Community Chat

[chessylady]

The fires here in California are especially concerning due to lack of rainfall last winter, dry conditions and climate change. People love to have homes among the woods but now they have problems getting insurance and where there are two lane roads, even getting out. The smoke particles are tiny and damaging to the lungs. I loaded an EPA air quality app and check it before I do yard work. We all have to adapt to the changes.

[ROMARY]

My heart literally aches for you and all of the others in your area.  Including pets, animals, trees, homes.  

Hoping and praying for a miracle rainfall over the fires.  

Keep safe.

[Kachina624]

This has been going on for quite some time.  The smoke has spread across the US.  It has been so bad at times in Albuquerque that we can't even see the nearby mountain range across the valley, and we've been advised to stay indoors.  All from California fires. 

[chessylady]

@ROMARY Thanks.

[Anonymous032819]

@chessylady 

I hear you. It's been windy here today. Is it windy where you are?

Winds are terrible for fires.

All I can say is, G-d bless our firefighters!

They are working so hard to control and eventually put out the flames.

The fire closest to me, the Monument Fire, has consumed over 100k acres, and is only 10% contained.

I can't imagine carrying gear, hiking for miles over steep, rough terrain, and then fighting the fire.

I'm tired just thinking about it!

But this is our new normal, and each year the fires just keep getting worse and worse.

[chessylady]

@Anonymous032819 Yes, it has been windy here. The closest fire to me is the Caldor Fire which has grown to 30,000 acres. It is in El Dorado county and people in Grizzly Flat and Pollock Pines have been evacuated. It is not that close to me but the smoke is certainly visible. We really need rain and snow this fall and winter...

[FancyPhillyshopper]

I am very sad about the fires, the droughts, the receding shore lines and floods, and all the other issues. BUT people need to stop and think before the build--not every place is truly fit for human habitation. We also need to treat the natural world with both care and caution.

Every day I appreciate the fire hydrant right outside my house, our full-time professional fire force, and the many folks who help keep our city running smoothly. Yes, I have to pay a lot of taxes and put up with many different types of neighbors, but all together we make a community. 

Sometimes living away from it all is no blessing.

[HonestLife]

@chessylady  These wildfires are covered in our Chicagoland news. I feel so bad for everyone who has been effected. I have not heard if they know the cause. I suppose it doesn't matter. It's tragic any way you look at it. 🙁

[Mistreatedbycs]

It's not climate change, it's that the forests are not being maintained and cleared.

Not all trees are living, the dead one's are not being cut down and cleared, the densely populated forests are not being thinned.

I'm sorry you have the fires but until someone realizes that this needs to be done, fires will continue every year, I understand there are people who are using the court system to block tree thinning.

[Grand Happy]

Well there's a lot more than the drought that we're getting these devastated fires but I can't say.
A friend of my sister just lost her entire home two days after their fire insurance was cancelled because they lived in a high fire danger zone.
My sister lives in the foothills and pays more for Fire insurance then regular home owner insurance.
New York city was very Smokey all from California fires, our skies were clear so that was weird.
When it's smokey I don't go out to walk, you can taste it 🙄