Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Southern California is burning



Link list for mapping the southern California fires.

The LA Times and the OC Register are both using Google maps, natch.

Among the thoughts that keep cropping up in disorganized ways, for me:

1) It's scary and nauseating, how sociopathic arson is: "The fire broke out just as the Santa Ana winds were picking up. At one point, it flashed through three miles of parched-dry brush in less than 30 minutes.
"Whoever did this knew what they were doing," said Kris Concepcion, a battalion chief with the Orange County Fire Authority.


2) People continue to build homes in fire-prone (in California, it's fire-adapted, the ecology is healthier for regular, moderate fires) areas, and losing them.

3) If folks who are predicting the specific changes related to climate change are correct, wildfire seasons like this will get worse rather than better over the next century.