[ExI] why worse necessarily?

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> 
Subject: Re: [ExI] why worse necessarily?

 

>…That's really interesting, Spike.

 

>…Ponderosa pines are fire-resistant, with thick bark, to low-level fires that burn out the needles and undergrowth. The ones in Arizona forests often have burn scars every ten years or so…

 

Ja, important observation Keith.  The ponderosas in the forest all have burn scars, as ground fires go thru every few years, a natural thing.  But… the neighborhood trees don’t have that blackened trunk, since fire doesn’t (ordinarily) go thru the residential areas.  That means the neighborhood trees have combustible material all the way down to the ground, rather than a layer of charred bark on the lower 20 ft.  

 

Second: neighborhood trees have reduced competition and plenty of water, perfectly ideal growing conditions.  Those trees that caused this catastrophe were all healthy trees (beetle infested trees are regularly identified and removed.) The remaining ponderosas (after the developer thinned them) had grown very tall in the 37 years that neighborhood was there.  The residents knew they were a ticking timebomb.  Some removed their pines, others did not.  All burned and took about 400 homes with them. 

 

>… was looking at perhaps $2000 to take them down …

 

A neighborhood association raised money by donation to take down pines if the homeowner couldn’t afford it.  My FIL, who doesn’t have a lot of money, kicked in several hundred bucks.  The effort didn’t get enough of them down.

 

>…Ponderosas are lovely trees; it is not hard to see why people want to live among them…

 

That I will freely admit.  I am a tree hugger myself.  But in that setting, they need to come down.

 

>…But they are definitely a fire hazard, though maybe not as bad as the eucalyptus that burned in the big Oakland fire…

 

If one has never smelled the smoke from a eucalyptus grove, consider yourself lucky.  Those things emit tear gas when they burn.  I remember the Oakland fire well, oy vey.

 

>…My brother lives downwind from a ponderosa forest in mostly juniper and oak. He knows the house is not likely to survive a forest fire, but he won't clear out the trees. It would ruin the view.

 

Keith

 

Best wishes to him.  The easiest thing to do is nothing.  Sometimes there are serious consequences.

 

spike

 

 

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