STORM2K

This really sux....with Californina having the worst fire season in recorded history, Az is in the same scenario.....it's downright scary

Shaun McKinnon and Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 28, 2003 12:00 AM


The combination of the drought, trees damaged by bark beetles and a weak monsoon have Arizona fire officials worried about the potential for a fall fire season in some parts of the state.

But we're missing the hot, dry, windy weather that has turned a smattering of small blazes in California into a string of deadly infernos.

"Hot, dry and windy, that's it, those are the key elements in driving fire behavior," said Tim Brown, the director of the climate and fire programs at the Desert Research Institute in Reno.

"If you get a wildfire and it's not windy and not too dry, the initial attack could be very successful."

Officials in Coconino National Forest outside Flagstaff say fire danger will remain high through the weekend, when a storm is expected.

Dry conditions and 20-mph winds over the weekend prompted the danger warning, said Coconino spokeswoman Raquel Poturalski.

"We're in the same conditions we were in June, but the temperatures are lower," she said. "It's the cumulative effect of the drought. It takes more than one good soaking to saturate those logs."

Wildfires devastated high-country communities on Mount Lemmon outside Tucson this year and along the Mogollon Rim in last year's "Rodeo-Chediski" fire.

Those communities shared traits with residential areas burned in California, including the proximity of dry trees and brush and widespread damage caused by bark beetles.

Both fires also burned at the height of Arizona's wildfire season, which typically begins in late April or early May and extends into early July, one of the driest periods in a year. The season most often ends with the onset of the monsoon in July, when the weather turns wetter.

California's fire season, in contrast, generally runs from late August through October.

"If you've got 25 to 30 mph winds, no matter how many resources you bring in on it, it's going to be a challenge to get it contained," Brown said.

The bark beetle infestation, which has ravaged forests in Arizona, California and across the Southwest, is a symptom of a forest's poor conditions, said John Anhold of the U.S. Forest Service in Flagstaff.

"In California, they have forests that are out of whack, that are unhealthy," he said.

"Sometimes the beetle outbreaks and fires never really come together and then sometimes they do."



Dennis

I can't imagine having to fear a fire season. It is just unheard of to me. Always wondering if someone will intentionally set a fire. I wish people would be more careful.

I would rather go through a cane than have to worry about a fire season.

Keeping you in my prayers Dennis that this fire season will be quiet!!

The people in CA are suffering right now because it is a reality for them. Hearts going out to them too.

It's ALL the DAMN environ"mentalists" fault......after all is said and done, I truly believe the radical environ*mental* movement will be OVER.....people will NOT put up with this kinda BS anymore, they need a OPEN HUNTING season on environmentalists!

Dennis

Not sure I understand your remark, Dennis. How are the enviromentalists responsible for this?

Well, here it is....the radical environ"mentalists" such as the Sierra Club, Southwest Center For Biological Diversity, The Forest Council, ELF, Forest Guardians (the list goes on) have filed injunctions against the USDA Forest Service, BLM to halt ALL thinning projects over the past 15 years....the result, VERY unhealthy, EXTREMELY overgrown, beetle infested forests. Presettlement conditions were 20-30 trees per acre, NOW.......were damn LUCKY if there are LESS than 300 trees per acre.

Dennis

I heard this last night on Fox Dennis. You are EXACTLY right about these groups. Save a tree at ALL costs. I wonder how many of thses brush fires could have been contained had there not been this incredible under-growth fueling the fires.

It is a terrible situation out in AZ and CA. I am hoping and praying that there is relief from the fire situation very soon (in the form of some steady, long lasting rain - which I know is much needed).

Well said Dennis. They cry "save a tree" but yet, they are willing to burn them all down? Talk about double standard!! They could careless about innocent people who lose their lives or their homes.

Someone here has a great sig. but can't remember who.

It says something about plastic toilet paper. lol. Great sig.

Forest Fires are part of natures cycle to thin trees. With the advent of man and the environmentalist groups we have gone so wacko protecting forest and what they term as "old growth" trees, that nature has stepped in to thin them back out. The forest literally choke themselves if not for logging or in this case, a big fire. If we don't allow some logging, then this type of thing will happen again.

i have a question, is this part of green peace? we have a lady down the street who is part of this group. i live in a fairly nice area and u should see her yard front and back. nothing but weed and piles of compote (sp) she got mad at my neighbor for cutting down 6 pine trees in his own yard. this group needs to get a grip. i dont know much about this group, buta r they part of it?????

Yes indeed Stormy, Green Peace has their hands in almost EVERY single forest thinning projects that come along.

Stormchazer, your EXACTLY right, fire in it's natural state is a WONDERFUL thing....it clears the forest floors of duff (dead pine needles, branches etc) and it also takes out the sick, diseased trees that these damn environ"mentalists" so dearly love. The pre settlement conditions in which I refer to quite often are a direct result of natures thinning process, fire.......now that these fruit loops have gotten involved and have shoved their so called *Forest Managment Plans* down our throats, the condition of our nations National Forests are beyond mans repair. In order to bring the forests back to pre European conditions, according the lastest studies conducted by the USDA, BLM, The University of Arizona and Professor Wally Covington of Northern Arizona University School of Forestry, it would take over 15 "YEARS" of logging and thinning, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. So, where does that leave us?? Mother Nature is taking care of things her way, like it not........and with the Urban Interface encroaching even further into what use to be open range, I'm afraid we will continue to see these kinds of infernos UNLESS we can put these IDIOTS in their spot, preferably in the path of these wildfires (sorry....this issue REALLY gets my goat!)

Here's a "GREAT, GREAT" website for those of you who really don't understand my position!

http://www.azfire.org/


Dennis

Well Dennis, I couldn't agree more, though I am sure we have had a discussion about those idiots in the past! I don't comprehend how they think they are "saving" ANYTHING!!! Tell me something, is saving their "precious" trees worth thousands of homes, innocent deaths and MILLIONS of dollars?! I didn't think so! I wish they would come to their senses and screw their heads on straight- if they knew ANYTHING about what they were "fighting" for, they would be on the other side of the battle!! God bless the families who are dealing with loss because of them!!!