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Are we just going to ignore the fact wildfires are a natural occurrence and the entire reason we're experiencing catastrophic wildfires now is from decades of o

Are we just going to ignore the fact wildfires are a natural occurrence and the entire reason we're experiencing catastrophic wildfires now is from decades of obsessively preventing every fire? Not saying we should go around creating fire hazards but compared to efforts to mitigate fuel overload by thinning and controlled burns, burying some power lines is a drop in a bucket barely worth mentioning. Utility corporations don't do things out of the kindness of their hearts. Guarantee PG&E are doing this for some kind of maintenance, tax, social, or litigious incentive. It certainly has more to do with the bottom line and their PR department is trying to spin it as some altruistic BS. Why are we jerking them off over this when if California's forests were properly managed a small risk of fire wouldn't be a concern, and in many cases may be a boon to the ecosystem? Piss take, I know, but nature is pressing her reset button and it's our fault. Let's not act like PG&E has anything to do with it.

xyzzy21 5y ago
Exactly. This is good for PG&E because it can't be blamed for wild fires. The wild fires will still continue to happen only now it will be the set remaining causes: (lightning, car exhaust systems, campers' fires, arsonists, ...) It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. California has a fundamentally dry climate the intrinsically assures wild fires will occur. Expanding in wild fire prone areas is a direct result of real estate booms and costs, which are primarily high for artificial human reasons such as NIMBYism, greed, real estate as investment, etc.
- danans 5y ago
  > It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. California has a fundamentally dry climate the intrinsically assures wild fires will occur. Global warming is an amplifier for wildfire risk, not a cause. The increasing length of the dry season under the influence of global warming has made these sorts of fires that much more likely.
- nomel 5y ago
  Fire is such an ancient and normal part of California that redwoods have evolved to be fireproof, with many local trees and plants having seeds that require fire for germination. [1] [1] https://www.nationalforests.org/our-forests/your-national-forests-magazine/how-trees-survive-and-thrive-after-a-fire https://www.nationalforests.org/our-forests/your-national-fo...
- the_dune_13 5y ago
  > It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. That's for sure an opinion I would love to have more information on.
  - thatguy0900 5y ago
    Native Americans did controlled burns to prevent catastrophic wildfires and encourage new plant growth. Fires in California have been an issue well before man made pollution became a thing.
qw3rty01 5y ago
It probably has more to do with things like this: (analysis of Camp Fire) https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1306359385656946688 https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1306359385656946688
dang 5y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27918330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27918330. Please don't reply to specific comments with generic posts that aren't really replies—it dilutes and distracts from whatever the parent comment was about. Just make a top level comment instead.

xyzzy21 5y ago

Exactly. This is good for PG&E because it can't be blamed for wild fires. The wild fires will still continue to happen only now it will be the set remaining causes: (lightning, car exhaust systems, campers' fires, arsonists, ...) It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. California has a fundamentally dry climate the intrinsically assures wild fires will occur. Expanding in wild fire prone areas is a direct result of real estate booms and costs, which are primarily high for artificial human reasons such as NIMBYism, greed, real estate as investment, etc.

danans 5y ago
> It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. California has a fundamentally dry climate the intrinsically assures wild fires will occur. Global warming is an amplifier for wildfire risk, not a cause. The increasing length of the dry season under the influence of global warming has made these sorts of fires that much more likely.
nomel 5y ago
Fire is such an ancient and normal part of California that redwoods have evolved to be fireproof, with many local trees and plants having seeds that require fire for germination. [1] [1] https://www.nationalforests.org/our-forests/your-national-forests-magazine/how-trees-survive-and-thrive-after-a-fire https://www.nationalforests.org/our-forests/your-national-fo...
the_dune_13 5y ago
> It's NOT primarily or even remotely Global Warming however. That's for sure an opinion I would love to have more information on.
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  Native Americans did controlled burns to prevent catastrophic wildfires and encourage new plant growth. Fires in California have been an issue well before man made pollution became a thing.

qw3rty01 5y ago

It probably has more to do with things like this: (analysis of Camp Fire) https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1306359385656946688 https://twitter.com/TubeTimeUS/status/1306359385656946688

dang 5y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27918330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27918330. Please don't reply to specific comments with generic posts that aren't really replies—it dilutes and distracts from whatever the parent comment was about. Just make a top level comment instead.