easy. I've been there. That is also why I stated assistance would be needed.
For a state that burns every year, you would think this would have been planned and worked out. I guess I'm assuming too much.
Sounds like they aren't working hard enough to get it done.
I'd like to see some links to substantiate that Jeremy. I managed wildland fire crews in Florida, NM and NoCal and it was/is a "no-brainer" that saltwater for dispersion/suppression of wildland fires has more research needed.
You hit the big issue on the head - California has one of the most pathetic controlled burn programs in the U.S.
The tribes/local communities have been attempting - FOR YEARS - to get the Cali Fish and Wildlife to step-up and educate the public - but mostly the governmental agencies that keep forbidding monies for proper wildland fire control.
Remember - desalination for fresh water has been on the burners for decades and there, at this time, haven't been many big takers of pushing further research and production. Some say it's due to the huge cost - others say lack of science. Hell, even the eastern states (NC, SC, GA, FL, etc..) are beginning to lose tourism due to the lack of freshwater aquifers being available to assist in the offset.
(That "X" is a link - not a "flagging" )
Aircraft are using the Pacific as a water supply to fight this current fire.
For fire departments, it would require a number of trucks to pump the water to where it's needed. Filters or some kind of barriers would be needed to keep marine life out of the lines but it is feasible.
I'm sure you've seen there has been push back from the environmental side about the use of sea water citing everything from killing marine life, introduction of microbes, future vegetation and animals returning, etc.
I do agree that there needs to be more research on the "pros and cons" of using sea water across the board.
The largest desalination plant in the western hemisphear is in San Diego CA. The cost of using water from it has some cities not wanting that water at all.
I'm not positive but I thought the Navy has been doing that for years.
You can fight a fire with salt water, but it’s not ideal.
Salt water is corrosive, so storing it and using it with typical fire fighting equipment means that equipment won’t last long.
Extracting it from the ocean via aircraft is difficult and dangerous. During the current crisis, some planes are scooping ocean water, but it’s definitely not the first choice. The ocean is already characterized by swells you don’t typically see on a lake, and right now - when wind gusts have approached 100mph in some places - you definitely don’t want to be hanging a helicopter over that water.
Dumping salt water on the ground is pretty terrible for the environment. You know what you do when you don’t want something to grow? You salt the ground. Doing that over and over to hillsides and neighborhoods - to the tune of many thousands of gallons - is not going to be great for growing plants and animals. When our hillsides don’t have plants on them, they tend to slide in the rain.
I’m no chemist, but I have also read that salt water reduces the cooling power of water. I imagine that is a much more marginal concern, though.
Note these are military aircraft. Of course the problem of dropping 1 to 10 tons of water on a structure should be obvious. That's one of the reasons aerial fire fighting equipment typically isn't deployed for residential areas.
Obviously. Now using trucks to bring the water in is a different situation.
And that's why I didn't mention storage.
I like many have wondered why not use sea water , so i looked it up , any water will put out a fire but different types do have a detrimental effect after the fires out as you have mentioned .
Use of sea water is highly corrosive to equipment , the salt in the water throws the PH balance of the soil out of whack and usually makes it so nothing will grow in the soil for years without mitigation of some sort , still sea water is better than nothing from what was read when i looked this AM. Still it doesnt mention the use of "brackish "water , that water that feeds the ocean from fresh water rivers where they meet , i suspect its slightly better than sea water due to salt content and would have to be timed to outgoing tides to minimize salt content .
3 ways to stop a fire .
take away its heat all water does so equally
take away its oxygen this is another way water extinguished fires
take away its fuel the last way water works , ever try and start a camp fire with wet wood ?
Excellent points Tacos - the "succession" in the natural resources word for growth/re-growth is not, quite simply, suited for RAPID/SUCCESSFUL healing.
As an example - White mangroves aren't "succeeded" by Red mangroves nor are Red mangroves "succeeded" by Black mangroves without many decades of healing. Mangroves grow/thrive in brackish waters (mixture of fresh/ocean/salt waters), but, exposed to Ocean/salt water toxicity, the Mangroves will also die and their return may/may not occur due to the environmental changes that came of place with the introduction of the "invasive" waters.
Now that you have blamed the fires on lake of water you should post what the real firefighters and fire chiefs had to say about it.
If any of you ever lived in the LA area you’d have a good idea problems faced when fighting wild fires there.
There is a lot of blame to go around isn't there? The woke Governor, the woke mayor, the woke Fire Department Chief?
And you want me to ask the people they have hired and owe their jobs to what they think?
No, I think we can call it what it is: Radical environmental activism that caused this. If the people of California want to keep voting for them, so be it. Maybe you can tell us where the Secretary of the Interior stands on all that they did?
Why would you ask what the Secretary of the Interior stands on all of this, Vic. She has nothing to do with it but I guess you wanted to use her being Indian up as a target, typical of people that lack knowledge but need to attack because they have no other defense.
Thanks for proving a point.
When fresh water is prioritized for the preservation of a small fish over human needs, one would expect a competent Secretary of the Interior to say something.
Your veiled insult was noted. Voted up by those who never showed up.
It wasn’t veiled at all, it was fact there was no other reason to bring it up unless you were trying to mimic Trump and his ignorant comments on Indian and salmon.
You should do some research that ‘’small fish’’ didn’t stop water from being delivered from the Delta.
if there was only an OCEAN they could draw water from and control the pressure themselves...
Perhaps you should ask fire experts why that isn’t done, since you don’t know the answer.
How do you know I haven't or am not one of those experts?
If you were an expert you would not be asking the question, more than likely you would explain why it can or cannot be used.
Cheers.
The rest of this thread was removed for taunting. Knock it off. Only warning.
Very good point there , not many aircraft are rated to be able to stand those conditions , as well as aerial drops of water on a fire is something of a science in itself . Come in too high and the water and retardant never makes it to the drop zone . too low and its like dropping wet concrete on the target with the effect of a bomb, thats not even considering early or late drops .
Saw a headline yesterday that this is NOT a goodtime of year for a wildfire in the LA basin, havent lived there but made enough runs from SLC to Onterio(sp) Ca to respect the Santa Annas of this time of year , if they can makefully loaded 40 ton semis tip over and take naps all the way up Cajon , they should be respected in the utmost.
That is exactly correct, Mark. I lived in the basin for 45 years and was in more than one wild fire and there is nothing more devastating, destructive and scary than a wild fire. Dropping tons of water in a residential area is risky in the best of weather but with wind up to 100 mph and close to O visibility it is a whole different animal.
I don’t know how many people have seen or been in the Santa Ana’s but you are correct they will and have flipped 18 wheelers weighting in at 80K like they were toys.
BTW, how you doing up there in Wyoming?
Up until about 5 days ago i was a little worried. No precip for almost 2 months in my area , everything is brown and with higher than normal temps , all it would have taken is a single spark . 5 days ago we got a real normal cold snap and enough snow to stick around as long as the wind doesnt pick up.
This is turning out to be an abnormal year weatherwise for the area .
Other than that i have been good , came back from my hunting trip up north with freezer meat to make it another year of cooking and making sausages and burger .
of course my 2 smallest grandkids, 2 and 4 came down with the crud and decided to share just before i left up there so that was fun (not ).But i wasnt about to let them be hurting and not cuddle them when they wanted comfort .
other than that its same old , same old .
Hope all is well with you and yours .
and thanks for asking .
All is well here, kids and crud, a match made in heaven….
Morning...though it is not for many there...
It really is just a matter of time when these fires occur... California and Victoria where I am, are the two most bushfire prone areas on this earth..
In LA as here once you have the combination of hot dry wind hitting 100ks and fire it always ends in one way.. complete and utter destruction..
Nothing is going to stop it..we have seen that time and time again here, it is the nature of the beast at its worst...
The bushfire that started here 2 weeks ago north of me is still going it will have to burn itself out..they are still attacking it but due to the terrain they can only control it and wait for to come out on to accessible land...
LA is different it is all in hills/residential areas but once the wind roars you are stuffed...
The biggest game changer here and I am not sure if they are using them were the American Sky Cranes..
They saved so many lives, houses and pretty well everything when they were going...they even had a cult following here they were so highly valued and admired....
Elvis was one of the names of the crane and once he was on the scene, hope came with it...
We watch from Australia, we know exactly what you are going through and our hearts break with the devastation that's been caused...
We know the "dance of the Devil" so very well and hope the winds die and the is Devil extinguished, but by the looks of it, it is not dead yet...
Elvis... The angel from the sky..
Not my photo..
It’s not even close to being dead, Shona and you can expect to see more forest break out. No rain for months on end, super dry brush/trees low humidity and high winds the devils playhouse
When California had an abundance of rain, they had no way to store it.
A few reservoirs would have been great.
10 years ago they invested 2.7 billion in adding water storage and built nothing. It's the story of the state.
California has 1,300 reservoirs.
Here a current list of reservoirs in Southern California, there are 62. Some have really good fishing as well, if you need a fishing guide when you are there I’m available and can take you to the real hot spots for bass. The next world record bass will come out of So Cal.
As of Jan 2025 they were at between 68% and 76% capacity depending on the reservoir.
Please stop with facts Tacos, it’s disconcerting to some.
hello shona , one of the reasons i was getting worried here was i got a notice from my home owners underwriter that i would no longer be covered for fire loss due to naturally caused fires , IE wildfires while i was gone . they will still cover fires if the investigation says it was due to electrical or appliances inside the home , they might be trying to keep customers that way, but those rates went up as well .
But as of the 1st, if a wildfire/ grass fire went through , im on my own . which is why i was happy for the cold snap and snow .
While i was up hunting i went to one of the areas i like in the elk fire zone just to see how bad it was , the picture i posted from last year showing how vast and empty the area was doesnt look like the picture anymore . The good news was the fire burnt so fast that it didnt stay put and sterilize the ground underneath, it was more of a surface burn , the other good news was it took out the standing dead trees and made some of those pinecone seeds germinate and replant themselves . The bad news they are watching is the area is now in the right condition for invasive plants and grasses to take root and supplant the natural and normal plants and grasses that usually are there . that is of no nutritional value to the areas wildlife .
It will take a couple years of watching and waiting to see what happens
A couple things some dont take into account .
who has water rights from those reservoirs , some were built strictly for agricultural use .
another thing people dont account for is how to get the water from point A to point B where it might be needed .
Even in a natural disaster or emergency , those things will always be considered and taken into account .
Arvo..I have watched those real estate shows on tv around LA and these mansions they build on the hills for the view... absolute death traps built on stilts.. wouldn't live there in a pink fit..
After the 2009 bushfires here the laws changed after 173 people died..3,700 homes lost and 460,000 hectares were burnt out....
Houses now have to suit building regulations, have fire sprinklers fitted to roofs, window shutters, built of non flammable materials etc and some people have installed under ground bunkers..
If they have a swimming pool they have diesel powered generators (petrol evaporates due to the heat) and their own fire hoses as many people are on their own..and have to be self sufficient... often the fire trucks can't get down the dirt tracks and if trees come down across the roads you are cactus..
These areas that were burnt out in 2009 will have all regenerated now and approximately every 20 years we cop a massive bushfire...so we are due again..
When we get the north winds we hold out breath as they will declare a total fire ban day which means no fires are to be lit anywhere..but unfortunately this is often the trigger for fire bugs to go out and deliberately light fires in the bush...if they catch them they should throw them in it if I had my way...
Our bush is quite miraculous in many respects..with total and absolute destruction within weeks green shoots appear as the gumtrees start to sprout..within months grasses and seeds that have been dormant for years germinate and flourish..12 months on the only sign is the blackened tree trunks and they never fade..
The road is a long one, hasn't even started for LA and with luck the wind will drop and the firies can get on top of it..then the total destruction will be laid bare..
We watch, we sympathize and we know what you are going through in LA...
The state of Ca has the water rights, DWR. In CA an individual cannot own the water, they can have permits etc to use the water. The State also controls all the water from Colorado under the provisions in the western states agreement.
good to know i wasnt sure how water rights worked in that state.
here i have water rights that allow me to keep my property under 6 inches of water during irrigation season, if i wanted to , not permits
i do know SW Wyoming is part of that Colorado river agreement since the Green river is a tributary of the Colorado , the rest of the state not so much.
I don’t care if you ask anyone or not, Vic. [deleted][✘]
[deleted] [✘] That is the stupidest shit I have ever seen on this site. That fucking wins. No other response is appropriate. That is peak partisan tribal insanity.
Explain the use of your phrase "tribal insanity" - 'cause I can guarantee you that the Native American Tribes/Nations have been, are doing, and will continue to lead in the wildland fire programs in the Western states.
I believe Tacos is referring to the tribal partisan politics not anything to do with NAs, 1st.
I am speaking of political tribalism. That is the context of my comment, as you can see. I responded to an insane claim that the fires are the direct result of woke policies. I use “tribalism” to describe a mindset that values the political group and its success above all other considerations. I am using the word in a correct way. It has nothing to do with Native Americans. Native Americans did not invent the tribe, and they are not the only kind of tribe to exist.
From Merriam-Webster:
Republic of Wrath: How American Politics Turned Tribal from George Washington to Donald Trump
Thanks for the clarification - lately on NT it's kinda hard with who do and who don't.
Tacos - I "think" that the Dems have done more DAMAGE to "civil rights, immigration, and gender rights" than the Repubs - but, that's just MHO.
She might not help rescue anyone, but she checks boxes!:
LAFD Assistant Chief Kristine Larson: "Am I able to carry your husband out of a fire? He got himself in the wrong place."
The mayor boondoggles in Ghana as the deputy mayor is on leave for making bomb threats and I here thought Chicago was the example of a poorly run shit show...
" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass slashed the LAFD budget by $17.6 million"
What did she spend that on? Was it more important?
Did that TWO PERCENT really make a huge difference?
A 2% budget cut hardly qualifies as "slashing" a budget.
well 17.6 million is not chump change either .
how much equipment could have been purchased with that?
and if what i recently read is true , that one of the reasons there was low to no water pressure at the hydrants was because the power was cut off to the pumps supplying the system to avoid lines coming down and starting more fires
IF thats true , somebody got some 'spailin to do Lucy ......
It might just be me but i would have thought having an emergency generator or two on site of the pumps would be a good idea incase of power failure .
About the only thing that could make this situation worse ? an earthquake decides it time to pop off.
we could call it the great los angeles shake and bake of 2025 .
yeah i know , im an Ahole , i was born one i just grew bigger .
when the place is burning down any cut in Fire Dept was too much. Protection of citizens is Government's main job
Is lying about this okay, as long as the lie is about a Democrat?
who is lying?
Also just read that Ca lost one of its super scooper firefighting aircraft to a drone strike , it collided with an unauthorized drone being flown over the fire zone over palisades , destroying the drone , but also putting a hole in its wing , thus grounding the aircraft until it is repaired .
FAA is investigating and looking for the drone pilot .
The drone pilot doesn't have the brains to realize the danger he created? He's as ignorant as those flying them near airports.
I am not part 107 licd which is needed to fly drones over a certain weight and for business purposes , i AM trust certified to fly hobby drones under a certain weight ( 249 grams and below) and even i know what was done is a big no no and carries a huge fine as well as a year in jail if caught. and they will catch you .
I cant tell you for sure , but with the number of airports in the LA basin , most of the area is likely in a no fly or restricted height flight zones for drones of any kind .
What i got a laugh at was the person posted the video on line , he got hammered by other drone pilots about what he did being so wrong he deleted the footage from online , but not after it had already gone viral, once its uploaded its there forever .
i no longer fly my drone , i had an unfortunate incident with a bird of prey about 100 ft above my house , the hawk found out the drone was not edible and decided it needed gone . I got the drone back but it is totally un airworthy and it would cost more than i paid for it to repair it .
lets just say it got gutted like a fish .
Oh, to have been beaten by a bird.
All Bass needs is a fiddle
Ok, so this is actually not true. The Fire budget has actually increased by $53 million.
FACTCHECK: Was the LAFD budget cut? No, it actually increased. Here’s how.
Even if the budget had been cut - and again, it wasn’t - LAFD is not, and never is, the only agency fighting the fires. Firefighters from all over the state, other states, and even other countries (e.g., Mexico) are fighting the fires. Furthermore, because we saw this weather coming, the state pre-positioned fire fighting personnel and resources in areas where they would most likely be needed.
The need to blame government for this is a sign of our extremely partisan times. It is misguided and toxic. The insanely powerful winds are, by far, the biggest factor driving the fires.
There are also 750 convicts working the fire lines under a program that CA has had for years and Some of the best hot shot teams from Indian tribes are there as well from Northern CA, Arizona and Oregon.
It would be nice if the righties actually took part in fighting the fires instead of flapping their lips and adding to the hot air spreading the fires.
I know Fremont County , Wy sent down a crew and at least a truck , its not big by population , but they sent what they could being a volunteer fire district.
No amount of help is too little, Mark. I’m sure that it is most appricated by the LAFD and the citizens of CA.
at least they are not coming in blind either .
these guys have some experience with this type of fire and terrain.
My personal thoughts about the whole thing is that the basin got caught up in the perfect combination of circumstances that made things what they are , a combination of all factors involved , the "perfect storm " if one would .
I am sure that the after incident reports , investigations looking into what went right , what went wrong and what would need to be done to avoid it all in the future will be a learning experience .
Fires such as this dont follow set written plans in the books as happens with so many other things , all plans can look good , until first contact or something comes along and messes up the plan .
We are extremely appreciative and eternally grateful to Fremont County, Wy for their help in our time of need and well as all of the others who have come to our aid in this horrible situation.