My hometown could use some T&Ps please

[prettyinpink]

There is a 13,000 acre fire burning just on the edge of the county line but because of where my hometown is its totally socked in by smoke since it pretty much sits low with mountains all the way around it. Its nothing compared to the fires in Colorado but if you could please pray that the fire can be kept under control and stopped quickly so that the smoke clears out soon. TIA!

[prettyinpink]

Jul 10, 2012 21:50:17 GMT -5 Stan said:

I hate fire season.

Me too. It's terrible. We haven't had a major fire at home in close to 10 years. That one lasted over a month, I just hope that they get this one under control before it turns into something similar. Darn dry grass!!!

[ilovelamp]

Definitely praying!
So this is a dumb question but I've never lived anywhere with fires. Why don't they set up a sprinkler system in areas vulnerable to fires to prevent the grass from drying too much? (And yes, I realize this sounds stupid.)

[prettyinpink]

Jul 10, 2012 22:43:05 GMT -5 ilovelamp said:

Definitely praying!
So this is a dumb question but I've never lived anywhere with fires. Why don't they set up a sprinkler system in areas vulnerable to fires to prevent the grass from drying too much? (And yes, I realize this sounds stupid.)

This is a huge side of a mountain. Hundred and thousands of acres, there is no way to set up a sprinkler system to cover that area. Its just not possible as nice as it would be.

[ilovelamp]

Jul 10, 2012 22:51:22 GMT -5 prettyinpink said:

Jul 10, 2012 22:43:05 GMT -5 ilovelamp said:

Definitely praying!
So this is a dumb question but I've never lived anywhere with fires. Why don't they set up a sprinkler system in areas vulnerable to fires to prevent the grass from drying too much? (And yes, I realize this sounds stupid.)

This is a huge side of a mountain. Hundred and thousands of acres, there is no way to set up a sprinkler system to cover that area. Its just not possible as nice as it would be.

Yeah I guess I was underestimating the amount of land. Thanks for explaining.

[JakJak]

Praying! That must be so scary. I hope they can stop it quickly!

[beans]

Praying for your town! Hope everyone stays safe

Lamp- its also so so so much more complicated than just having grass get too dry. (and besides the semantics and cost of setting up such a system everywhere there could possibly be a wild fire, think of the cost of trying to water the all that land). Plus who will maintain the lines? Before it freezes, you need to blow the water out of the lines so the lines of water don't burst every winter.

One example of contributing factors- in parts of CO there have been massive boughts of pine beetles that have infested a huge percentage of the pine trees. They basically go in to a forest and kill large amounts of trees as they eat them or whatever. So over the past five years or so, all these trees are getting killed off, and a lot of that area is state or federal land, and the cost of cutting down all those dead trees is astronomical. So you have all these dead trees haning around = ripe conditions for massive forest fires. A sprinkler system would not have helped that.

Also, there's the thing about fires are a natural part of a forest life cycle. Fires are devestating to us because we have built homes and civilization there, but it really is a natural part of life. (forests get too dense and overgrown, they need to be "thinned out" so that they can contiue growing and be healthy, etc. Fire does that. It would be too much work to go in to all that land and cut trees down on the regular, I think)


ETA- Where are you from again Lamp?

[ilovelamp]

I had no idea forest fires are a natural cleanup method. I thought it was devastating for the trees too. Thanks for making me a little bit smarter!

I grew up in TX/GA.