We're burning up!

[David]

Originally Posted by estranged4life

Sending you my thoughts, I have family throughout California, so I am concerned about these fires.

Where in CA, Brian?

Southern CA fires will continue to destroy homes every year because residential development itself spreads like a wildfire. I'm not anti-development by any means, but I'm just saying this sort of disaster is inevitable, given three inevitable things:

1. Low rainfall is typical -- not atypical -- for Southern CA. The result is that our coastal hills & valleys are covered with dry brush, like chaparral & scrub oak. It makes superb kindling.

2. The Santa Anas are a constant feature of our weather. They're warm & dry & very powerful & super-efficient at fanning flames & transporting cinders.

3. Each year, more & more areas that were once nothing but wilderness are turned into residential areas, with homes & schools & shopping centers. Take the Irvine/Foothill Ranch fire: Most of the development in that region is new. The huge tracts of homes along Portola & Sand Canyon, for example, were built only in the past five to seven years. I used to drive that way to the freeway (I-5) & I remember when it was a drive through fields of strawberries & a county dump.