Comments on: Arizona conflagration

By: Oldflyer

Oldflyer — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 02:24:47 +0000

It appears that men who can work in horrific conditions and face appalling danger are still in demand. No metrosexuals need apply. These fires usually start about the time that our TV Nannies are telling us to stay indoors or find cooling centers. They go out and put it on the line day after day. Gender equality becomes irrelevant. Most of them were probably considered “problem boys” in school; too restless in class, too disruptive in the lunch line. God Bless them.

If these guys were paid based on their value to society, their income would easily exceed that of the average law school or finance school graduate, and far exceed that of the best paid “studies” Professor.

A salute to the unnoticed heroes among us.

By: Sgt. Mom

Sgt. Mom — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 02:18:36 +0000

It’s the same with the California chaparral – as my dear departed Dad (the research biologist) used to tell us on nature walks. It’s an environment set to burn over ever fifteen or twenty years or so. It has to – to clear out the deadwood and the underbrush, and to heat the seeds of various native plants so that they germinate properly. Otherwise, the load of dead wood and vegetation accumulates – and when it does burn, it’s deadly. It’s the same with a lot of the western forest lands – they HAVE to burn over, ever decade or so.
Either you do controlled burns – or you wait for nature to do it for you. And with the load of dead wood and dead undergrowth … the longer you put it off, the deadlier it is going to be.
There is a grippingly horrible Nevada Barr mystery about a park ranger forest-fighting crew getting overrun by a fire. I can’t stop thinking about it, after reading the news about this today. http://www.amazon.com/Firestorm-Anna-Pigeon-Novel-ebook/dp/B004IE9QY0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

(Well, that and Norman Mclean’s Young Men and Fire. http://www.amazon.com/Young-Men-and-Fire-ebook/dp/B004DL0ODK/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1 )

By: T

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:44:19 +0000

Ymarsmaker,

Don’t forget that fire is also a part of the natural process. For example, lodgpole pines only release their seeds when their pinecones encounter the heat from a fire. Furthermore, as fire-burned areas regrow they become meadows which are much more conducive to wildlife than forests per se.

None of this, of course diminishes the tragedy of the loss of life of these courageous firefighters.

By: T

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:39:46 +0000

“‘Brave’ doesn’t even begin to describe the men who voluntarily sign on to do this job . . . .”

No leading from behind here.

By: Ymarsakar

Ymarsakar — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:25:10 +0000

I wonder to what extent environmental regulations prevent the pre-emptive removal of brush and other flammables during fire season.

By: Jim Nicholas

Jim Nicholas — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:31:19 +0000

I understand this fire was caused by lightning. However the outcome is the reason I believe the crime of arson, forest or other, is not punished severely enough. There is always the potential for the death of a firefighter. That a building was known by the arsonist to be empty should not be a mitigating factor. The firefighter arriving on the scene does not know there are no potential victims inside and, in the search, may become a victim.

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:22:46 +0000

How this happens and why it happens are admirably covered in the definitive book on this sort of tragic disaster

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean

“On Aug. 5, 1949, 16 Forest Service smoke jumpers landed at a fire in remote Mann Gulch, Mont. Within an hour, 13 were dead or irrevocably burned, caught in a “blowup”–a rare explosion of wind and flame. The late Maclean, author of the acclaimed A River Runs Through It , grew up in western Montana and worked for the Forest Service in his youth. He visited the site of the blowup; for the next quarter century, the tragedy haunted him. In 1976 he began a serious study of the fire, one that occupied the last 14 years of his life. ”

I’ve read it and it is sterling in every way.

The Neo link is

http://www.amazon.com/Young-Men-Fire-Norman-Maclean/dp/0226500624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372699341&sr=8-1&keywords=young+men+and+fire

By: J.J. formerly Jimmy J.

J.J. formerly Jimmy J. — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:07:26 +0000

Many years ago I fought forest fires in Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone National Parks. It was an eye opening experience. The fires are so unpredictable. You do your best to stay safe, but when a fire crowns, and the wind comes up suddenly, all bets are off. I’m still here because of a small beaver dam that was handy when the crew I was working on was trapped by a blow up. Cold water is much more effective as a shelter than the tent shelters (which we didn’t have back then) they have today. It takes great skill and courage (and some luck) to fight forest fires and survive.

Fire has always been a useful tool for man and nature. But like most things that we find useful, fire is a two-edged sword. We mourn those who give their lives in the cause of controlling wild fire, while knowing in our hearts they will not be the last.

By: shoshune

shoshune — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 16:28:28 +0000

Tragic, of course, but I cringe at the fact that we’ll be hearing Democrats referring to these heroes as “victims of climate change” for the next decade.