Wildfires scorch San Diego County

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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/15/us/san-di ... ?hpt=hp_t1
Wildfires scorch San Diego County: 'Mother Nature was not on our side'

By Michael Martinez and Dan Simon, CNN

updated 10:32 PM EDT, Thu May 15, 2014

Carlsbad, California (CNN) -- In her 42 years of living in Southern California, Sophie Payne of Carlsbad has "never, never, never" witnessed so many wildfires at one time.

Three dozen raged overnight. Eight of them continued to burn Thursday in a patchwork across of San Diego County, ravaging 10,000 acres since Tuesday, and killing at least one person. Payne's hilltop house was an exhibit of their destruction: It was burned to the ground, except for a stone archway and several walls.

"This is my dream house, and what can I say," she said, looking at the destruction to the three-bedroom, four-bathroom house. "Now it's all gone."

Payne found some family keepsakes in a small safe, and while intact, the papers were charred at the edges. "It's just falling apart," Payne said.

Another family in Carlsbad similarly lost its house, but everyone -- including the dog -- survived.

"We walked up to this place, and it was like a bomb went off. I can't even explain to you how just horrific it was," Anya Bannasch told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" on Thursday.

"I've never seen anything like it. I pray for all the other families too out there that are going through this right now, because I know there's fires everywhere," she said.

Gay Walker was evacuated from her home in nearby Encinitas and doubted she would even be allowed to return by Friday. Police told her to evacuate immediately.

"It was an orderly evacuation, but it was reminiscent of something apocalyptic," Walker said.

The City of Carlsbad reported was what apparently the first fire-related death Thursday.

On its website, it said: "During a hot spot check, firefighters were alerted to a transient encampment in the area of Ambrosia and Calliandra. On checking the area, firefighters located a badly burned body. Further details about the deceased are unknown at this time and the investigation is ongoing."

Unseasonably strong winds, intense heat

The first blaze, the Bernardo Fire, erupted Tuesday in San Diego County. The next day, a spate of new fires popped up -- each one separate from one another, each posing its own dangers.

Crews were able to subdue most of the fires raging overnight, but things didn't get much better.

"Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not on our side today," Cal Fire Capt. Mike Mohler told CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday.

Scorching temperatures, including record daily highs of 97 in San Diego and 104 in both Esconido and El Cajon, certainly didn't help.

Nor did bone dry conditions: 100% of California is experiencing exceptional, extreme or severe drought conditions. The wildfire area is in second most-dangerous category.

"The last three years have the driest in California's recorded history," Gov. Jerry Brown said, citing climate change as "a factor" in the spate of blazes.

On top of the drought, the Santa Ana winds have helped many of these fires race, challenging the hundreds of firefighters on the ground and in the air. These are typical for October and November, but Cal Fire Assistant Region Chief Thom Porter notes, "we've had this kind of wind ... every month this year."

"As a native San Diegan, I have never seen the Santa Ana winds -- also called 'the devil winds' -- in the month of May," San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said.

Fire season in Southern California typically starts late in the summer and extends into fall. But nowadays, as Jacob points out, "We have year-round fire risk."

Porter, from Cal Fire, notes that there's been no time to shut down over the past 12 months at least, adding: "We have never gone out of what you would call fire season."

Statewide, the amount of fire activity so far this year is "unprecedented," Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott told CNN.

Thankfully, for the immediate future, temperatures are expected to drop throughout the region in the coming days.

But that doesn't mean rain is on the horizon, or that the drought will end anytime soon. This scenario could repeat itself at most any point over the next few weeks and months.

As Bill Horn, another San Diego County supervisor, told CNN: "I guess it's going to be ... an awfully hot fire season."

San Marcos, Escondido among hard-hit cities

Some 10,000 acres had burned in Horn's county in various blazes, the worst being a nearly uncontrollable fire in San Marcos.

County officials in that city said that one intense wildfire sucked so much oxygen that it was creating its own weather system, and the city's fire chief, Brett Van Wey, said 5,000 homes remained evacuated Thursday.

"They are skirting subdivisions, and we are just doing our best to kind of guide it along through the path of least resistance," Van Wey said of the wildfire.

The city was "fortunate" to have lost only three homes and had one damaged, he said.

In broad daylight at noon, the fire blackened the skies in one San Marcos neighborhood and sent a "firenado" -- a column resembling a tornado with smoke and flames shooting from it -- rising and twisting into the air. The blaze prompted a state university in that city to cancel this week's commencement and other activities, officials said.

And San Marcos isn't alone.

A new wildfire ignited near the Las Pulgas gate on the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton, prompting more evacuations, Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlot said. That fire burned 25 acres, a relatively small size compared to the base's other fire on 6,000 acres -- or 9.3 square miles -- the military said.

By mid-afternoon Thursday, about 15,000 residents were being evacuated in Escondido, a city with a population of 146,000, according to Escondido Community Relations Manager Joyce Masterson. A few hours later, Mayor Sam Abed said he was grateful not just for the cooperation among various agencies, but for the fact Escondido hadn't "lost any structures or any lives and there hasn't been any significant injury."

The evacuation zone included a 12-story hospital, Palomar Medical Center West in Escondido, but that facility wasn't evacuated because it has a "shelter in place," Masterson said. That hospital announced on Twitter that its emergency room had closed to new patients because of flames, then still a few miles away.

The fire department was "in place to do everything possible to protect the hospital," Masterson said. "It's just logistically hard to transport that many patients in a short period of time. The hospital is along the foothills and about three miles away from the fire."

Investigators have yet determine cause of fires

While there have been no fatalities, the fires have destroyed and damaged a number of buildings, no mention prompted thousands of evacuations and cancellations.

For example, Alert San Diego, a countywide notification system, sent out nearly 122,000 emergency telephone notifications on Wednesday as the wildfires sprang up. And classes were called off Friday for 13 school districts in San Diego County, the San Diego Office of Education said.

Twenty fire chiefs are working together with officials from Cal Fire and other agencies to coordinate the firefighting effort. They have already gotten help from the federal government as well, with a senior official telling CNN that President Barack Obama's administration has supplied large air tankers and hotshot crews of firefighters to battle the flames.

So what's the immediate cause of all this fire?

Investigators are trying to determine that. Horn, for one, suspects some or all of them might have been set purposefully, saying it is "too much of a coincidence."

Still, authorities haven't said whether that's what they think, and no one has been detained.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore noted the tinderbox conditions of southern California. Grasses were so dry that setting a fire would take only a few hundred degrees, and a spark from a catalytic converter easily carries 2,500 to 3,000 degrees of heat, Gore said.

Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall declined to address some residents' speculation whether arson was behind so many fires in the county.

"I'm sure people are thinking about that," Hall said. "I would just ask people to keep on what we're having to deal with today."
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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It seems like the world is going crazy. Africa is some kind of hell hole. As is Afghanistan. A woman is sentenced to death for her religion in Sudan. On and on and on ...

In the USA they face floods, hurricanes, surprising snow stroms, tornados and fires.

Fresh water is just going to get more and more scarce as time goes on. Same with good food.

Ice caps and ice sheets are melting.
.........

I am happy to be in B.C. One of the greatest supplies of fresh water in the world. Good food supply. Fresh air. Moderate temperature. Many blessings.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/06/politics/ ... ?hpt=hp_t1
Climate change is here, action needed now, says new White House report

Washington (CNN) -- Climate change is here and will only worsen. Get used to more flooding, wildfires and drought, depending on where you live. Cities and states across America already are spending lots of money to respond.

Those are the take-home messages of a new White House report released Tuesday that is part of President Barack Obama's second-term effort to prepare the nation for the impacts of a changing climate such as rising sea levels and increasingly erratic weather.

The National Climate Assessment update said evidence of human-made climate change "continues to strengthen" and that "Americans are noticing changes all around them."

"This is not some distant problem of the future," Obama told NBC, while John Holdren, who directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said climate change "already is affecting every region of the country and key sectors of the economy."

Read the National Climate Assessment

The Obama administration wants the report to ignite awareness of the need for government and communities to respond now to climate change in the face of fierce political opposition, mostly from conservatives.

A relentless campaign backed by the fossil fuel industry and its allies challenges whether climate change is real, and if so, whether human activity such as increased carbon emissions from power plants, factories and cars contributes to it.

In a statement coinciding with the report's publication, the White House said the findings "underscore the need for urgent action to combat the threats from climate change, protect American citizens and communities today, and build a sustainable future for our kids and grandkids."

Breaking down the report by region

John Podesta, a Democratic operative who now counsels the President, told reporters that Obama will kick off a broad campaign this week to publicize the report, while Cabinet members and other administration officials would be "fanning out" across the country to spread the word about how climate change impacts specific regions.

Republican critics immediately pounced on new report as a political tool for Obama to try to impose a regulatory agenda that would hurt the economy.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky mocked what he described as the hypocritical stance of "liberal elites" who demand strong action on climate change while failing to reduce their own carbon footprint.

"Even if we were to enact the kind of national energy regulations the President seems to want so badly, it would be unlikely to meaningfully impact global emissions anyway unless other major industrial nations do the same thing," McConnell said in arguing against proposals to reduce industrial pollution.

He called the debate "cynical" because Obama knew that "much of the pain of imposing such regulations would be borne by our own middle class."

Changing attitudes?

To Podesta and Holdren, the reality of climate change will win out over opponents of new energy policies to combat it.

"Public awareness has been going up and will continue to go up," Holdren told reporters, predicting increased public support for government action to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and for America to take a leadership role on climate change in the international arena.

Five things you can do

Recent polling indicates most Americans believe human activities cause climate change, but also shows the issue is less important to the public than the economy and other topics.

A Gallup poll in March found that 34% of respondents think climate change, called global warming in the poll, posed a "serious threat" to their way of life, compared to 64% who responded "no." At the same time, more than 60% of respondents believed global warming was happening or would happen in their lifetime.

More than 300 experts helped produce the report over several years, updating a previous assessment published in 2009. Podesta called it "actionable science" for policymakers and the public to use in forging a way forward.

Scientists categorize the response to climate change into two strategies -- minimizing the effects by reducing the cause, which is known as mitigation, and preparing for impacts already occurring or certain to occur, which is called adaptation.

The report breaks the country down by region and identifies specific threats should climate change continue. Major concerns cited by scientists involved in creating the report include rising sea levels along America's coasts, drought in the Southwest and prolonged fire seasons.

It predicts sea levels will rise at least a foot by the end of the century and perhaps as much as four feet, depending on how much of the Greenland and Antarctic ice shelf melts.

Such an outcome could be catastrophic for millions of people living along the ocean, submerging tropical islands and encroaching on coastal areas.

Low-lying U.S. cities already experience high flooding, with Miami planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to address the problem, noted Jerry Melillo of Marine Biological Laboratory, who chaired the advisory committee that produced the new assessment.

The Great Plains could experience heavier droughts and heat waves with increasing frequency, while more wildfires in the West could threaten agriculture and residential communities, the report notes.

Obama's week-long focus on climate change continues Wednesday, when the White House convenes a summit focused on green building tactics. Later in the week, Obama will announce new solar power initiatives, according to Podesta.

In his first term, the President faced opposition by Republicans and some Democrats from states with major fossil fuel industries such as coal production to significant climate change legislation.

He pledged to renew his efforts on the issue in his final four years, including using executive actions that bypass Congress. Obama has introduced new regulations on vehicle emissions and created "climate hubs" that help businesses prepare for the effects of climate change.

A major upcoming issue is a proposal under consideration by the Obama administration to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmental groups say the project would contribute to climate change because tar sands oil is dirtier than conventionally drilled crude, and importing it would maintain the country's dependence on fossil fuels. Republicans and some Democrats from oil industry states want the pipeline approved to create jobs and bolster exports from a strategic ally and U.S. neighbor.

The new assessment calls for continued mitigation steps including regulations and programs to reduce carbon emissions, as well as necessary planning and investment to deal with the known impacts.

Melillo cited some adaptation measures already underway, noting a "terrific plan for extreme heat events" by the city of Philadelphia.

"Things are starting to happen," Melillo said, adding that the continued efforts over time will "ultimately present a very positive picture" about Americans taking action on climate change.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
TheLionKing
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Can't understand why people continues to live there. Not the first time the Santa Anna winds have caused havoc with fires.
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Sir Purrcival
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People are slow to recognize the changes that can occur in their environment. Think about how many cases there are in the world of places that were once thriving communities and which are now abandoned because some element of their environment changed to the point where things could no longer be sustained. In my mind, I think it is very possible that parts of California are are undergoing these kinds of changes. In another 50 years, you could see portions of the state which now support people being relegated to desert status. There are likely to be issues with a safe and stable food supply as time progresses as well. How much produce is grown in California? Imagine what impacts there could be if large swaths of the state become unable to produce agriculturally. And then there are the people. They are going to migrate somewhere. Look for Oregon and Washington to swell with large numbers of displaced people. Times are going to be much tougher and more expensive much sooner than many people think.
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