Southern Cali Fires?

Question

Why is it over the past 10 years fires have gotten worse in southern cali? 4 years ago we had fires that In killed 22 people and destroyed 3,640 homes. in these same area of town they are burning down again.

is there any ways we as people can prevent fires from breaking out?

or is this going to be a normal every 4 years of lets make 250,000 people flee there home with no where to go?

Answer 1

We've always had bad fires. Usually just not all at once.

There are obvious ways to prevent it. Don't throw your cigarette butts on the ground, etc. But we will always have them. It's a fact of life.

We can prevent loss by having safer houses. For example, there were no structures lost in the Santiago Canyon fire due in large part to the fact that those houses have tile roofs instead of shingles.

We also need to prevent them from becoming too large by having more viewing posts in remote areas.

Answer 2

Fires are natural to southern California. When you add people to the mix, especially arsonist you get more fires at the worse times. Check history of Malibu, you will see the ocean has been the only thing to stop fires many times in the past. In San Diego and orange counties 50 years ago you didn't hear much about the fires because there were few people in the areas that now burn.

Answer 3

Well, you will hear a lot of people in the Media start trying to blame this on Global Warming. The truth is...if you want to blame and that seems to be the American way...start Blaming someone...anyway, the ones who would not let small yearly controlled burning are the ones to blame. If you listen closely, it usually is the ones who are blaming that would not allow the controlled burning. This is a natural event, if people did not live there, the fires would still happen on a yearly schedule. This is natures way of clearing out all of the dead underbrush so the slow growth which is a good thing can be healthy. I hope this helps...remember, this is natural and has nothing to do with Global Warming...in spite of what others say.

Pat VanGarrett

Answer 4

There are 13 fires going on there. On CNN, they said that it started in the hills first, then picked up by the winds and that's how it got to the other locations. I mean how did it start in the first place. Are there thunderstorms there or what? Or could this be done by a 'terrorist' or someone who just likes to start fires, a fire starter?

I also heard that Governor Arnold wants to get some of the National Guards from the borders to help out.

I am glad that I don't live in California anymore, but I feel for those people who lost their homes. Hope they had insurance too.

Answer 5

Earthquakes and fires...welcome to SoCal.
There is no way anyone can prevent most of them..some are caused by arson and some by other accident such a car fire...there are rare occasions that someone had a bad fireplace or had a campfire go awry.
The best way to help keep most homes from fire is clearance around the home and fire proof roofs and certain plants that are hard to burn.
I am dreading the day the winds change direction from east to west...and all that smoke will end up in the desert areas.

Answer 6

People always say that living in California is dangerous because of earthquakes, but it's really fires that are dangerous to us.
First of all, some of the fires that are currently burning such as the Irvine fire and the two Ontario fires are believed to be arson. So, in order to prevent such events, we need to catch those stupid pyromaniacs. Also, the wind right now is TERRIBLE, so that's not helping.
So all in all, fires are gonna be an ongoing struggle for us, specially because of the recent lack of rain.

Answer 7

I live here in southern calif. in Huntington Beach, I have a friend who lives in Foothill Ranch(orange co where the fire is) staying with me with her 2 kitties...We have had several winters of not enough rain...Now they are predicting record rains this winter...guess what that means,, mudslides everywhere this winter..I'm a long way from the fires, but the wind and smoke is here.. I have 3 jumbo trash bags full of pinecones..Hopefully this is suppose to calm down over night....But the fire in orange county was a arson fire.. Theres not much you can do to prevent these, it depends on mother nature during our rainy season.. But we have alot of firebugs out here as well, they saw the fires in malibu and the san fernando valley. hey lets go start a fire in the rich section of orange county...Its a fact of life out here, you either get a earthquake, fire or to much rain.. But no tornadoes or hurricaines.. Thats why I'm moving to Vegas when I retire...You are right it seems every 3-4 yrs this happens some where out here...But you need to be prepared for any type of disaster, just like my friend who is staying with me, we had this all planned out. Her home is okay thank god, but with her asthma, she is just going to stay here a couple days...

Answer 8

The smoke is over a widespread area so that's not an indicator of the need to evacuate. We have some smoke here today in Santa Barbara and we are far from any active fires. Anaheim is not one of the areas at risk. Also, Californians never call it "Cali"

Answer 9

It pretty much comes with living here. I grew up in Orange County in the Anaheim Hills area and have had my fair share of them. It's a risk you have to take just as you have to beware of tornados in the midwest and hurricanes in the gulf. Nothing we can do to prevent them if we have such little rain and the Santa Anas come through.

If you are really worried, try not living in the hills or you should just move.

Answer 10

USA has gotten worse now. 2005, Katrina. 2007, California fires.