It's amazing that so much media attention was given to the fires here in So Cal and next to nothing about the horrendously huge fires in British Columbia this summer. At one point there were 1124 big fires in the province, so many that the army was called out and anyone who had ever did logging work was asked travel to help cut firelines. The lists of toasted towns up there is shocking.
I met a couple on Vancouver Island who were watching a popular Forestry camp site on the Johnstone Strait. They had took in friends of the family who lost everything at Kelowna, and brought them with them to meet me. We chatted about the size and speed of the raging fire, that they lost house and business, which they then capped with a philosophical shrug and "well, these things happen." They wanted to hear about my trip down the inland passage. Well, I was so moved I couldn't speak. My heart is to those in BC. I wish I was closer to open my home to many many victims up there.

Not to downplay the fires here in So Cal, but the extent of damage was due to planners and regulators caving in to developers and market pressures, and the public at large. We're on this particularly flammable environement called coastal sage habitat. Mama Nature designed it to burn and regrow. For the most part the homes lost were within one or two streets of canyons and large open spaces. The only fire breaks ever cut are by the military on the bases (the only really large open spaces anymore). From spring to fall homeowners are urged by local goverment via media and mailers to cut 30 foot firebreaks around their homes, and subsidies are available to re-roof your home. Hardly anyone bothers. I watched a little of the coverage on TV while working on Dave's yak and am constantly amazed by the stupidity of people. The real winners are the jackass public who jammed the cell network yakking on their cells (a large number of repeaters were burned), ran their ACs (many grids and lines went down or were lost, and power surges were intense), and sprayed their roofs with water (water pressure drop on mains varied from 20 pounds to zero). The media didn't help with the sensationalizing of the events, and that's all it was, very little useful information. The biggest idiots were the local government types who were spending time responding to media then thinking and acting-or just stying out of the way with their mouth closed and let the experts do the talking. The SD County Sheriff made a statement that was so friggin stupid that I think should get some kind of award. This admin pogue Kollender (a pompous SOB) said on TV to use the 911 system for evacuation information or report the progress of the fire. Didn't take long to overwhelm that system. The screw-ups were many. Can't wait to look into it.

Rikki contacted the Red Cross to offer the San Diego home to a family who needs a place to live. So, we have a list of families needing a place to stay till they get resettled. It's amazing that with all that the US has, the Red Cross was ecstatic that we're offering a home. Not many are doing that.

Oh, well, we have part of the day to work on the yak, before getting the house ready for our guests. Better get to it.

: This morning on BBC news (I'm in the UK) they said 13 people have alreaady
: died. As a former range type firefighter I can say range fires are nothing
: to mess with, even going so far as to create their own weather when large
: enough. The type of terrain and vegetation make it that much worse. A fire
: can burn up a canyon at well over 100 mph. If it is in chaparel (sp) the
: wind can switch and it will burn through just as fast and just as hot as
: it did the first time. I hope they have the presence of mind to get out
: while they can.