[BeaverFever]

From the Trumpocalypse thread:

Trump’s lies and ignorance on full display again:

$1:

Firefighter union president rips Trump for "demeaning" comments about California wildfires

11:12 PM EST
U.S.

CBS News

The president of the California Professional Firefighters criticized President Trump on Saturday after he threatened to withhold federal payments to the state, claiming its forest management is "so poor." The president made the comments as the state is battling multiple deadly wildfires.

"The president's message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines," CPF President Brian Rice said in a statement.

Earlier Saturday, Mr. Trump said "there is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly fires in California." He said "billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!"

Firefighters were battling three majors fires, including one that leveled the entire town of Paradise. Rice went on to call the president's blame "dangerously wrong."

"Wildfires are sparked and spread not only in forested areas but in populated areas and open fields fueled by parched vegetation, high winds, low humidity and geography," Rice said.

He added, "Moreover, nearly 60 percent of California forests are under federal management, and another two-thirds under private control. It is the federal government that has chosen to divert resources away from forest management, not California."

Destructive California wildfires magnified by population and shifting climate
Gerard Butler posts image of Malibu home burned in wildfire
Mr. Trump's past claims that California's water policy is shortchanging firefighters of water to battle wildfires have been previously refuted by wildfire and water experts....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-cali ... res-today/

[BartSimpson]

It was a pretty busy few days up in the Chico area.

I started out working at the Neighborhood Church shelter in Chico and then was asked to go to an ad hoc shelter that started up at a ranch in Gridley. The Gridley ranch/shelter had about 200 or so campers, trailers, and just people living in their vehicles. Lots of pets, horses, and other livestock, too.

Big challenges were getting food to these people since it was an unofficial shelter at first. Water wasn't an issue thanks to a well maintained irrigation system.

A local Rotary club and a Boy Scout troop came out to cook for the crowd and by Sunday we even had food coming in for the animals. Yesterday we saw people starting to leave as some were able to return home to undamaged homes and others left to go start sorting out what was left.

Lots of retired people in the mix.

About the dead: It looks like some of the dead are elderly who did not get out of their homes. It also looks like some elderly contributed to the deaths of others when then drove into flames, panicked, and then stopped blocking the way for others who ended up dying in their cars.

One sheriff's deputy from Santa Clara county spoke to me and said that some of the dead who will never be counted are going to be the people who were running illegal marijuana farms in the back country.

Probable death toll in the end will be over 100.

Various survival stories I got to hear included a woman and her daughter who fled their home down a steep hill and were passed by deer, turkeys, and even a mountain lion. They made their way to a creek and then walked in the creek about five miles to a road.

Another mother and daughter came to a blocked road amidst the flames and drove down that particular steep hill until they crashed in a ravine. Both made it out okay after walking a short distance to where firefighters evacuated them.

One man drove out with his bulldozer and managed to clear the road for the people behind him.

One older guy flew out of his place in his ultralight and took his dog with him.

All of these people have nothing left to go back to.

* * *

Trump chose the wrong time to say it but he's right that forest management in California is lethally flawed. The absence of controlled burns in favor of air quality and misguided environmental concerns has been a tradeoff that in the end was an utter failure because the explosive fires we've had have wiped out habitats and the air quality is for shit.

We really need to pay attention to the forestry management practices of the Native Americans and start doing small burns every year to prevent these massive fires.

We also need to ban wood houses in fire zones but that won't happen.

I'm coughing up black soot all the time right now and the air at work sucks. I can only imagine what the front line firefighters are dealing with, God bless them.

Some global warming alarmists are complaining that this happened because "2018 was the hottest year ever" except that it wasn't. It was actually pretty cool. It also wasn't a bad rain year and that contributed to increased undergrowth in the forests...which should have been burned off.

And now the enviroweenies are already demanding that fallen and dead trees be left where they fall instead of cleaning up the fuel for the next deadly fire.

I'll be going back to Gridley this weekend because there's still going to be people there. Some areas will be off limits for as much as a month while crews clear downed power lines, clear burnt vehicles from the roads, and start clearing debris.

Last report said over 7500 structures destroyed.

[DrCaleb]

[BartSimpson]

Fuck. I literally just got an FBI notice that they're investigating the California fires (there's actually several of them) as potential terrorism.

[BRAH]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Trump chose the wrong time to say it but he's right that forest management in California is lethally flawed. The absence of controlled burns in favor of air quality and misguided environmental concerns has been a tradeoff that in the end was an utter failure because the explosive fires we've had have wiped out habitats and the air quality is for shit.

We really need to pay attention to the forestry management practices of the Native Americans and start doing small burns every year to prevent these massive fires.

We also need to ban wood houses in fire zones but that won't happen.

I'm coughing up black soot all the time right now and the air at work sucks. I can only imagine what the front line firefighters are dealing with, God bless them.

Some global warming alarmists are complaining that this happened because "2018 was the hottest year ever" except that it wasn't. It was actually pretty cool. It also wasn't a bad rain year and that contributed to increased undergrowth in the forests...which should have been burned off.

And now the enviroweenies are already demanding that fallen and dead trees be left where they fall instead of cleaning up the fuel for the next deadly fire.

I'll be going back to Gridley this weekend because there's still going to be people there. Some areas will be off limits for as much as a month while crews clear downed power lines, clear burnt vehicles from the roads, and start clearing debris.

Last report said over 7500 structures destroyed.

Trump is right, it's the same issue that lead to the Ft Mac Wildfires. The devastation in California is unimaginable.

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Fuck. I literally just got an FBI notice that they're investigating the California fires (there's actually several of them) as potential terrorism.

Environmental Terrorism?

[BartSimpson]

It doesn't say. Just says they have two separate investigations going is all.

[llama66]

This fucking brutal. I hope you guys get it out soon, far too many people have been affected already.

[BartSimpson]

llama66 llama66:

This fucking brutal. I hope you guys get it out soon, far too many people have been affected already.

These fires might spark up in the next few days as the winds are expected to pick up again.

We'll see.

[xerxes]

Whatever happens, take care Bart. And good on you for helping out in whatever ways you can. Those stories you shared and others I’ve read are just harrowing and gut wrenching.

[BartSimpson]

xerxes xerxes:

Whatever happens, take care Bart. And good on you for helping out in whatever ways you can. Those stories you shared and others I’ve read are just harrowing and gut wrenching.

I forgot to mention seeing a few 'thousand yard stares' both among the evacuees and the first responders. Can't even begin to imagine what their stories would be like.

[BartSimpson]

From today's Sacramento Bee:

$1:

With 42 confirmed dead, Camp Fire is deadliest in California history. Four identified, hundreds still missing – The Sacramento Bee

PARADISE -- The death toll from the Camp Fire reached 42 Monday, making the Northern California blaze the deadliest fire in state history.

The number of fatalities far outstrips the 1933 Griffith Park Fire that killed 29 people in Los Angeles. With hundreds still reported missing in Butte County, the total is expected to grow.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said 13 more victims were found Monday, 10 in the Paradise area and three in Concow. Honea said eight of the victims were found inside homes, the others outside.

Four of the victims have been identified, and relatives of three had been notified as of Monday, Honea said. The three whose names were released were Jesus “Zeus” Fernandez, 48, of Concow; Carl Wiley, 77, of Magalia; and Ernest Foss, 65, of Paradise.

Fernandez had a beloved German Shepard named King, said Myrna Pascua, a friend who had been active on social media for days searching for him. She said Fernandez’s son was notified Monday night that he was found pinned between two cars.

“We kind of had a bad feeling about it and I can’t even think right now,” Pascua said. “It’s a sad situation but at least we have an answer, because it was very difficult not having an answer all these days.”

The Camp Fire has devastated the town of Paradise and has destroyed at least 7,177 structures, most of them homes, making it the most destructive blaze in state history measured by the number of structures destroyed.

President Trump, who on Saturday criticized California officials for “gross mismanagement” of forests, tweeted late Monday that he had approved emergency federal aid for the state.

“I just approved an expedited request for a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of California,” the president tweeted. “Wanted to respond quickly in order to alleviate some of the incredible suffering going on. I am with you all the way. God Bless all of the victims and families affected.”

Search teams were looking for more remains throughout the burned out area of Paradise Monday, which once had a population of about 27,000 residents, and in surrounding hill towns. The bodies of many victims have been reduced to little more than ash, requiring authorities to bring in special forensics teams to collect remains, and necessitating DNA testing to identify the dead.

At the scene of the destroyed Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV park Monday, a dozen searchers were sifting through the ashes, including Noelle Francis of Butte County Search and Rescue, who was accompanied by a Labrador Retriever named “Spinner.”

“She’s a good kid,” Francis said of the dog, who was blissfully unaware of the deadly serious task she was undertaking.

Families desperate for clues about the well-being of loved ones have taken to social media since Thursday looking for information.

Steve Mixon was asking for help through Twitter to find his wife’s aunt’s elderly parents, Dorothy and Lou Herrera. Mixon fears they died in their home on Clearview Drive.

He said the family had visited every official shelter in the area “with no results.” They got a Butte County deputy to go to the address and take a photograph of the home. It showed the couple’s 2003 gold Cadillac CTS burned inside the garage, which had collapsed on top of it, he said.

The couple doesn’t drive, and Dorothy Herrera has dementia, he said, leading him to fear that they both perished. But he doesn’t know.

“It’s just a matter of at this point being in limbo, of are they dead in the house or are they gone,” Mixon said. “We’re really leaning towards they didn’t make it out, but who knows.”

Christina Taft hasn’t seen her 67-year old mother, Victoria Taft, since about 10 a.m. Thursday when she left her mom’s house. “She couldn’t drive,” Taft said. “I wish I hadn’t left her.”

Taft said her mother, who has mobility issues, refused to leave, and that she and her neighbors had not received any reverse 911 calls for mandatory evacuations.

“They didn’t do sirens, they didn’t knock on doors,” Taft said, adding that when she got out of fire and contacted a law enforcement officer, they told her they weren’t evacuating or rescuing anyone who couldn’t get out of Paradise.

“They didn’t warn people, they didn’t help people out,” she said. “They relied on the tiny police force. It was like survival of the fittest.”

Kiatta Isaacson, who lives in Georgia, and her family haven’t heard from her stepfather, Robert Sutliff, 51, since Wednesday and hasn’t received much information from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office after filing a missing person’s report.

“We were told to call detectives and we left a message, but have not heard back,” she said.

Roman Digby last spoke to his father, John Arthur Digby, 78, on Thursday morning. John had been sick for a few days and his son was trying to persuade him to go to the doctor, but he wouldn’t go, Digby said.

He tried to call his father again later that day and became concerned when the call wouldn’t go through, then tried calling the main office of the mobile home park where his father lived and the Paradise Police Department. Digby got the same result.

“I Googled Paradise, Calif., and saw an article about the fire, and that’s when I realized there was a bigger danger than my dad being sick,” Digby said.

Digby learned Monday that his father’s mobile home was destroyed in the blaze, leaving little more than a pile of ash and melted plastic.

“I want them to go there and to search for human remains but they haven’t gotten to it, I guess,” he said. “I just want something, even if it’s bad news.”

No people were allowed back into the ruins of the town Monday, though Paradise was busy with activity as PG&E crews swarmed the area checking gas lines and dealing with massive numbers of downed power lines and scorched power poles hanging precariously over roadsides.

Workers with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development walked through the rubble of destroyed medical facilities hanging red signs on a few remaining walls, condemning the buildings.

The hospital – whose ancillary buildings were burned Thursday – was surrounded by newly-installed fence with security guards patrolling the grounds.

Law enforcement officers from agencies around the state patrolled the town for looters, but concern still remained about thieves.

Honea said his office had received 139 reports of suspicious activity, including 16 reports of looting, but he said that as of Monday no arrests had been made.

In a neighborhood off the Skyway in Paradise, Keith Mapes propped up hand-painted warnings around the block that read “Looters beware,” “I see you,” and “Looters will be shot.”

Mapes, who has firefighting experience, sent his wife and kids away Thursday as the flames approached. He stayed behind to protect his home and a handful of others, using hoses and hand tools to scratch out fire barriers in the leaves. His house is still standing, but Mapes said the remains of some of his neighbors are in the charred wreckage of a nearby home.

Alone and without power, he said he’s “just sort of trying to safeguard this little bit of real estate that is left.”

He had a semiautomatic handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants. Asked if he carries it all the time, he said, “Bet your ass.”

[BRAH]

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods
______________________

No Words!

[BartSimpson]

That last picture is how I always envision Thanos.

[llama66]

apocalyptic. But I do think that President Trump should wait until the fires are out and dead buried before casting blame.

[BartSimpson]

The smoke is so bad at my office right now that we can't even see the outlines of the buildings downtown...just about a mile from here.