Why do you think that those wildfires were caused in Southern California?

Question

My instructor says it might be, because a terroist threat. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

Your instructor is an alarmist.

One of the main fires was caused by a fallen power line igniting some brush. A construction crew accidentally started another with hot-running equipment in scrub grass.

Low humidity, hot temperatures, and dry vegetation caused the fires. Not terrorists.

Answer 2

I found this article on Michael Savage website and I really believe that when I first heard about the fires, the first thing that popped on my mind was "Terrorists". I don't think the news media has this article or story below. I just heard that they are investigating due to an arsonist. Read story below.

FBI: al-Qaeda detainee spoke of fire plot
PHOENIX (AP) — The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.
Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn't see a need to act further on it.

The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic. Davis declined to share a copy of the memo and an FBI spokeswoman in Denver didn't immediately return a telephone call.

The Republic reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.

The memo noted that investigators couldn't determine whether the detainee was telling the truth.

The newspaper said many forest law enforcement officers it contacted had no idea the warning had been issued.

Answer 3

Hey, how is it going I think you avatar is quite sexy, any way I grew up in San Diego and I lived there for 20 years. My take on this situation, was that San Diego, during the late 70's and 80's, had areas of under development . Places like Terrasanta, Poway, Encinitas, and even Santee Those towns were deserts and were very seasonably dry areas to begin with. When the fishing industry ended and the tourism industry moved in over development and just poor Eco-design helped in drying out So Cal. The lack of a sustainable water table has also contributed to overall dryness, which happen to be were the fires are occurring. I think overall it comes down to urban sprawl has created this latent problem. One great example is in San Diego, there is a place called Mission Valley, an old river bed that was so over developed,every February it floods, just genius and how original,to build on a flood plane. It was the same genius that built nuclear power plant, San Onfre, on a fault line. Sorry I went off on a tangent .Tell me what you think email me.

Jerry USMC

Answer 4

well i've heard from other news stations that the idea of terrorists starting the fire came from fox news. from what i know fox isn't really a trustful news source, at least not since the 2000 presidential election. i'm from San Diego so i've been watching a lot of news and they said that one fire was started by an arsonist and he was shot and killed. another fire was believed to have started because the santa ana winds blew two power cables together which caused them to spark and started the fire. the other fires in San Diego are not known how they started yet. one big reason why the fires became so wild was because of the three major factors needed to cause such a huge fire. high temperatures, low humidity and severe winds. on monday when the fires started, San Diego was averaging 90 degrees, humidity was spotted at 2, 3, and 5 percent humidity where normal humidity is between 40 and 50 percent and the santa ana winds are really strong and on monday they were going as fast as 30 to 40 mph and gusts ranging from 85 to 108 mph.

Answer 5

Terrorists usually aim for a high death toll using ultra violent means. Calif has a fire season every year, this years the worst probably because we haven't had any rain all year, causing a drought & an excess of dry brush & high winds cause the fires to spread quickly. Toss in down power lines from the winds - will spark as well. I know one of the fires was due to arson. There has only been 1 death due to the fires so far. Most people made it out safely.

Answer 6

no longer something which could no longer ensue the different 12 months. Dozens of woodland fires ensue each and every 12 months in California, and the capacity for a huge situation is often there. It purely happens to be very dry suitable now, and -- maximum heavily -- the climate has been very windy, forcing the flames forward extra promptly than firefighters can shop up with them. it somewhat is frightening because of the fact there are purely no longer adequate firefighters, so the section is on the mercy of the wind and climate.

Answer 7

It is the eco terrorists who did this. What I mean is you cant clear the brush by your house because it will disrupt the kangaroo rat. When you plant so many trees and the larger ones get all the sun the smaller ones die off and become fuel. So instead of clearing these trees they are dry and good kindling. We need to clear the forests every couple of years.

Answer 8

Some are set intentionally, others by nature. But the real problem is that the environmentalist will not allow any thinning of the forest and bushes. So when a fire does start, there is way too much fuel to feed the fire.

Answer 9

Your professor hopefully doesnt teach at UCLA because he is a moron! Only one of the fires was arson the other 15 or so started just like they do every year dry weather and santa ana winds!! And thanks to the idiots that are looting peoples homes and stealing jewerly that people are finding it missing when they come back to their homes! Or how about the people that are tricking homeowners that they need to evacuate they leave then they go in to their home and steal their belongings! Do people not have morals or sympathy anymore?

Answer 10

I think your instructor is severely misled.
He obviously hasn't been following the news since it's explained nearly all of the causes. Downed power lines, arsonists etc.....certainly not terrorists!