@EricFielding Thank you for this picture of the devastation, I have been looking for an overall pic of the devastated areas. Shiet, went to sleep last night thinking the fire was burning it would miss Altadena Had friends who got out with embers blowing across the street, they all safe thank you Mother Mary. I love Altadena many friends there and over in Topanga/Palisades have lost their homes. The speed is Deceptive, If you receive warning to be prepared to leave, LEAVE, better safe-n-sorry.
@Crusaide Yes, the City of Los Angeles cut its fire-fighting budget last year. I don't know the details. Altadena is not part of the City of Los Angeles but is an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.
@lewdmachines@Crusaide Yes, once the strong winds started pushing the fire to the west through Altadena, no amount of firefighters could have stopped it. They might have been able to save some of the houses and buildings, but not all of them. Most of Altadena is 95% destroyed, with only 1 in 20 structures not burned in the fire perimeter.
@Crusaide@EricFielding they could have had 3x the firefighters and gear but with 80mph dry winds pushing fires on dry land there's nothing that would have significantly changed here
@Schouten_B@elticoloco They had the Very Large Air Tankers (modified DC-10, not 747) flying over Altadena late in the afternoon on January 8, after the wind decreased. It was not possible to use any aircraft before that.
@elticoloco@EricFielding Winds were too strong for using fire fighting planes. Plenty were available but during high winds water gets blown away and fire fighting planes can't be used effectively. (They actually have very expensive 747-400s)
Not everything is about your political pet peeve. (Though in this case if your pet peeve is climate change it kinda is)
It is very sad and I feel for the victims' distress. The USA is always wrong about war, but they have a burning clue to guide their priorities.
What if instead of making F35, they bought Canadairs? In 2018, the fire fighting budget was 427 million, compared to 693 billion for weapons
What would all those whose house burned prefer? Whether the USA is the sheriff of the world (while polluting it to the extreme), or that it finally takes the measure of climate change?