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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> John Clark <johnkclark@gmail.com> <br><b>.</b></span><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…Spike</span></b><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>,</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> I'm very glad that neither<span class=gmaildefault> </span>you <span class=gmaildefault>n</span>or any member of your family were hurt <span class=gmaildefault>by the wildfire…<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> Thx John. </span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:11.55pt'><span class=gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>> </span></i></span><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>Our recent fire catastrophe in Spokane was human caused, but nature also played a big role: the wind enabled a lone arsonist to destroy hundreds of homes…</span></i><o:p></o:p></p></div></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>…</span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…But</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> there is an <span class=gmaildefault>INVERSE</span> relationship between the strength of <span class=gmaildefault>the P</span>acific<span class=gmaildefault> </span>El Niño<span class=gmaildefault> and Atlantic hurricanes; the stronger the </span>El Niño<span class=gmaildefault> is the dryer and more fire prone Spokane becomes however thanks to El Niño…John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Ja, they had a dry spring this year, but there was another important factor.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I agree there will always be an ignition source. Out west of town there are trails out thru the woods, where a prole can backpack and camp anywhere he wants. Campfires can get away from them. Of course there are firebugs, as was the case this time. There are occasional big winds, as was the case this time.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>But the biggest factor this time was the fire getting in these trees shown in the photo below, ponderosa pines. These are controversial, since they are known fire hazards. They are native to this area: it was a ponderosa pine forest before developers built the neighborhood in the late 1980s. They thinned the forest, took out the biggest (most dangerous) of the trees, but that species grows a foot to a 1.5 ft per year. It has been 37 years since the area was built up. The trees had nearly ideal growing conditions, since they had been thinned (fewer competing trees) and had plenty of water from being in irrigated lawns. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I mentioned the trees were controversial. The environmentalists argued that the trees were far less susceptible to structural failure and fire because homeowners took out any which were infested by pine beetles and the lawn trees had plenty of water. However… even with those advantages… those trees were prone to breaking off without warning.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I took the photo below about one minute after we began evacuation. Note the right side of the photo, there are four trees and one stump about the height a tall man can reach. That tree broke off without warning about two months ago. The tree fell across the road. It was not infested with pine beetles. It just broke off, as these trees do.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>My FIL originally had four ponderosas in his yard. He removed two of them about 20 yrs ago after it became clear they were a hazard to the neighbors. About 4 yrs ago, I convinced him to remove the remaining two because of the fire hazard, however there were still pleeeenty of those trees in the neighborhood, which had grown very tall. Compare the height of the trees with that two story home on the left of the photo below: </span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><img width=396 height=451 style='width:4.125in;height:4.6979in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01DD2502.B2D66420"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>As we evacuated downwind, I could see there was a great risk of a crown fire in those trees. If the foliage catches fire, it burns quickly, then rains down hot embers on the homes below for hours. Less than one minute after I took this photo, an ash glob about the size of a ping pong ball fell on my windshield. It burned a notch in my wiper. When I saw that, I knew what was coming, but didn’t know how quickly it would happen. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>The neighborhood burned because homeowners refused to get rid of those accursed ponderosa pines. Those pine tree keepers are as much to blame as the arsonist. If you have one in your yard, I do sincerely encourage you to get the hell rid of it.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>