Fireworks ban

[ntsqd]

What if we made all fires illegal like cocaine? That has worked out so well .....

We could allow selling it only thru licensed dispensaries and collect a tax on it, like we did with pot. That's worked out so well, too!

Currently in KA and maybe most of the West the only legal campfire is one burning a liquid or gaseous fuel that can be turned off immediately. That has spurred some very interesting portable fire pit designs. WFO's is, I think, the coolest looking of them all.

At one time in the past our local USFS head Ranger banned the public from the forest "due to the fire danger" for a short time period. At that time it was probably true and correct, but it sets a dangerous precedent.

 

[FirstBubba]

IIRC, Paradise, CA had a ban on clearing the "duff" (leaves, pine needles, dead limbs and undergrowth) from their property in "fear"(?) of disturbing Mother Nature"!
One resident told 'em "Pack sand!" and cleared his property. One of the few homes that didn't burn!

 

[ntsqd]

I've heard that rumor now and then, and have seen nothing that says that it is true. The few times that I was in Paradise I did not notice an excessive amount of duff left on the ground. Contrary to what a certain politician would like you to think, most Californians aren't the idiots that make the news.

The flip side is that a lot of the people who live(d) in the area didn't really understand the danger in leaving it there. However, it's kind of moot because once that fire got into the crown of the forest it really didn't matter. When it's raining fire on your roof there isn't a hell of a lot that you can do to save the house. A friend of mine had a place a bit further North out East of Redding in a very similar setting. He sold out because even though the duff in his area was generally kept under control it was a constant and huge battle to keep it that way. FAR more work than simply keeping a lawn nice and green. But his was a similar deal, once a fire got into the crown his whole neighborhood would be lost.

 

[Turpentine21]

Nearly every single year in the West, rainfall is a bit lower than normal, the winds pickup, fire breaks out, in a few days, it's out of control. Send in the heroic overwhelmed firefighters with No. 2 shovel and a Pulaski axe, basically same 2 tools that built the Interstate highway system, what else could they possibly need, to stop the blaze. Guess what, it ain't working and there's better machinery than was available 100 years ago.

I ran a dozer and plow for years. Here a shovel, axe, and Pulaski don't stop much. They are more for tying in a line to a ditch or working on the shoulder of a road without destroying it. Yards too. Though I have pushed or plowed thru many yards with the homeowner begging me to keep coming and thanking me profusely afterwards.
I started running that equipment when I was 19 and in peak physical condition.. Every year my boss would ask if I wanted to train as a smoke jumper and go out west to fight fires. My standard answer, "Not unless they figure out a way to drop my dozer with me". Fighting a very small fire with water and hand tools isn't so bad. In bad fire conditions it sucks and is a really good way to get hurt. I've been burned over on a dozer. Even the dozer isn't enough at times. In school they would tell us to plow as close to the fire as possible. By the book! That ain't terribly bright. The older guys that trained me on the job from experience had a saying. Plow far enough away that if you hang up on a stump or get a big wind shift you have some time to react, "an acre or two of woods isn't worth your A$s".

 

[Turpentine21]

IIRC, Paradise, CA had a ban on clearing the "duff" (leaves, pine needles, dead limbs and undergrowth) from their property in "fear"(?) of disturbing Mother Nature"!
One resident told 'em "Pack sand!" and cleared his property. One of the few homes that didn't burn!

That is a proven recipe for disaster to leave literal tons of combustible fuel per acre close to a home! Prescribed fire on a rotation is the best way to lower the risk. At least then we burn it on our terms. When God and Mother Nature burn on their terms, usually bad terms, there's not much we can do about it!.