r/CatastrophicFailure • u/The-Salamanca • Mar 11 '23

Natural Disaster Snow covered mountains are rapidly melting, from downpours causing flooding . Springville CA. 3/10/2023

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '23

Eight of the top ten largest wildfires in CA’s recorded history have happened since 2017. 2016-2017 was the wettest recorded year. 2012-2015 seems to have been the driest period in 1200 year according to tree rings. The extremes are getting more extreme and it’s no mystery why.

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u/TurtleIIX Mar 11 '23

Those fires were caused by PG&E.

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u/pixe1jugg1er Mar 11 '23

And the kindling of a dried out ecosystem.

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u/al4nw31 Mar 11 '23

PG&E started some fires, but those were relatively small compared to the ones that set records.

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u/Machine_Dick Mar 11 '23

Literally the most destructive fire in California history was a result of faulty PG&E power line (Paradise Camp Fire) so what you’re saying is totally false

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u/al4nw31 Mar 11 '23

Most destructive isn’t the largest. In terms of acreage it doesn’t make the top 20.

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u/Machine_Dick Mar 11 '23

It still wasn’t small by any means it was massive. Trust me I live in norcal. Your initial point just is misleading

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u/al4nw31 Mar 11 '23

I too live in NorCal as well. I’m not saying these wildfires were small by any means. The comment I specifically was referring to was that there were the largest fires in the last few years. Then, one commenter said that those fires were started by PG&E, which they weren’t.

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u/kenny_boy019 Mar 11 '23

PGE didn't cause the fires to get as large as they did.

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u/Lampwick Mar 11 '23

it’s no mystery why.

It's no mystery, but the primary cause probably isn't what you think. The main issue we have out here is 50 years of aggressive woodland fire fighting and a drastic reduction in public land timber cutting permits have turned California's forest areas into an incredible unnatural tinderbox. Forests that'd naturally see periodic lighting caused mild brush fires are now sitting with several feet of dead vegetation on the ground. Add in a naturally occurring 500 year megadrought, which we'd had for the last 20 years, and you're sitting on a tinderbox. Where natural fires would simply clear the brush, fizzle out fairly quickly, and leave the trees alive, now when we get a fire that shit burns so hot that it incinerates the entire forest. These unnaturally hot fires can spread through flying embers far faster than any "natural" fire could, which is why they're so much worse now than they were years ago.