And Trump, who knows about as much about firefighting and forestry as he does about quantum mechanics and astrophysics, should just shut the hell up.

Last edited Sat Nov 10, 2018, 07:14 PM - Edit history (1)

He should STFU!

but he won't unfortunately.

Every time he opens his yap he betrays his utter ignorance of whatever it is he thinks he's talking about, but given that forestry is National Forests in California is regulated by the US Forest Service, an agency of the US Department of Agriculture, his comments about forestry management in the state, and Butte County especially, are idiotic. The eastern quarter of the County is part of the Plumas National Forest, and the County is bounded to the southeast by Tahoe National Forest and to the northeast by Lassen National Forest and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Given that the best evidence available so far is that the fire was caused by a downed PG&E power line, unless he's suggesting the state should take over all private sector utilities, he's an idiot twice over.

And although there is Forest Service land in both Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the fires in southern California are not on USFS land. In fact, they are burning in a mix of state, local, and privately-owned open lands, mostly the natural coastal sage, manzanita, and oak forests, which are more grasslands than "woods" and which have never been logged commercially, for obvious reasons. If he'd said something about zoning in the urban-wildland interface, he might have (barely) had a point, but since his idea of a forest is Central Park, he's an idiot the third time over.

Very rural, very I-love-my-guns-and-Bible part of the state. Add betrayal to loss and multiply tragedy

"LA has a great big freeway, stretches for a 100 miles or more." None of it farmland, if I recall.

Where the 6000+ structures were burned

The area is almost 200 miles north, on the odometer, from the Bay Area that most think of as Northern California. Almost to the part of the state that has been trying to secede for the past century

Lived there before moving to Texas. On the one hand, a lot of the residents had a red state mindset not dissimilar to rural redneck parts of Texas. On the other hand, they have a point about major news networks acting like they don't exist. Not disparaging Malibu, but re Paradise we're talking about a city of 26,000 people with about that many more in surrounding areas that was just burned off the map. And yesterday, NBC had Lester Holt reporting from Malibu. Yes, higher property values and more people evacuated, but the Camp fire in Butte County is the most destructive fire in state history. And the people there are poor, or retired, really just scraping by in a lot of cases. Literally losing everything except their lives and the clothes on their backs in too many cases with no savings or resources

I remember the Humboldt fire in 2008 burning lower Paradise in Butte County, and one of the networks flew their New York anchor to Los Angeles where he reported the Humboldt fire was burning through the mountains just outside San Francisco. So it's not a new phenomenon and it makes it feel very much to those people in rural areas that the networks just used their suffering as an excuse to fly to a completely different city and have dinner at some expensive restaurant as a Business expense

There's a lesson in that. Imagine you are one of those people, and the coverage of the very real and personal tragedy affecting you is sloppy reporting that waves its hand and puts you on the other side of the state as a suburb of a major city that's a two hour drive away. I understand how they feel ignored, I understand why "fake news" as a term resonates so deeply, and I understand the response to a despot like Drumpf who focuses attention on them. These are exactly the kind of Americans that Democrats used to be able to reach, I don't know how we did that any more

Nuts. I didn't mean to ramble like that. Still have friends and family in harm's way, so far everyone has evacuated OK, no idea if they have anything to go back to. I'm probably too wrapped up personally to post objectively

I got more from that than the tv news I sampled last night.

did you like people calling your state Texi?

Please knock off the "Cali."

Thank you.

posting from my cell phone. I try not to type with all 3 thumbs whenever possible

Cali just came out there and missed it in the edit process. Sometimes you miss stuff when you edit on half a playing card worth of real estate. I figure I'm having a good day if that's the worst thing I do

Still live and work in TX, and FWIW the old hippies I know in CA refer to this as "TexASS". Despite Beto leading the charge this past election. He might not have taken the hill he chose to attack, but the attitude and energy he brought inspired hundreds of other candidates to set their sights on their own hills, and a lot of them made it. The state is officially purple trending blue, from where I sit at least

I'm cranky from breathing too much fire smoke.

Watching livestream on local news from Chico this morning I think where air quality was "extremely unhealthy" - and that was improved from the day before

No matter how you abbreviate it the state is hurting right now. Hope Gov. Newsom hits the ground running

You ought to post this as an OP.

and those living in the area. The fool on the hill can't be bothered to represent Americans who may not have voted for him. He is a pathetic excuse for a human being.

My nephew, his young child, his wife and her parents, other relatives and friends live in or near Malibu. So far, all the people and pets are safe, but at least 2 of his friends have lost their homes.

His parents-in-law lost their home 7 years ago and rebuilt. I don't know the in-laws, but the news is overwhelming. On one hand, people I care about are affected and on the other, entire towns got wiped off the map. I live in an Ohio town about the same size as Paradise. It is unimaginable.

She is near Malibu. She needs to get her daughter and come back to Texas for the holidays until it's under control.

The smoke here is so thick, you walk outside for a few minutes and you smell like bbq'd ribs.

Just so everyone knows, Malibu is not full of rich people. Yes, lots of rich folks live there and certainly, up in the hills where the million dollar houses burned, there is plenty of money. But there are also working class folks who live in houses passed down through generations. Many of them lost their homes and don't have the money to rebuild. Same thing with Agoura and Calabasas. The shelters are full of them, many to capacity.

So, please. When you talk about these fires and you're tempted to slam the media for going to the "rich" areas, don't. Things are not what they seem from a television set. Working class people lost homes and jobs (Malibu employed lots of regular people). Communities have suffered unimaginable losses, and that includes the very tight knit community of Malibu.

And lastly, don't forget the wildlife. That's a tragedy we can't rebuild or fix.

It's all so horrible. I want to feel sorry for myself that I can't breathe well, but then I remember that I still have a roof over my head.

Her home is still there, but they expect it to go once the winds pick back up. All my sister's art was left behind. My heart is breaking, but at least they're safe for the moment.

So much loss and devastation.