LA fires

[NeiljohnUK]

Isn't it cute.

Some contributors have done 15mins of Google.
Maybe 30 mins, at a stretch.
And then framing their argument to disagree with people who have literally dedicated their entire academic and working lives in researching a specific topic.

Having recently retired from Academia, and research, where I worked with a number of climate 'change' agenda doubting Physicists I too doubt much of what is put out. That research funding rarely goes to those who question, and peer review is often entirely one sided is a major problem in 'science' (STEM subjects).

The roofing issue, with bitumen or wood shingles, may be a large part of the issue, steel and terracotta much less so, with red hot embers (large embers) being blown hundreds of yards by the high winds, well beyond separation distances suggested by some. Another issue is the number of imported eucalyptus (fire) trees.

 

[Spectric]

Has no one done any survival training, the one thing that is taught is how to start a fire with just a spark and some dry material. It is quite amazing how you can soon get a fire going from such a small insignificant spark and some puffs of your breath. Now imagine gale force winds and red hot embers it is easily seen how the fire spreads through such yinder dry terrain.

 

[Vulcan]

In case anyone wonders why I haven’t replied to some recent posts on this thread. It’s because I had to put him on ignore, so I don’t see his posts anymore. It was inevitable, I knew I’d have to do it sooner or later.

 

[Jacob]

Having recently retired from Academia, and research, where I worked with a number of climate 'change' agenda doubting Physicists I too doubt much of what is put out. That research funding rarely goes to those who question, and peer review is often entirely one sided is a major problem in 'science' (STEM subjects).

Well yes the sceptics think it's all a conspiracy. Pity they can't prove it. In the meantime the climate scientists and their predictions just keep coming true!

The roofing issue, with bitumen or wood shingles, may be a large part of the issue, steel and terracotta much less so, with red hot embers (large embers) being blown hundreds of yards by the high winds, well beyond separation distances suggested by some. Another issue is the number of imported eucalyptus (fire) trees.

No its climate change the issue. Hotter, drier, windier, than ever recorded in LA. Even tiled concrete buildings contain flammable materials and many of them have gone too. Steel does very badly in a fire - just look at the pictures - twisted metal everywhere.
It's all about climate change.

 

[Jacob]

In case anyone wonders why I haven’t replied to some recent posts on this thread.

No hadn't missed you at all!

It’s because I had to put him on ignore, so I don’t see his posts anymore. It was inevitable, I knew I’d have to do it sooner or later.

Oh good, pleased about that. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[RobinBHM]

but then houses here seem to have less damp or mould issues in the same periods

The U.K. is an island, it’s very damp, our inclination to build cavity walls in brick / block is probably influenced by that.

SIPs is a rapid build construction method……but the fashion in the U.K. is to still have the external skin in brick

I would guess Canada and USA have a far drier climate on average. My memory of spending 3 months in Toronto was hot and dry mostly

 

[Jacob]

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2...s-show-scale-of-destruction-from-la-wildfires

 

[spanner48]

Many years ago it was " discovered" that the native management of forests with small managed scrub fires was an extremely effective way of limiting the outbreak of these huge fires.
But ,was anything done about following this up.
Not on your perishing life.
Like, what would these ignorant savages know about anything?

Notice what is still standing, largely undamaged?

The big trees: specifically the Californian Big Trees: Sequoia Sempervirens and Sequoiadendron Giganteum.

For 100 years, from 1880 to 1980, the US Forest Service spent millions putting out forest fires up and down the West Coast, to protect these trees. Then scientists noticed that those very trees were dying out – and no repacement saplings emerging. It turned out that periodic fires are essential to their survival. They kill off the smaller, faster-growing species, and burn the Sequoias' foliage; but leave the trunk [protected by insulating bark up to 200mm thick] unaffected. And trigger the release of seeds, which fall into the warm ash left behind, and germinate and grow in the now clear and brashless ground. Post-1980, the Forest Service stopped suppressing periodic fires. And the Sequoia has started to return.

A thought worth reflection . . . . ?