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WildBill wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:04 pm

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:36 pm That is truly beyond belief! I would have just fired up my chainsaw and made firewood out of it. The micromanagement of people's lives and property boggles the mind. I could NEVER live in such a place. At least not peacefully.

It is probably against the law to burn firewood.

WildBill wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:08 pm

Grayling813 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:23 pm

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 1:17 pm

WildBill wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 12:22 pm

Mike S wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:43 pm

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:40 pm Those tall dead pines are like Roman candles just waiting to be lit.

Standing deadwood is also a mighty crush-injury hazard when a stiff breeze fells either the entire tree, or just a large limb. When mentoring young troops, we point out these as things to avoid pitching a tent/building shelter near, or stringing a hammock, where one of these "Widowmakers" can ruin your night.

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:40 pm But hippies gonna hippie

I'm loving this!

I have a friend in California with a dead tree in her own backyard. The city will not let her remove it!

Do you have any idea why they won't let her remove a dead tree?

Because they are lunatics.

Actually I found out it is dying tree, but I don't know all the details, I think you need an arborist to certify that the tree is dying or dead. Certain trees are protected or heritage trees.
You need to submit an application for a permit to remove trees and depending on the tree, submit a plan to replace the tree. A report from a certificated arborist must submit a report with
the application for the permit. For example you can't remove trees that are over 8 inches in diameter. Every home is required to have at least one tree facing the street. Each city has it's own
requirements and I haven't had any desire to look up all of the details. It's beyond belief.

WildBill wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 12:22 pm

Mike S wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:43 pm

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:40 pm Those tall dead pines are like Roman candles just waiting to be lit.

Standing deadwood is also a mighty crush-injury hazard when a stiff breeze fells either the entire tree, or just a large limb. When mentoring young troops, we point out these as things to avoid pitching a tent/building shelter near, or stringing a hammock, where one of these "Widowmakers" can ruin your night.

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:40 pm But hippies gonna hippie

I'm loving this!

I have a friend in California with a dead tree in her own backyard. The city will not let her remove it!

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 10:12 am

chasfm11 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:48 am

WildBill wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:24 pm

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:15 pm

WildBill wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:06 pm I have a friend in California who just posted about this yesterday. She thinks that cutting power is a ruse so PG&E can raise their rates.
It used to be that they were a monopoly in certain parts of the state. I am not sure if that is still true.

California is forcing and mandating the power shut offs to mitigate fire danger. If you friend does not know this, they need to read up on why.

https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/deenergization/

The sad part is, there is a way to mitigate the fire danger without cutting everyone's power. And they won't do it. Cut the trees and clear the brush already.

And why won't they do it?

https://thefederalist.com/2018/11/16/mi ... wildfires/

Quoting the article:

When explaining to Mother Jones why the California Wine Country fires were so bad last October, fire ecologist Sasha Berleman said, “We have 100 years of fire suppression that has led to this huge accumulation of fuel loads.”

This is exactly what I’ve been saying.

WildBill wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 3:06 pm I have a friend in California who just posted about this yesterday. She thinks that cutting power is a ruse so PG&E can raise their rates.
It used to be that they were a monopoly in certain parts of the state. I am not sure if that is still true.

ELB wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:56 pm IIRC, California also capped the rates that utilities could charge consumers for electricity, because their new "renewable" sources of energy are costly to implement, and not so reliable, and rates were going up fast. However costs are not capped. Exacerbating it, when instate electricity production is not high enough (like during summer time), electricity has to be purchased from outside the state at whatever the going rate is at that moment, which of course in the summer time is high. So the costs can exceed the rate the companies can charge. Something gives, and I'll bet a lot of maintenance (like clearing around powerlines) gets deferred.

TANSTAAFL.

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:40 pm

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:48 pm PG&E is cutting power to more than a million people today to try and avoid being the "cause" of more wildfires.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cali ... SKBN1WO13X

The company is facing court battles and financial problems after being blamed for fires last year. Somebody that knows the background in California please correct me if I'm wrong. But it seems to me that dead or dry timber near power lines is the hazard, not the power lines themselves. People out there scream and protest about logging and say they want to save the trees. Yet in a climate situation where the dry season turns everything into a tinderbox, they won't cut the timber. Result? Raging fires.

They protest cutting the trees. They blame the power company for starting the fire. So the power company cuts off the power due to fire danger. Now they are mad at the power company for cutting off their power. From the outside looking in it seems many are unwilling or unable to understand the reality of their situation and only looking to blame and complain.

What is wrong with this picture? Can some ex-Californians weigh in and explain?

.....
Large parts of the forest are protected from any kind of logging. Part of that protection prevents anyone from removing dead wood from the first floor, OR cutting down dead trees and removing them from the available fuel load for forest fires. Because the forest is so micromanaged, it has become unhealthy.
.....

In lots of National forests, when there’s a fire, steps are taken to protect the few structures located there, but the fire is mostly allowed to eventually burn itself out ... because THAT IS HEALTHY FOR THE FOREST. The fire consumes the brush beneath the trees, without killing all of the tall timber, and it moves on before too many big trees are involved. That clears out the forest floor, which makes room for new tree saplings to take root and grow, gradually replacing the mature trees as they naturally die off.

But not in California. The state's policies regarding the removal of diseased, or dead and/or fallen timber means that the fuel load accumulates on the forest floor, with predictable results.

.....