I don't know about the overall cause of the fire, as far as accident vs. arson goes, but as far as odd things being spared, that doesn't surprise me. Sometimes weird stuff happens in fires, just like when a tornado takes out a whole town but leaves one structure standing.

I read somewhere that fires can be forced along very quickly when a suddenly rising mass of hot air effectively "shoves" the cold air that was previously there downwards and to the sides of where the fires were. Perhaps it just "jumps over" places in a seeming purposeful but actually random fashion. It's a terrible thing, either way.

Oh, yeah, if it WAS arson, the arsonist should be charged with mass murder, etc., IMO.

 

So are you thinking along the lines of some alien teenagers cruising around and zapping stuff, or what is your working theory on what's happening?

 

We have a lot of fires EVERY year. Decade long drought followed by record heat. We have actually had a FIRE SEASON my entire life. (45ys) Many different causes. Sometimes power lines, other times lightning. Unfortunately we also have a lot of stupid people. Campfires left unattended, cigarettes thrown out the window. A few big ones were arson. Lit in multiple locations at once. Most of the time they are caught because people are reporting suspicious behavior now, but it happens often enough we are looking for it. A lot of fires don't get big enough to hit nationwide radar. We have fire crews specifically trained to combat forest fires and they knock most of them out before they become deadly. Don't want to turn it political but this is nothing new and it's NOT because people didn't RAKE their BUSHES. Mountains, rocky terrain and lots of valleys make areas hard for emergency vehicles to get to. It's not poor planning, it's difficult topography. We purchased several helicopters and utilize controlled burns in high risk areas but it's not enough. And NO opening protected areas to logging ISN'T going to prevent fires. I'm sorry, predicting a big fire in California right before FIRE SEASON is not genius, it's political. I don't mean to attack anyone's views and this was not directed toward anyone in particular. It just gets difficult to hold my tongue when people tell Californians that WE don't understand the situation WE have are have lived with for decades. I'll let the intern take the mic now.

 

LOL

And yes, Trump's comment about raking leaves made me yell at my TV--DON'T YOU HAVE A CLUE WHAT A FIRE BREAK IS?????

 

It can get hot as a blast furnace. You'd be surprised what gets melted and depending on fuel and air supply it can burn intensely in one spot and seemingly not touch a spot right next to it. Also. because the air gets so dry here, static does some weird stuff. We can have reverse lightning. Hot transformers and power lines shoot off "lightning".


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It's all about optics and convincing people there is a problem that he can fix with a solution that has nothing to do with it.


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I don't know if this was local news or national news, but did you all hear about the woman who had just given birth by C-section and then the hospital was surrounded by fire? (One of the other towns where the fire has spread to.) She was wheeled into an ambulance that caught on fire and was destroyed. She was as good as paralyzed below because of the C-Section, so all she could do was call her husband to say goodbye and to ask him to tell their children to forgive her for not surviving. Her newborn had been taken away in a different ambulance.

Anyway, I forget all the steps that happened, but someone got her out and the fire marshall or someone like that came along and saved all of the patients. One of the fire people broke into a brick house via a doggy door and all of the patients were moved into the garage. The marshal gave orders to all of the hospital personnel about how to defend from the fire. He said If you all do exactly as I say, we are going to survive. And they all did. Hospital personnel know how to follow orders. It was the only house that survived. Some people were raking, some were up on the roof getting leaves off, some were clearing gutters. Hose duty around the perimeter.

The woman who owned the house said she feels like the reason for her house to have been built was to be there in that moment to save these people. <3 She also has a tiny child. Everyone is friends for life.

The ambulances are all charred shells.

 

I went to my local news site to get the video for the story above, but this is the lead story today. Brick houses = not always good outcome. (Orinda is here in my county, not in the fire zones.)

By: Ryan Moran , Elissa Harrington

POSTED: NOV 18 2018 10:01AM PST

UPDATED: NOV 18 2018 01:37PM PST

ORINDA, Calif. (KTVU) - A teenage girl died and three others were injured, including a firefighter, in an early morning two-alarm house fire in Orinda on Sunday.

The Moraga-Orinda Fire District received report of a structure fire in the 500 block of Moraga Way near Donald Reservoir just before 4 a.m. On arrival, firefighters discovered someone still inside the residence. There was dramatic shift in the conditions, leading to the fire being "flashed," which is where everything inside the building becomes combustible due to a dramatic change in conditions.

In this case, it was an extreme spike in heat. Chief David Winnacker said in a press conference that the structure's brick walls and tile roof created "oven-like conditions."

Two residents made it out of the house before fire crews arrived. The third, a 16-year-old girl, did not. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

****
http://www.ktvu.com/news/1-dead-3-injured-including-firefighter-in-early-morning-orinda-house-fire

 

Sometimes we get so focused on the the negative, we look past the positive. Its sad but sometimes it takes tragedy to remind us of the sacrifices some are willing to take to help others. When my brothers house was in danger last year, all the neighbors helped each other out. The fairgrounds opened for people to bring livestock. People volunteered to help care for them. Donated feed. Some people lost everything and others stepped up to get them back on their feet. Not to mention emergency services.


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Wow this is crazy. Smoke from CA wildfires has reached the east coast.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/us/california-wildfires-new-york-city-trnd/index.html

 

WOW. It feels like the smoke is just sitting here, trapped, but I guess not. My sky is still solid smoke, but there may be a little rain tomorrow.

 

http://discovermagazine.com/2011/oct/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-fire

 

Rain, beautiful rain!

They say the rain will wash away human remains, if any are still undiscovered, but surely the fire didn't fully incinerate bones, for people who want tangible remains to grieve. They knew the rain was coming, and they really tried to find everyone who might be there.

To me, the rain is cleansing. Some new people might not know my teenaged brother went over a cliff at Pescadero and was lost to the Pacific. It feels like the comforting circle of life to me when nature takes the body--but of course it is different for everyone.

Now Paradise is under flash flood warning.

 

I still can't believe that story. That must have been a HORRIBLE time for your family.

Glad it's raining. <3

 

Lol. Why is this thread in Debaters? Is there someone expressing a "these fires don't really exist" point of view? I'm looking at you @Morgotha

Just kidding

 

I thought Sharpie was saying they were started by aliens or other such mysterious and unexplainable cause, so that would be debateable.

Personally, I'm of the position that they were started by mundane causes, although if push comes to shove, I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary was somehow involved.