California rim fire

[Larry Wong]

Video of California Rim fire from the air.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/08/27/216036318/stunning-video-pilots-view-of-californias-rim-fire

[Bill Little]

I really hate to gear of the wild fires in California.  We have some large areas of forest which have had fires before and it is scary.  There is a large preserve about 15 miles away and when there have been wild fires there, we get a fairly heavy layer of smoke drifting in.  Occasionally they have come close enough to warrant evacuation.

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

[john e. holliday]

Where are the water bombers?   It may be spectacular to some people, but to me unless it was started by mother nature it is a waste of forest land.  Also the wild creatures that live there are losing their home..

[Brett Buck]

Where are the water bombers?   It may be spectacular to some people, but to me unless it was started by mother nature it is a waste of forest land.  Also the wild creatures that live there are losing their home..

     Many of those trees require a fire to reproduce. Part of the reason the fire is so hot and so extensive is that previous fire-fighting efforts have left an abnormal amount of undergrowth and other flammable debris. There is a legitimate debate over whether or not we should actually start fires to manage the forest. It's complicated by the fact that there are a lot of homes in the area, that's primarily why they fight the fires in the first place.

    Brett

[FLOYD CARTER]

Every few years, people in the valleys NW of L.A. get burned out.  They just collect insurance and rebuild on the same site.

F.C.

[EddyR]

I live in a forest. Trees 70+ft tall 12ft from the house. One tree is 3" from my deck. I removed all small trees and large bushes back from the house 10 years ago. I had a large branch fall on my work building this spring and I was in it at the time. I thought it was coming through the roof. It was up there till last week. Here is my back yard this summer and if a fire came through the tree tops my house would be gone in minutes. I noticed part of the large tree branch is still on the roof in the picture.
Ed

[john e. holliday]

Even here in the prairie states we have what is controlled burning in the early part of the year.   It not only gets rid of dead weeds/grasses it helps the new grass with the ash that is left.