Free Republic

<p>The far-right populist leader initially dismissed the hundreds of blazes and then questioned whether activist groups might have started the fires in an effort to damage the credibility of his government, which has called for looser environmental regulations in the world’s largest rainforest to spur development.</p>

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has ordered a halt to federal emergency funds for California to fight wildfires and manage its forests unless officials in the western U.S. state can "get their act together." "Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forrest fires that, with proper Forrest (sic) Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!" Trump wrote on Twitter. Insurance claims from the recent spate of California wildfires, including one...

FRENCH MEADOWS RESERVOIR, Calif.—Obscured amid the chaos of California’s latest wildfire outbreak is a striking sign of change that may help curtail future devastating infernos. After decades of butting heads, some environmentalists and logging supporters have largely come to agreement that forests need to be logged to be saved. The current fires are hitting populated areas along the edges of forests and brush lands, including the 142,000-acre Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County. That now ranks as the most deadly and destructive in state history, killing at least 71 people, leaving hundreds missing and destroying more than 9,800 homes....

President Trump toured the devastation caused by the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history and said he would press for better forest management to prevent future infernos. Speaking to reporters alongside the ashes of a neighborhood in Paradise, Calif., Mr. Trump hailed the efforts of law-enforcement officials and first responders who continue to work to contain the blaze and help victims. “What can you say other than it’s so sad to see? These are great people. Great families, torn apart.” Mr. Trump told reporters after witnessing the devastation in Malibu, his final stop on the trip. “This has...

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a measure allowing utilities to bill their customers to pay for future legal settlements stemming from devastating 2017 wildfires. Brown announced Friday he'd signed the bill, which is aimed at preventing bankruptcy for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The massive utility faces billions of dollars in liability if investigators determine its equipment caused the Tubbs Fire that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 22 people in Santa Rosa last year. The measure is the most hotly contested part of a wide-ranging plan to reduce the growing threat of wildfires.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 Oregon is used to two to five hundred square mile forest fires with their blast furnace heat, but it has never had one race through a community like the Paradise CA fire. Oregon is the American Outback where there are only four million people living in over a hundred thousand square miles. Most of the state except the western one third is barely populated so forest fires only destroy forests not people and houses. When the...

Historic levels of particles in the atmosphere released from pre-industrial era fires, and their cooling effect on the planet, may have been significantly underestimated according to a new study. Historic levels of particles in the atmosphere released from pre-industrial era fires, and their cooling effect on the planet, may have been significantly underestimated according to a new study. Fires cause large amounts of tiny particles, known as aerosols, to be released into the atmosphere. These aerosols, such as the soot in smoke or chemicals released by burning trees, can cool the planet by reflecting sunlight back into space and increasing...

FYI, .@realDonaldTrump! “...guess who owns much of the forest land in CA? Your federal agencies. CA only owns 2%. Guess who cut funding to forest management in the budget? YOU DID.” ~@tedlieu https://t.co/aXRArq6Tu8— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 10, 2018

... Governor Jerry Brown keeps lecturing Californians that they need to adapt to a new “climate normal,” yet the state government has done little to prepare for warmer and drier times if that is the future. Lawmakers instead have subordinated fire prevention to pleasing the green lobby. Nearly 130 million trees in the state have died from drought, providing fuel for fast-spreading fires, and about half of the state’s 33 million acres of forestland needs restoration. The Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency, explained in a February report that “a century of fire suppression remains firmly entrenched within...

...The Holy Fire, which had exploded from 75 to 700 acres within an hour Monday afternoon, was threatening recreation structures in the area of Trabuco Creek and Holy Jim Canyon roads, according to the United State Forest Service. It had consumed more than 1,200 acres by 5:40 p.m., with zero percent containment. At 8:19 p.m., the Cleveland National Forest's official Twitter account said the Holy Fire had grown to 4,000 acres with zero percent containment, meaning the blaze had more than tripled in size in fewer than three hours.

Just back from Ore.

... Loath to let a natural disaster go to political waste, the California Air Resources Board used the fires to promote a new climate-change “scoping plan” aimed at doubling the rate at which it cuts carbon emissions. The irony is that the emissions from wildfires could negate all of the state’s anticarbon policies. A 2007 study in the journal Carbon Balance and Management found that California’s wildfires in 2003, which burned more than 750,000 acres, produced the monthly carbon equivalent of about half of the state’s fossil-fuel burning sources. Ditto the state’s September 2006 wildfires. On average the state’s annual...

Sam Krop’s characterization of catastrophic wildfire on public and privately owned forest lands (guest viewpoint, Oct. 4) doesn’t match the reality of what Oregon experienced this summer. But I can see why Cascadia Wildlands and other special interest groups oppose solutions such as the Resilient Federal Forests Act. These bills untie the hands of our federal land managers, and provide them with more tools and resources to restore the health of our public forests, before and after a fire. Has “hands-off” forest management reduced the size and severity of forest fires? Are we choking on less wildfire smoke every summer?...

<p>The unprecedented hurricanes that have hit Texas and Florida, and the wildfires that have rampaged across California, seem to be pushing some reluctant conservatives from climate change skepticism to acceptance of reality. If so, that's great, because they're uniquely positioned to do something about it.</p>

The Western US is facing cataclysmic forest fires, at least one started by idiot boys throwing fireworks in Eagle Creek area, near Multnomah Lodge, in the COLUMBIA GORGE - a greenie paradise. I-84 is closed near Multnomah Files to Exit 62, just west of Hood River. MONTANA www.ktvq.comNW Fires www.arcgis.comOREGON List of fires www.inciweb.nwcg.gov> IDAHO List of fires www.inciweb.nwcg.gov> CALIFORNIA List of fires www.inciweb.nwcg.gov> WASHINGTON List of fires www.inciweb.nwcg.gov>

While noodling around youtube, I came across this interesting video and I immediately thought of the fire in Tennessee.

As Tennessee battles raging wildfires, forcing an evacuation of thousands of people, a number of people on Twitter are mocking their plight, suggesting residents there deserve it for voting for Donald Trump. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, the epicenter of the wildfires because of their proximity to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, are popular holiday resorts for conservative and Christian families from the region. The towns have a number of attractions and wholesome family activities, including Dollywood. Some of the tweets, instead of expressing horror, are declaring “let them burn” and “too bad it’s not the whole state burning.” The tweeters...

A roaring 500-acre fire is threatening structures in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where officials have ordered mandatory evacuations. Roads near Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed, as firefighters battle the flames and gusty winds. There have been no fatalities so far, but three burn victims are in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, the Tennessean reported. Officials suspect arson in the fire, which started over the weekend. More than 100 structures have been destroyed by the massive fire, including the home of Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner.

Climate change is all-purpose excuse for Big Green and federal misfeasance and malfeasance Special: Do This Before Bed And You'll Never Need Gym (Once Daily) First the Obama EPA came for coal mines, coal-fired power plants, miners, workers, investors, and all who depend on reliable, affordable electricity. Then the EPA, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and other agencies came after oil and gas drilling and fracking, and the workers, industries and families that need petroleum. They’re also targeting farming, ranching, airlines and manufacturing. It’s all to stop “dangerous manmade climate change,” rising seas, warmer and colder weather, wetter and...

CHILILI — U.S. Forest Service officials on Friday confirmed Journal reports that the cause of the Dog Head Fire in the Manzano Mountains was tied to a federally funded wildland brush and wood clearing effort designed to prevent fires. Specifically they said the 18,000 acre blaze was started by a masticator, a forest thinning or brush cutting machine. The clearing effort — known as the Collaborative Landscape Restoration Project — is a joint effort of Isleta Pueblo, Forest Service and Chilili Land Grant. An Isleta crew was working the masticator in the area the day the fire started and members...