PurpleAir site seems to post readings much higher then Airnow, even though the same low cost sensors data is involved. This is from https://fire.airnow.gov
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Apple Donating Additional Funds to Firefighting Efforts on the West Coast
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At Big Basin State park it was explained that the native Indians used to set fires in the forest to restart the whole cycle of life in the forest. It brought the insects back and larger and larger animals. Redwoods naturally are resistant to Fires.
see To Manage Wildfire, California Looks To What Tribes Have Known All Along - NPR
On a cool February morning, around 60 people gathered in the Sierra Nevada foothills to take part in a ceremony that, for many decades, was banned.
Men and women from Native American tribes in Northern California stood in a circle, alongside university students and locals from around the town of Mariposa. Several wore bright yellow shirts made of flame-resistant fabric. For the next two days, the group would be carefully lighting fires in the surrounding hills.
Also sprinkled throughout the crowd were officials from the state government, which a century ago had largely prohibited California's tribes from continuing their ancient practice of controlled burns.
Fire has always been part of California's landscape. But long before the vast blazes of recent years, Native American tribes held annual controlled burns that cleared out underbrush and encouraged new plant growth.
Now, with wildfires raging across Northern California, joining other record-breaking fires from recent years, government officials say tackling the fire problem will mean bringing back "good fire," much like California's tribes once did.
"We don't put fire on the ground and not know how it's going to turn out," Ron Goode, tribal chairman of the North Fork Mono, tells the group. "That's what makes it cultural burning, because we cultivate."
But fire suppression has only made California's wildfire risk worse. Without regular burns, the landscape grew thick with vegetation that dries out every summer, creating kindling for the fires that have recently destroyed California communities. Climate change and warming temperatures make those landscapes even more fire-prone.
So, tribal leaders and government officials are forging new partnerships. State and federal land managers have hundreds of thousands of acres that need careful burning to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires. Tribes are eager to gain access to those ancestral lands to restore traditional burning.
"This is old land," Goode tells the circle. "It's been in use for thousands and thousands of years. And so what we're doing out here is restoring life."
This US Government policy of not allowing underbrush to be cleared out with Smoky the Bear campaigns is at the heart of why some of the current freak lightning created forest fires are raging out of control in California. You're suppose to let nature work, not artificially prevent all fires for the last several decades as the US Forestry service dictated.
But he is correct in saying so. It's not humor. Supposedly, small fires are useful and need to occur, but we put them out over the years, so the vegetation gets to a state where it's overgrown and now when a fire takes place it quickly gets out of control. Plus, with climate change, the vegetation becomes extremely dry and will easily catch fire. It doesn't help when people build their houses in what is practically a forest area. What's really bad is many insurance companies are no longer insuring those houses because it is such a high risk for them.
This was on DaringFireball yesterday - said to be unedited/uncorrected drone footage (with music added):
I alway wonder in todays world with all the technology people get surprised about natural occurrences, I won't call them natural disasters. If you live in a forest you get forest fires, if you live in a earth quake zone you get earth quakes, if you live by a volcano we are not pompai cities from 3000 years ago, if you live in tornado alley you get tornado and if you live on the eastern seaboard you get hurricanes and storm surges. And where I live you don't get any of that but maybe an occasional blizzard and that is about it. It is not 200 ago where we don't know things can happen. United States is huge you don't have to live in these high event areas. The people who do want FEMI to bail them out because they don't carry the right insurance where they live.
At Big Basin State park it was explained that the native Indians used to set fires in the forest to restart the whole cycle of life in the forest. It brought the insects back and larger and larger animals. Redwoods naturally are resistant to Fires.
see To Manage Wildfire, California Looks To What Tribes Have Known All Along - NPR
On a cool February morning, around 60 people gathered in the Sierra Nevada foothills to take part in a ceremony that, for many decades, was banned.
Men and women from Native American tribes in Northern California stood in a circle, alongside university students and locals from around the town of Mariposa. Several wore bright yellow shirts made of flame-resistant fabric. For the next two days, the group would be carefully lighting fires in the surrounding hills.
Also sprinkled throughout the crowd were officials from the state government, which a century ago had largely prohibited California's tribes from continuing their ancient practice of controlled burns.
Fire has always been part of California's landscape. But long before the vast blazes of recent years, Native American tribes held annual controlled burns that cleared out underbrush and encouraged new plant growth.
Now, with wildfires raging across Northern California, joining other record-breaking fires from recent years, government officials say tackling the fire problem will mean bringing back "good fire," much like California's tribes once did.
"We don't put fire on the ground and not know how it's going to turn out," Ron Goode, tribal chairman of the North Fork Mono, tells the group. "That's what makes it cultural burning, because we cultivate."
But fire suppression has only made California's wildfire risk worse. Without regular burns, the landscape grew thick with vegetation that dries out every summer, creating kindling for the fires that have recently destroyed California communities. Climate change and warming temperatures make those landscapes even more fire-prone.
So, tribal leaders and government officials are forging new partnerships. State and federal land managers have hundreds of thousands of acres that need careful burning to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires. Tribes are eager to gain access to those ancestral lands to restore traditional burning.
"This is old land," Goode tells the circle. "It's been in use for thousands and thousands of years. And so what we're doing out here is restoring life."
This US Government policy of not allowing underbrush to be cleared out with Smoky the Bear campaigns is at the heart of why some of the current freak lightning created forest fires are raging out of control in California. You're suppose to let nature work, not artificially prevent all fires for the last several decades as the US Forestry service dictated.
It's completely unrealistic to think that we can do controlled burns throughout millions of acres of dry land in the western part of America. Could it help in some areas? Sure. But you're completely ignoring the fact as to why we have so many fires to begin with. 85% of wildfires being causing my humans and exacerbated by climate change isn't exactly letting nature do it's work. Freak lightning? You mean like the freak lightning that caused the El Derado fire that's isn't even 50% contained? https://www.nbclosangeles.com/local...ender-reveal-party-burns-12610-acres/2426368/
It's nice that Apple is civic minded and willing to donate money to these massive efforts, but it bothers me at the same time. This is government work toward a public good that should be paid for out of taxes, not private donations. Does this mean California now has a vested interest in the success of Apple? I mean, if Apple falls on hard times, who's going to protect the people from disaster? Does this mean governments will tend to favor massive corporations that can donate millions over lots of little companies that can't? What about all of the smaller events that happen but don't get the global attention necessary for phone maker to step in.
It seems like this just leads to a broken set of services and begs for bias in the application of those services.
It seems like this just leads to a broken set of services and begs for bias in the application of those services.
Pyrotechnic smoke devices used for gender reveal need to be banned. El Dorado Fire was accidentally started in that manner.
Exactly my point. Like the article said, 85% of all wildfires are started by humans in a variety of manners. Not freak lightning events. Just look at the Camp Fire from 2018. Started by downed transmission lines. Completely preventable.
I was going to say the exact same topics. Plus, do the governments now become lazy and purposely underfund firefighting because they know when there's a fire companies will donate? Citizens need to learn that their taxes MUST pay for these services because if the taxes do not, the citizens are not aware of the threats and costs. If I lived in CA near these areas I would want to understand this threat and voice my concerns (and vote) about properly funding to keep this problem under control. Otherwise, we become lackadaisical.
I also do not understand how pumping a million(s) bucks into firefighting is going to help in the next 24+ hours. It's not like 1000 new firefighters are going to materialize out of thin air...or that 6 billion gallons of water are suddenly going to drop on the fires. The money that gets invested (whether from donations or taxes) is long term...hiring people, doing controlled burns, doing more research, developing new chemicals and/or methods/best practices, public awareness and education, etc.
Trying to imagine how big of a rake one would need to cleanup 20 Million acres of Federally managed National Forests Which is 60% of forests in California. Change your news sources.
Focused faux rage, ignoring all the other large corporations and CEO’s that didn’t issue something acceptable to you.
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Indeed. Here's more.
It's unfortunate that we lose so much of the environment due to careless human activity.
What an eyesore..
However, its only Apple doing the donating in large sums... Where is other tech companies, governments etc ? Money helps, but i don't think they really need, its lack of support for more Firefighters. They been stretched to limits etc..
If more don't, money wont solve that problem.
I live about 15 miles west of one of the larger fires in Oregon. The air quality at one point this week was 465. Some of the Purple monitors were reporting 800s and 900s, but I don’t think they’re accurate.
Here’s a shot of the sky at 5:30 PM on Wednesday:
Here’s the same shot taken Thursday around the same time:
Here’s a shot of the sky at 5:30 PM on Wednesday:
Here’s the same shot taken Thursday around the same time:
Science fiction can solve a lot of problems.
I'm sure there are a tremendous number of short term expenses. I don't think the fire crews are all full time employees waiting for a fire, I know a lot of fire crews are brought in across state lines, there's a lot of fuel consumed for aircraft and vehicles, vehicle maintenance, etc. Then all consumables need to be restocked.
And the year isn't over yet, so there is probably some pressure to hold back on spending now in order to have funds remaining in the future.