California Mountains

With all the mountain fires, towns burned, etc. I chose to go back and do some shots near Mammoth as I remember they looked when I used to RW fly there. Sadly, it'll probably be generations before they return to this appearance!! :(

 

As usual for me, this is FSX with Acceleration plus ORBX World and California.

 

Fine views of the mountains Michael. Orbx sure does some realistic scenery. :cool: :cool: It really is terrible what all the wildfires are doing to the environment all over the western states. :(

Hi Michael!

 

It's the Yosemite, isn't it?! Fine views. Sorry that the area burned!

Stunning views Michael! :cool::cool::cool: Beautiful area, those bush fires are terrible! :(:(

"Those brush fires" are the direct result of humans preventing Nature from having ANY form of fire occur. Nature would keep the detritus, dry grass, dead-wood, pine needles, and so on, that small burns, caused by lightning usually, under control, and recycled, properly. The detritus would then be gone, recycled back into the soil for future generations, and there wouldn't be the huge supplies of nice, dry, fuel humans have ensured have built up in the natural forests and wild fields. What few are left, anyway. But humans have prevented ANY burning, of any kind, for so long that the fuel supplies are immense. Now, Nature has to deal with them as best she can. Massive fires are the result, and the average human is paying the price for the interference of a few.

Aren't you glad some people "do what's best" for you with absolutely no consideration of what might happen in the future? Heck, there are some plants that REQUIRE fire to reproduce. Did they take those into consideration? Naaaah...

The fires would normally keep the forests healthy, and the ecosystem in balance, and in good shape. Now, they're just destructive.

Thankfully, now Nature has a chance to set things right again. Let's just hope humans have learned their lesson. I doubt it, but one can hope, anyway...

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Great pics, Michael! Thanks for a very enjoyable post!

Pat☺

I agree Pat! Also between the smoke from these fires and from the volcanic eruptions, we might slightly mitigate these "Chinese propaganda caused Global Warming Concerns."

 

Michael

 

BTW: In Casey County Ky. the farmers on a regular basis had/have fires to clear the accumulating bush and prevent disasters caused by it. And the ash is great for new crops as well!

Yeah, when I was in Yuma, for WAY too long, every fall the farmers would burn off the "straw" left in the fields after the harvest, whatever the crop was. The fruit trees that were too old would get bulldozed up and piled up, and burnt later, once they were dried out. In Yuma, that would take a week or two...

Same reasons, the ash returned a LOT of nutrients to the soil. Although they did set my 2 1/2 acre property on fire for me, whether I liked it or not. The field foreman set the field beside me going, then went home and had a nice lunch and a siesta.

The fire department, Police department, electric department, and Water Management guys got ahold of the farmer who owned the field, and wound up charging him about $15,000.00 for the various services, not to mention endangering my family and myself. The farmer had fields on 3 sides of my property. Mine was a very old title, owned by the farm's workers workers, that worked for this farmer's family for generations. Until the worker/owner fell off a tractor pulling a discer to disc the field. He didn't survive. They did find all the chunks of him, at least. Closed casket, that one. :p

After that happened, I bought it, and put up a nice house. There was a house there already too, but was OLD. No living in it, although it was mostly in good shape. We had the state's oldest cottonwood tree too! Over 400 years old! Kinda nifty.

 

Needless to say, the farmer was slightly...ahem, upset with the man who HAD been his foreman up until this happened :D

The farmer wound up paying for the repairs we needed, another $8,000.00, but the cops and firemen convinced him it was a small price to pay to NOT get sued.

 

Once all the ash settled, I was able to stay ahead of the brush growth. That's slow in Yuma :). I would hold a nice bon fire every fall. Cost a bit to get the permit, but it was a lot cheaper than paying for a new home if a fire swept my property again!

Really nice example of all this in micro-cosm.

Pat☺

Hi!

 

What you say PhantomTweak is very right, I find, that too much caring about nature is just backfiring! On the other hand, about wildfires, I remember, when I was a child, that we were told, in Europe, of those stories of manned watch towers in the U.S. forests. How did that evolve?

On the other hand, about wildfires, I remember, when I was a child, that we were told, in Europe, of those stories of manned watch towers in the U.S. forests. How did that evolve?

Same way the "fuel" situation did: The Forest Service was determined to prevent all forest fires at all costs. So, they put up the watch towers to monitor the forest, especially during the peak "danger" period. Summer time, thunderstorms, holidays, especially the 4th of July (fireworks!), thngs like that. They had radios, and big maps on large tables to pinpoint them.

A tower would see smoke rising, and call it in, giving a bearing from that tower. The other towers would then look along the bearing given by the first tower, and when they spotted the smoke, they would call it in, again, giving the bearing from their tower. After two, or more, towers had called in their sightings, the command system could triangulate the location of the smoke. Where there's smoke...

Obviously, the more towers calling in, the more precise the triangulation of the fire's location. Command could then dispatch the necessary resources to eliminate (they hoped) the fire. Thus, the more towers were erected.

 

The more towers that went up, the fewer fires could start, or at least get a toe-hold. Thus, the US Forest Service, at the behest of those working to prevent any and all fires, was a part of the problem. They treated the whole thing like a huge success, which it was. For the fire prevention gang's perspective.

So, for a long time, fires were either prevented, extinguished quickly and easily, or dealt with with the least amount of "damage". Which actually meant the least possible acreage, and so fuel, burned.

 

And so, it built and built, and now, here we are, with massively overgrown fires, feeding on the years of fuel provided by the humans. I hope the prevention types are very happy with the results of their efforts.

 

Sorry, it's just a subject I feel strongly about.

Pat

Okay! I see, it's why they checked natural fires too much, that miscellaneous natural waste built up and eventually led to those big fires of today. Another dream of my youth which is passing by :):):)

Okay! I see, it's why they checked natural fires too much, that miscellaneous natural waste built up and eventually led to those big fires of today. Another dream of my youth which is passing by :):):)

 

Well put. :( Whether we like it or not, Mother Nature is a mean mother and will get her way.:o I'm thinking all this fire smoke plus the smoke from volcanic eruptions might cause another mini ice-age similar to the one that canceled out coal fired caused global-warming in the 1800s.

 

Or perhaps things will continue as they are with the current man-made global warming getting worse till we have huge floods and little if any food, then wiping out millions of people world wide. Either way, Mother Nature and her need for balance will prevail!!

Nice shots

Nice screen shots Michael. Just seeing those snow capped mountains, makes me feel cooler, that is, until I walk out doors to 87*/Heat index 95* !!

Bring on winter, I can't wait!

 

Rick :cool:

Nice screen shots Michael. Just seeing those snow capped mountains, makes me feel cooler, that is, until I walk out doors to 87*/Heat index 95* !!

Bring on winter, I can't wait!

 

Rick :cool:

 

Heh...

When I lived in Yuma, for 30 years too long, if it got down to 95 we would go outside to enjoy the coolness! We loved it that low.

Sorry, just bad memories surfacing. Lousy place, Yuma.

If you see an exit for it on the freeway, keep going till you get someplace better. You know, like that place Satan calls home. He went to Yuma for vacation, once, but thought it was too hot and went home again.

 

I don't know why I am so negative lately. I need a vacation, I think...

Have fun, all!

Pat

might cause another mini ice-age similar

 

Hey, on the long term, that's possible! And I remember that some years ago, in Europe, we had the smoke plume of that Islandic volcanoe. As I am gardening, I remember well, that in France we had, say, two and half years of lesser Sun and with floodings!

Heh...

When I lived in Yuma, for 30 years too long, if it got down to 95 we would go outside to enjoy the coolness! We loved it that low.

Sorry, just bad memories surfacing. Lousy place, Yuma.

If you see an exit for it on the freeway, keep going till you get someplace better. You know, like that place Satan calls home. He went to Yuma for vacation, once, but thought it was too hot and went home again.

 

I don't know why I am so negative lately. I need a vacation, I think...

Have fun, all!

Pat

 

Hey Pat,

 

I remember a place I "visited" twice during that same era which was often as hot as Yuma but with high humidity and monsoon storms thrown in is as well.

 

While I was being med-evaced to the states the aircraft A/C units were set at as high a temperature as they would go. We patients were freezing under a ton of covers and blankets but the flight crew, nurses, etc. were sweating like mad!