LA Fires

[yohohoCrimbo]

Sorry if this has been done before (I couldn't find any threads), but how on EARTH has such devastation occurred in LA?

One of the richest country in the world and their emergency response was rendered useless.

One resident thought he'd see
More water drops from the sky and barely heard the planes overhead - the biggest fire was near the coast!

I'm baffled and feel awful for these people, but without sounding monumentally thick, how the hell has this inferno caused so much damage? Where was the military? The air support?

Just to piggy back on your question, weren't there wildfires a few years ago in the same place?

I remember watching The Affair (great show btw) and there being wildfires and it reflecting current events

I read there's been around an inch of rain since last May. Everything dry as a bone and winds to blow it around was a terrible combination. I have a good friend there keeping me updated - it looks really awful. It'll take days to put them all out

The houses are made of wood and the winds were over 50mph. Its absolutely devastating and heartbreaking.

What would the military or air support have achieved? You can't get up in the air in the face of the winds (and the downdraft) they are experiencing and on the ground they are doing the best they can with essentially matchstick houses. It's horrific, but you also have to understand the climate there - dry desert air reduces humidity and things dehydrate very quickly, making them hugely susceptible to fire.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ewe4p9128o

A) there are several other threads and B) the same winds that caused the fires to spread so rapidly made it dangerous for planes to fly over and drop water.

Thanks. That makes sense.

I just imagined more planes overhead, a tested system in place - especially the coastal area - where sea water could be pumped.

So devastating.

Thanks - again, I'm learning. Makes sense but still so, so baffling.

No worries, but the winds there are wicked at the moment. The fire service on the ground have said there is no chance of fully putting the fires out until the wind drops, so you can imagine how dangerous it would be to get low-flying planes up there to drop water from overhead.

I remember the Marseille fires many years ago when the pompiers were up there dropping water and were literally praying that the winds wouldn't whip up as it would be impossible to do their job then and they would just have to almost wait and watch. My ex-boyfriend's family were from a place called La Montade and you could see where the fire stopped at the end of their street only because the rain started, unbelievably scary.