Fires in California (August: house, live in, health)

[shadow91]

I have been reading and watching the news. I am amazed at how many fires California has. I live in AZ where it is dry as a bone, hot as mercedes, and we have less devasting fires than CA. What would be the reason for this? Does anyone know?

[Fontucky]

Two words: Chaparral brush. The most volatile, explosively fire-prone biome on the planet.

[bhcompy]

climate allows more plants than AZ, which in the summer dry up. poor management by state and national park systems(too much kindling because of decades of fire prevention without any significant clearing of dead and dying plants otherwise) contributes significantly. fire is the natural method of ensuring the health of forest and plant ecosystems. the strongest/best adapted plants and animals survive, the dead and dying are killed off, and new stronger growth follows it. by not allowing these natural clearings to happen, and doing little to clean up otherwise, we get these mega-fires we have today, and things like the bark beetle spreading across our forests killing everything in its path

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Two words: Chaparral brush. The most volatile, explosively fire-prone biome on the planet.

Right, the OP should read this: Chaparral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The landscape, type of plants, winds, etc... in California are very different than Arizona. Chaparral goes up in flames VERY easily, more so than what Arizona has.

[treedonkey]

In a word, brush.

Which then ignites trees.

[DMenscha]

The fuel arrangement in AZ desert areas is much different than CA. I've been to plenty of fires in AZ up toward Flagstaff and the mountain areas around Winslow (at least that's where we flew into) and Payson. Look at how many wildfires occur each year in the US.

National Interagency Fire Center

[Steve97415]

Unlike southern California, the hottest time of the year in Arizona is not the driest. Arizona has two "wet seasons" (a questionable term, I know). Usually there is little bit of winter rain that results from residual moisture coming off the Pacific. That fuels growth of spring vegetation, when it happens. Spring and early summer are generally quite dry, but then the monsoon season starts in July.

Southern California has one wet season: December to March. By the time August and September come around it's been dry for 5 months. There's no summer precipitation to take the edge off of fire danger as there is in Arizona.

[ehcsrop]

It would be too obvious for me to mention the drought. But I did.

Now, we can anticipate rain that will finally arrive and epic mudslides.

It just doesn't end.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by ehcsrop

It would be too obvious for me to mention the drought. But I did.

Now, we can anticipate rain that will finally arrive and epic mudslides.

It just doesn't end.

And both of these natural disasters affect less than 1% of the Southern California population.

[SandyCo]

I was just thinking that if I owned a house that was sitting below a denuded mountainside, I'd seriously consider selling it. Yes, even in this down market. The rains will come, and then the homes that were saved from the fire will go sliding down the hills in the debris flows.