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Faz's avatar

Thanks, Sharyl. But you are missing the point. Don't you realize that climate change is responsible for those faulty transformers, unmaintained power lines, untrimmed trees, leaning poles, and all those poor people who light fires for fun? We definitely need a new vaccine that targets the novel climate change virus. WHO to the rescue?

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Marilyn F's avatar

A fire vaccine. Perfect. Maybe Fauci will come out of retirement?

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Daniel Mordue's avatar

I believe this is sarcasm.

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Marilyn F's avatar

Ya think?

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michael janket's avatar

Ah, yes. The truth has a bit of a bite, doesn't it?

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Tom S.'s avatar

No, it couldn't be.

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John's avatar

🤣👍🏼

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Surak's avatar

LOL

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TriTorch's avatar

There is more to this than you may realized Sharyl. In 2020 the number of people arrested for deliberately starting fires went through the roof, the public arrest records were very long. Destabilization is key to overthrowing an old system and replacing it with a new one.

Antifa dressed as firemen with gasoline cans Oregon 2020:

https://tritorch.com/degradation/!AntifaDressedAsFiremen.jpg

Arsonists Starting Forrest Fires In Oregon 2020

https://tritorch.com/degradation/ArsonistsStartingForrestFiresInOregon2020AntifaTactics.pdf

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Danimal28's avatar

Great piece. As a volunteer firefighter(night job) in the midwest I can only add from what I have read over the last three decades regarding Cali: government essentially mandating NO forest management 'conserving' Gaia and government completely overregulating the power companies and everything else.

The fire triangle is fuel-heat-oxygen and the fuel load is max due to no management.

https://canadafreepress.com/article/ca-gov.-jerry-brown-vetoed-2016-wildfire-management-bill-while-ca-burned

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KaiteeO's avatar

CA native. Grew up in So. Cal. There is nothing new about Santa Ana winds. They happen frequently. Not always with such ferocity but blow pretty hard.

Some possible holes in this explanation…the power companies de-energize their lines when they anticipate issues like these high winds. I believe that I read they had done that. So no power…no fire.

PGE has a technology that de-energizes a line if anything hits it. Would assume the others use that too. Again, no power, no fire.

Just an assumption if not PGE.

These fires ramped up in frequency within the past ten years, coinciding with steadily rising power bills(50 cents per kwh now, going up more as they constantly request increases which are always granted. In spite of billions in profits…must keep the stockholders happy ya know). Homeowners insurance has gone sky-high, with additional increases yearly, this year EVERYONE statewide will be charged an additional $500 because the state mandated last-resort company that many people have to use is insolvent.

Just seems deeply suspicious that power companies get the blame most always, and never have to pay damages TO THE VICTIMS(convenient scapegoat?), and the people get the shaft, as per usual.

Oh, and notice the beautiful forest in my photo where I was riding? Burnt to a crisp now. Adjacent to Yosemite Park. Yet another man-caused fire that was never explained.

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Kimpossible Truths's avatar

Then there was the fire in Stockton CA that burned like 84 homes resulting from a back surge in the power lines from a car knocking down a pole. The electrical smart meters on the homes exploded, because they are not properly grounded and that is what caused those homes to burn and put many thousands more out of power. I know this from a person who was personally involved in the case on the legal team. Then there is how all of the wireless radiation from cell towers and so much more change the chemistry of plants. It causes them to produce more terpenes making them more flammable. No one seems to be looking at the impacts of what the geo engineering chemicals are doing to plants and animals, other than perhaps Dane Wiggington of Geo Engineering Watch. I've been on zoom calls with Professor Olle Johansson one of the leading experts on EMF radiation in the world, hearing him say the problem is to get the studies we need to give definitive proof is almost impossible, no one will fund them. I guess they are making too much money selling us more iPhones and 5G and so much more. Couldn't let doing the right thing cut into profits could we.

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c Anderson's avatar

Goats. 🐐 Don’t give the arsonists fuel.

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John Stalmach's avatar

Of course there's climate change: it's been changing daily since it began. But puny man's efforts have little or nothing to do with it.

In my view, wildfires can be set off by ALL the methods listed in your article, but the primary reason is the lack of maintenance in clearing out brush. As another commenter noted: it takes fuel plus heat plus oxygen to get a fire going: seriously reduce the fuel load and wildfires will be minimal.

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Marilyn F's avatar

As I was speaking with a friend in LA I asked her what the reason for the fires might be. I named a few things, including brush on the floor of the forests. She snapped at me & asked, did you get that info from Fox News?

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michael janket's avatar

How does an arsonist learn about using DEW to start and proliferate fires? Paradise fire included DEW but the whole gig was covered up by the press. Amazing how many people are traitors. Meanwhile, Congress is napping when it comes to doing something of value to stem the tide of crime in this country.

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Julie's avatar

DEW

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Harry Power's avatar

Climate change is always going on. There is nothing unusual in the nature or rate of changes now going on. The problem w/all the huge wildfires of recent decades is not climate change, it's poor land management. It is possible to manage brush and timber to prevent the uncontrollable spread of flames. Blaming climate is only a modern form by which politicians evade responsibility by blaming the gods. Sacrifice the governor and mayor and the gods will be satisfied! And hang a few arsonists.

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Tom McMullan's avatar

Land/fuel management may be at the top of the major factors list, but it isn't lonely. Cutbacks meant firefighters weren't pre-positioned to snuff out smaller blazes before they became infernos, not that it would have helped given inadequate water supplies in both available gallon and psi.

And I've got a sneaky suspicion it's not so much that the power companies failed to trim things as it was they couldn't navigate the government red tape to execute the trimming.

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Julie's avatar

These are not wildfires. Lahaina was decimated, but the Banyan tree is still there. You look at Palisades fires and the shrubbery is still there. Blue cars weren’t home houses with blue roof. Were not burnt.

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Tmitsss's avatar

As the threat of the fires encroached on the campus, JPL closed its doors on 8 January to all but emergency response personnel. Following its long-standing fire protocols, the lab has kept its hillside campus clear of brush and other potential fuel for a fire, created firebreaks, maintained an on-site fire department, and kept close track of the materials and chemicals in all lab spaces.

https://eos.org/articles/jet-propulsion-laboratory-reopens-as-fire-recovery-continues

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Donald Johnson's avatar

You need to dig a little deeper and investigate how California policy decisions may have contributed to utility companies failure to maintain their equipment.

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Robert J Bugiada's avatar

Let's not forget the arson-caused Wine Country fire back in 2017. It killed 41 people.

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Julie's avatar

LA fires are not wildfires dew fires

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Mooon's avatar

Hi Sharyl. I have something you need to see. Please drop me a note at

mooonmail@protonmail.com

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Ocean Jones's avatar

Thanks! Excellent reporting. Definitely seemed like a bunch of arsonists. Climate change is real. Too many people in California. No leaders.

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