Calif. fire started as `controlled burn`

[RedEarth]

Calif. fire started as `controlled burn`
By UPI
Feb 8, 2006, 19:00 GMT



ANAHEIM, CA, United States (UPI) -- A southern California brushfire that has destroyed 6,500 acres of land was started last week by a U.S. Forest Service controlled burn in Orange County.

By Tuesday night, 950 firefighters had only contained about 10 percent of the fire, which has forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 homes, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

U.S. Forest Service Chief Richard Hawkins apologized and said future controlled burns in the Cleveland National Forest would be put on hold until an investigation was completed.

\'I am very regretful of the situation I find myself in tonight,\' Hawkins said. \'The fact that nobody`s home burned down and no one`s been killed, that`s a godsend.\'

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/printer_1095915.php

[sasha031]

1. I posted this earlier

I am shocked and saddened, what kind of people do we have working in the government or am I missing something here. Setting fires is a practice of the Fire Service!

[tatertop]

3. is that crazy or what?

[Bacchus39]

6. Controlled burns are done all the time

n/t

[havocmom]

12. Yep. If not done regularly, fuel builds up and then there would be

mega fires with no hope of containment. The much of the chaparral in Southern Calif has oily plants which burn very hot and ignite very easily. Left to grow unabated, there would be so much fuel to burn that the place would go up and not ever stop until everything was gone.

Controlled burns and managed clearing is a better bet. But when those Santa Anas come up out of season, the wind gets bad fast.

[mike_c]

7. of course it is-- southern California is a fire dependent ecology....

Fires burn, and even the best predictions can't account for unseasonable conditions. This is the normal time of year for setting managed fires to maintain ecosytem health in Western forests and shrublands.

[democracyindanger]

9. Native Americans used controlled fires

for thousands of years before European settlers arrived. The practice is hardly new.

[pinniped]

2. They probably let it go out of control so the lumber nuts....

could pursue more logging of these baaaaaad fire hazard trees.

[sasha031]

4. yes, I suspect they are politicized as well

isn't starting fires suppose to be a felony!

[pinniped]

5. The POS* has a hard-on for forest fires and trees.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2094479

WP/AP: Congressman wants probe of logging study

Washington Post/AP
Congressman wants probe of logging study
February 8, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Accusing the Bush administration of manipulating science for political ends, a congressman is calling for an investigation into why federal funding was suspended for a study that did not support White House calls for more logging after wildfires.

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., asked the Interior Department's inspector general to examine whether the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was punishing researchers from Oregon State University for their findings.
----

[revkat]

11. no trees here

ummm, it may be called the Cleveland National Forest, but there aren't many trees in it. Mostly grass and scrub brush. Logging isn't an issue.

[havocmom]

13. Thanks for fielding that one, revkat. And welcome to DU!

People don't always understand that "National Forest" is a designation and protection, not a description.

Grass and scrub it is... and the sort with oily components which burn hot and easily.

[pinniped]

18. Regardless, I fully expect them to use this to further their agenda.

.

[Lorien]

15. Lumber nuts are partly to blame; they plant and encourage planting

fast growing pines that go up like Roman candles when hit by lightning or flame, unlike dense old growth trees which burn very slowly. If "controlled burns" were necessary to sustain every forest, then there would be no such thing as a 300 year old oak, let alone a giant redwood.

[Psephos]

16. There are no lumber stands in this area

It's chapparal country - think mesquite and scrub brush. For millions of years, it has burned regularly, and the biota is adapted to that.

If anyone's to blame, it's those who insist on building homes in chapparal environments, and then want fire suppression.

I do get tired of everything having to be someone's fault, though. What a moribund way of understanding the world. Just my opinion.

Peace.

[Cha]

8. I almost had my house burned down

by a "controlled fire" in Asheville, North Carolina in the '70's! I went down the hill behind my house when I smelled and then saw all the Smoke and shouted to the firemen..they said, "we know"..I said, "do you know about that one(pointing to another fire in the direction of my house) and they said "NO!" and starting running for damage control. Maybe not a good thing to do on a windy day.

As I was running back to my house to get the Montessori kids to safety.. I was thinking about all the stuff that would go up in flames. The parents saw the blackened back yard when they came for their offspring that day. We were Very Lucky! Whew!

[Megahurtz]

10. Good one! I'm choking here!

:o

[951-Riverside]

14. I believe most brush fires are started by fire fighters....

...and they are not all controlled burns :)

[leesa]

17. Controlled by whom for what purpose?