California has one of the most severe wildland fire problems in the world. Population, vegetation, topography, and climate all play key roles in the probability of a wildfire occurring. In other words, it’s not a matter of “if” a wildfire will occur, but it’s a matter of “when.” In California, more and more people are choosing to live in communities near wildlands. These wildlands are composed of highly flammable vegetation which can be explosive. The topography of California is very diverse, consisting of slopes, canyons, and valleys. As we know, heat rises which allows a fire that may start below a slope to travel quickly to the top. Climate or weather patterns play a significant role as well, such as high temperature, relative humidity, …show more content…
Thirty years after FIRESCOPE was developed, California endured the worst wildfire in history. In 2003, the Cedar Fire burned in San Diego County for weeks, burned 273,246 acres, destroyed 2,820 structures, and killed 14 people, including one firefighter (Cal Fire, n.d.). The Cedar Fire started later in the day, inhibiting aircraft from making water and fire retardant drops. Temperatures remained high and humidity low during the evening. Santa Anna winds continued to blow fiercely throughout the night, though they typically die down during the evening. The Cedar Fire was not the only fire burning, there were several other fires burning in California, limiting resources to San Diego County (CDF, 2004). The size of the fire crossed city and county jurisdictions requiring a multiple agency response, but coordination and communication was difficult due agencies not being fully equipped to response amongst each other (CDF, 2004). The fire not only raged through the wildlands of San Diego County, but destroyed planned communities and businesses, closed freeways, suspended flights, and even cancelled Monday Night Football (which was to be held at Qualcomm Stadium), since the stadium was being used as the main evacuation center (Dillion, 2003). The Cedar Fire was the worst case scenario, but many lessons were
For this assignment, I reviewed the Great Fire of Chicago that occurred on October 8, 1871. A man-made hazard that has a lot of similarities to this fire would be the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. This fire happened on March 25, 1911, and was one of the most notorious industrial fires that have occurred in the United States. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire happened in the Asch Building located in downtown Manhattan. There were around 230-275 workers distributed throughout two floors when the fire broke out at quitting time.
Lastly, both fires led to dramatic changes in safety codes and modifications to building, like having wider hallways, an evacuation plan and open exits at all
Putnam’s and Sanchez’s movie Burn expresses their views that the Detroit fire department simply doesn’t have enough manpower, funds, and also too many acts of arson throughout the city. The Detroit Fire Department is facing a seemingly unwinnable battle throughout the barren landscape of abandoned buildings throughout Detroit. This documentary uses explicit details on how the many fires happening per year are a risk, especially without proper numbers and proper equipment. The directors of this documentary use a technique to make it appear apocalyptic, and that the city has no hope and will eventually meet its demise by flames unless further action is taken. This film can persuade viewers to feel sorrow for the firefighters and the future
Sherpa fire in Santa Barbara grows to 4,000 acres overnight, putting about 140 homes at risk and closing down major freeways according to federal officials. The fire started on Wednesday afternoon on coastal hills north of Santa Barbara. It had moved through overgrown hillsides and canyons that have not been burned in over 60 years because of the hot and dry weather and notorious “sundowner” winds. Sundowners, similar to Santa Ana winds, fuel many of the fires in the Santa Barbara County.
Sooner or later, the city was burnt to the ground. A couple days later, the fire stopped. There was a lot of people effected and a lot of damage done. The city builders learned their lesson. There was no warning from humans that there was going to be a fire, but one from nature.
Over the past few weeks, many wildfires have been ravaging Northern California, ranging from the city of Santa Rosa to Sonoma. These fires have led to more than 5,700 structures and 213,000 acres being burned, resulting in detrimental effects to the environment. Author Kirk Johnson spreads awareness about the issue of detrimental effects caused by the recently burned homes through his use of logic and reasoning, while also comparing past catastrophic events to the recent California fires. The article begins with an image of “people digging into the ashes of their burned homes without gloves, wearing only shorts and T-shirts, [which] survived California’s horrific wildfires.”
The Cocoanut Grove fire was one of the deadliest nightclub fires in the United States I will be using this as an event that serves as a catalyst for change in the fire community, And I also believe it had a major impact and many positive changes when it came to the fire service and how we implement are regulations, codes, overall fire prevention and firefighting. But first I am really going to tell you what happened that night at the Cocoanut grove and how all these changes happened and what changes were done to the betterment of the fire service. Over 490 people were killed and hundreds injured at the night club. This massive inferno happened a little over 10:00 p.m. on November 28, 1942. The death toll was attributed to locked exit doors,
Even buildings that claimed to be fire proof were destroyed. The fire killed hundreds of people and destroyed almost the entire city. Even though the fire was one of the largest disasters in U.S history, Chicago reborn from the ashes and build again making the city one of the most
There is a debate about using prescribed fires. Prescribed fires are fires that help reduce the catastrophic damage that wildfire creates. prescribed fires work most of the time, but they can be faulty at some points. That's why some people don't agree with using prescribed fires. Even though they sometimes don't work, they can be really helpful when they do work.
Earth, the home to humans, animals, and all of biological diversity, experiences changes every second of every day, and these changes are referred to as biological altercations. Biological altercations, like the Santa Ana winds, are commonly disputed among society due to both the positive and negative outcomes of the altercations. The Santa Ana winds are extremely dry winds that affect Southern California and are known to cause wildfires. Individuals like Joan Didion argue that a Santa Ana brings darkness and danger, whereas other individuals like Linda Thomas argue that it brings beauty and value. Each side of this dispute is discussed in Linda Thomas’ essay “Brush Fire”, and
Hazards in California A disaster hotspot is a place at risk from 2 or more hazards; California is at risk from 6 hazards: droughts, wild fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and volcanoes Droughts Droughts are becoming more frequent in California in the years between 2000 and 2013, 43% of these years have suffered a drought however from 1906 to 1999 only 31% of these years have suffered a drought this proves that the frequency of droughts is going up. They are also caused by La Nina which effects are getting more severe. Wild fires As droughts have become more frequent so have wild fires from 1980 to 1989 on average there was 140 wildfires now from 2000 to 2012 they have 250 wildfires.
Local fire chief Roy Wayne Moseley who responded to the fire says that this is one of the worst residential fires they have seen but
The fire was alive till September 6, and many people called it the worst fire ever in
The coastal areas that are near slopes and hills are at risk of mudflows and landslides (California Coastal Commission, 1995). A wildfire can weaken the soil and if a storm was to come, the soil could easily be weakened further and cause a landslide or mudflow (California Coastal Commission, 1995). This drought and upcoming El Niño combined can make the soil very weak whether it is through wildfires or precipitation (California Coastal Commission, 1995). Living in the highlands can help protect residents from flooding, but puts them at the risk of landslides or mudflows (California Coastal Commission, 1995). Mudflows (also referred to as debris flows) are hazardous because they carry debris downslope that can severely damage homes and possibly endanger lives for those that live at the bottom of the slope (California Geological Survey,
Since most of the buildings was made out of wood the fire burned it easily and spreaded quick.(”Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the fire, but other theories is that humans or even a meteor might have been responsible for the event that left an area in flames’’).(McHugh, Janet. ebscohost)