McKinney
fire…contained, 60,000 acres, suppression cost $75million
Ammon
fire…contained, 11,000 acres, cost $44million
Yeti
fire…contained, 8,000 acres, cost $18million
Campbell
fire…64% contained as of yesterday, 41,000 acres, cost when it was 30,000
$77million
Mountain
and Mill fires…not much info as of now, but they are still burning and with major
structural and human damage.
The cost estimates are for battling the fires. It does not include damage to structures,
infrastructure and property losses, or the economic and social costs to the
locals evacuated. Quite expensive, and
this is just five fires in Northern California in August and early
September. Fires are raging all over the
state…all over North America, Europe…the rest of the world.
A major expense for government budgets, let alone the “cost”
to those people directly affected. If we
consider the record extreme heat, the flooding in the US, Pakistan, and China,
the tornadoes, hurricanes, drought impacts on agriculture and water supply to
major cities, hunger and starvation, migration, environmental damage…climate
change is here, now! Scientists and
others have warned us for decades…we are at a 2-degree rise in average
atmospheric temperature, and will soon be 3 degrees. A lot of climate folks have conceded…we’ve
told you and you didn’t listen, so be prepared, because it is going to get much
worse in terms of the physical, economic, and social impacts, regardless of
what we do right now, and if we continue to drag our feet, it will be catastrophic
for civilization.
Interesting that the climate deniers are now saying that
maybe climate change is happening, but there is nothing we can do to stop it
because we do not know that fossil fuels are the root cause. We just have to learn to adapt to the changes…build
sea walls, desalinate sea water, invest in carbon capture, and of course build
more nuclear power plants until fusion comes along and saves us. Kick the can down the road. Blah, blah, blah, blah!!!!!! The climate bill
recently passed by Congress is a tiny step in the right direction, but too
little, too late to keep the extremes from escalating. Our entire infrastructure is antiquated and
dependent on what we have done in the past.
California right now is under a critical electricity emergency because
of the demand for air conditioning, etc.
This is not because of a shortage of available electricity generation,
but because the grid can’t handle the demand.
Reminds me of those news videos of residents hosing down their roofs with
garden hoses while the firestorm approaches.
A media article I just read mentions microgrids!!! With local areas utilizing what resources are
available to them, rather than relying on Diablo Canyon hundreds of miles
away. Such a thing will happen, although
it won’t be big enough or soon enough to relieve the pain. Most of the news media continues to blindly
blame the enviros and that damn solar power.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the Kardashians were wearing during
this heat spell!
Once again, I sit here in frustration at everything that is
happening around the world and am saddened by the ignorance basic greed, and stupidity
of those who should know better. If you think it is bad now…just wait…it is
going to be even more bad.
Bit of information,
although it is hard to find and decipher
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers=f72ebe741e3b4f0db376b4e765728339
https://napsg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6dc469279760492d802c7ba6db45ff0e
