Fires in Maine??? (Portland, Wells, Berwick: houses, earthquakes, live in)

[maja]

I'm tired of the fires and threat of fires out here in California. Most of my precious, irreplaceable stuff is now hauled off to storeage where it's gonna stay until our move. Not gonna pack it up "just in case" one more time. Anyhow, how is Maine for fires. I know its not as bad as California, but do you ever get fires. I know there's lots of timber! Does it ever get dry and hot enough to burn? Homes ever threatened? Evacuations? Thanks for any responses.

[Maineah]

Yes we get fires but not usually large ones. Sometimes the forests will burn over but generally the fires are in the north far away from populated areas. Houses are no where near as densly packed together in Maine as they are in So. California. It's easy to see why 800 houses will burn in an area when there are 10,000 houses in that area. I looked on Google maps for an aerial view of my cousin's home in Simi Valley . I could not believe how close the homes were there! Hundreds and hundreds per square mile!
It's difficult to stop fires when the houses are literally 10 feet apart!

[K-Luv]

I was born and raised in California and I can say two things with certainty: fires and earthquakes are a yearly reality for the state of California, always have been and always will be and (2) California has been in a drought for almost 20 years now. I guess there is a third one.....SoCal is in a desert. Yup, LA is in a desert and the majority of the water supply is pumped down from NorCal. What that means, without getting all earth sciencey, is that the area is dry and arid and prone to fires.

Maine, on the other hand, has a humid climate, with lots of snow in the winter and rain throughout the rest of the year. So that keeps the ground and trees properly hydrated. Yes, there could still be a forest fire, but think of it in terms of trying to start a fire with damp logs; they do not burn so well.

I am sure that it does happen from time to time, though.

[7th generation]

One of the largest structural fires in Maine occurred in Portland on July 4th, 1866 started by fireworks.
Maine Memory Network: Item 4171, Full Page View

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Yes we get fires but not usually large ones. Sometimes the forests will burn over but generally the fires are in the north far away from populated areas. Houses are no where near as densely packed together in Maine as they are in So. California. It's easy to see why 800 houses will burn in an area when there are 10,000 houses in that area. I looked on Google maps for an aerial view of my cousin's home in Simi Valley . I could not believe how close the homes were there! Hundreds and hundreds per square mile!
It's difficult to stop fires when the houses are literally 10 feet apart!

California law requires residents that live in areas of the state that are susceptible to fires to clear all brush and trees around their property to around a 100 foot radius. Most Cali residents in high fire areas do not do this.

[maja]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

California law requires residents that live in areas of the state that are susceptible to fires to clear all brush and trees around their property to around a 100 foot radius. Most Cali residents in high fire areas do not do this.

That is correct and that is one of the main things that saved our home from burning five years ago when the fires burned right up to our backyard and we were evacuated for 3 days. Not to mention the incredible heroic work of our great firefighters!

[AustinB]

There was the great Bar Harbor fire of '46 or '48.

[tcrackly]

Originally Posted by AustinB

There was the great Bar Harbor fire of '46 or '48.

Many older friends and neighbors have told me about the great fire of 1947 when much of York county ME burned nearly to the sea. My landlady's mother in Berwick said she had to spend days with her things packed ready to go. In the woods near me in Wells you can still find the remnants of tree trunks that were charred and preserved in their dry state. Acres of Shapleigh has virtually no topsoil because it was burned away in the forest fire.
We don't have anything like the Santa Anna winds to accelerate forest fire, so nowadays vigilance pays off in little or no destruction.

[forest beekeeper]

We see a fire in our home every night,




















in our woodstove.

[maja]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

We see a fire in our home every night,




















in our woodstove.

Very cute! That is the type of fires I kept finding when I did a search for "Maine fires." I do enjoy your humor, Forest.