I’m watching NBC Nightly News (which probably marks me as old-fashioned but I’m also on the Internet so I’m technically straddling old and new media). Anyway, I’m following the stories about the fires in and around San Diego and Los Angeles with morbid fascination as figures come flying at me: driest season on record, biggest peacetime evacuation, of people from their threatened homes (dwarfing Katrina), one of the worst fires in California history. It’s nature at work, right? Just like this fall’s tornadoes in Michigan or the drought in Florida? It’s impossible not to ask: is there a connection between what’s going on and global warming? It’s also impossible to say definitively after only one strange autumn. The warm autumn of 2001 prompted similar questions – as did last year’s warm winter. But if you’ve been on the planet long enough (say 40 years or more), you can tell something’s afoot and it’s not just that the hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, ice storms, disappearing shorelines and fluctuating temperatures are being covered and reported like never before. No one’s proved to my complete satisfaction that there is a relationship between individual efforts at energy and resource conservation and the fires in California. Still, I turned off the TV, unplugged the coffeemaker and began to swap out my old bulbs for the new funny-looking, energy-efficient ones. Because it’s impossible not to believe it could make some sort of difference, no matter how small.
Boo »
Burning Questions
October 23, 2007 by 1 Woman
Posted in In The News | Tagged California, fires, Media, nature, news, weather | 1 Comment
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- photo by James E. Potorti
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Nikki Stern is a writer whose essays have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek and USA Today. She's the author of Because I Say So Read more about Nikki SternNikki’s News
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This came from a California friend of mine:
“The fires are really bad around LA – Malibu, Valencia, Canyon Country, Lake Arrowhead. We have friends who live all those places. And then also in Orange County near Irvine, also San Bernardino county, Ventura County and then San Diego county. San Diego county is the worst…Highways are closed, not just roads. Houses and structures are going up in flames all over…There’s 0-5% containment. The smoke is everywhere – in all directions. The smell is awful and, of course, the air quality is terrible everywhere even if you’re miles away from any of the fires.
There are evacuation centers set up all over San Diego county in schools and community centers and in Qualcomm stadium which is filling up. The Fallbrook fire is taking over Camp Pendleton and now moving to Del Mar and Solana Beach. Evacuations are now ordered at those places. This is just north of La Jolla. There are fires in north San Diego county around Poway and Escondido and all the different Indian reservations. And then there are also huge fires south around Chula vista and closer to the Mexican border. Lots of evacuations there, too, including Chula Vista. The Santa Ana winds are so intense, consistently 15 to 30 miles and hour – gusts 60 up to even 90 miles an hour and only single digit humidity and the temperature this week will be in the 90s. It’s hell on earth.
Power is an issue because of destroyed lines, main conductors and even power grids. And now, the areas that the fires have passed through are still on lockdown because of possible hotspots and also to prevent looting of stuctures/homes that may still be standing. I just heard that there have already been incidents of looting. I think that’s really sad.”