I think the state and national park foresters should have more freedom in determining whether to burn off excess brush in an effort to help control some of these big fires. However, I legitimately think there are no easy options to help control these fires.
The biggest reason is weather patterns. Compared to the South, it is incredibly dry out west, and connected to this is the limited "rain season" California gets. Generally speaking, most of California's rain comes from November-March, and it tends to not rain from March-November. There are certainly exceptions at times, but California definitely does not get rain year-round. When it is El Nino season, there will be much more rain during the normal rain season, and it's opposite during La Nina season - below average rain amounts.
Many of these wildfires start in areas that has no roads to it, not even dirt roads. So, in order to get men on the ground to fight them, they have to almost allow the fires to grow. They also will parachute firefighters in, but many of them are not experienced parachuters, and that depends on the conditions on the ground as well. The state will drop other liquids from the cargo planes, but when these fires have larger real estate than the entire city of Tuscaloosa, there isn't much you can do until the weather conditions change to help fight the fires. These wildfires can start without a match or a cigarette; these fires can start with high winds and hot temperatures. I'm pretty sure these winds were the Santa Ana winds - they pull the hot air from the deserts at this time of the year, which contributes to the wildfires.
When it comes to using your sprinkler systems, there are local and state laws that ban watering of your personal property on certain days. Due to the recent droughts, those laws have expanded. It's the state's way of addressing its severe water crisis, a battle between cities whose populations have ballooned in the last 40-50 years, and the farmers who are expected to keep up with its yields for feeding the entire country and major parts of the world.
Like I said, I'm not sure there's an easy solution that'll satisfy everyone' The President's comments were incredibly inappropriate for the public, but we all know he doesn't care. Criticizing a bureaucratic policy on an issue publicly when people are losing all of their material possessions and their lives through a natural disaster is not ever appropriate. It may only be appropriate in private discussions with the affected public government entities after the disaster is over, and there is a review of what the government can do better to either better serve the affected people, or prevent the disaster from occurring altogether.
The biggest reason is weather patterns. Compared to the South, it is incredibly dry out west, and connected to this is the limited "rain season" California gets. Generally speaking, most of California's rain comes from November-March, and it tends to not rain from March-November. There are certainly exceptions at times, but California definitely does not get rain year-round. When it is El Nino season, there will be much more rain during the normal rain season, and it's opposite during La Nina season - below average rain amounts.
Many of these wildfires start in areas that has no roads to it, not even dirt roads. So, in order to get men on the ground to fight them, they have to almost allow the fires to grow. They also will parachute firefighters in, but many of them are not experienced parachuters, and that depends on the conditions on the ground as well. The state will drop other liquids from the cargo planes, but when these fires have larger real estate than the entire city of Tuscaloosa, there isn't much you can do until the weather conditions change to help fight the fires. These wildfires can start without a match or a cigarette; these fires can start with high winds and hot temperatures. I'm pretty sure these winds were the Santa Ana winds - they pull the hot air from the deserts at this time of the year, which contributes to the wildfires.
When it comes to using your sprinkler systems, there are local and state laws that ban watering of your personal property on certain days. Due to the recent droughts, those laws have expanded. It's the state's way of addressing its severe water crisis, a battle between cities whose populations have ballooned in the last 40-50 years, and the farmers who are expected to keep up with its yields for feeding the entire country and major parts of the world.
Like I said, I'm not sure there's an easy solution that'll satisfy everyone' The President's comments were incredibly inappropriate for the public, but we all know he doesn't care. Criticizing a bureaucratic policy on an issue publicly when people are losing all of their material possessions and their lives through a natural disaster is not ever appropriate. It may only be appropriate in private discussions with the affected public government entities after the disaster is over, and there is a review of what the government can do better to either better serve the affected people, or prevent the disaster from occurring altogether.
