Fires in California

[Stic-o]

We live in the middle of all of this, and so far have avoided all of it this time. At one point we had 3 different fires approaching us. We have gone through this before about 8 years ago, and it's not fun. Just need to get through the next few days. We do know a lot of people who have lost their homes in this. Everyone is getting great support now, but I worry we will all forget 6 months from now. ?

Here is image from my front yard last night. ?

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[rang19ca]

Stay safe Stic-o. The wind is our never ending enemy for fires.

 

[Cmar]

I know what you mean. I have been watching the videos and live reports, since Tuesday morning. I can't accept that this many people have lost everything. It make me sick to see this.

I know looking at the news reports here, particularly the aerial shots, it looks like scenes from an atom bomb. My heart goes out to you.

 

[Cmar]

We live in the middle of all of this, and so far have avoided all of it this time. At one point we had 3 different fires approaching us. We have gone through this before about 8 years ago, and it's not fun. Just need to get through the next few days. We do know a lot of people who have lost their homes in this. Everyone is getting great support now, but I worry we will all forget 6 months from now. ?

Here is image from my front yard last night. ?

Not the night time sky display you want to see. I hope you continue out of harms way.

 

[HeatXfer]

California has the 5th largest economy in the WORLD. To be trillions in debt points to absolutely nothing other than total, complete, gross mismanagement.

There better be some serious caveats to the FEMA money. East Palestine and North Carolina are still waiting.

Mismanagement of funds is the hallmark of both state and frderal U.S. Government agencies.

In 2022 Cali paid over $83 Billion more than it received back from the feds. Its been that way for years. California receives less in federal funds than 40 of the 50 states.

 

[got3fords]

And now all those stupid shrubs are bunt to a crisp.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/14/us-ne...fire-safety-project-to-save-endangered-shrub/

 

[xplorre]

I'm here working on a strike team, got here the night of the fire. It's like something out of a movie...

 

[Illking]

First time stopping by 5g since the fires broke out. Its been a rough week for LA. Ive luckily only been impacted by air quality and being in red flag zones however many friends have lost everything in the Eaton fire. Appreciate all the members expressing support, and to any members who are impacted and need help don't hesitate to reach out!

The Los Angeles car/truck community has really come together and theres been groups of trucks going around town clearing debris from the hurricane force winds. My Ranger and I went out with a truck bed full of gardening tools and cleared an entire park in Pasadena for the community with the help of other volunteers. Silkey saw put in some work.

 

[dtech]

Wow why are the health care and pension funds unfunded?
I work for the state here and from day one part of your salary is deducted and placed in a state super account, this is invested and you can access it at retirement age. No government of any flavour is allowed to touch that fund, and it is not allowed to be considered as part of government funds. Management of the fund is under the control of a separate and independant department, staffed by people with proven records in finance and banking. The end result is that if every public servant in the state were to claim their funds tomorrow there would still be money left over, it is very much in positive balance. Surely the Californian system can't be that different?

You can read about it in the link below, I do recall that at one time California public sector workers enjoyed very generous pension and medical benefits. But at the Federal level in the US there is a massive amount of debt - the $36 trillion number often cited doesn't include unfunded liabilities.

California of course isn't alone - a number of states also carry large amounts of unfunded/underfunded liabilities.

If you have spare time on your hands you can watch the numbers compiling on the national debt clock (https://www.usdebtclock.org/) it's really something to behold.


https://www.ppic.org/publication/public-pension-liabilities-in-california/

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/debt-and-unfunded-liabilities/

 

[Gerder]

Sad to think they were preventable, or at least minimized with proper planning and leadership.

yes, indeed.
just 5% of the war budget for provisioning would make a huge difference... but the cokeheads would rather generate even more so-called growth for the monopoly money. basically the same story as in ukraine and the middle east... unfortunately it's still like Frank Zappa once said;
"politics is the entertainment department of the arms industry."
"and the financial industry" should be added...

 

[dtech]

More CA fires, this time though it's not wild but it's from that lithium-ion demon.

https://www.aol.com/fire-huge-northern-california-lithium-165500515.html

From the article :

"The fire is being allowed to burn itself out and it was unknown how long that process would take.

"No active fire suppression is taking place, the batteries must burn themselves out. No water can be used. This is standard action for battery fires," according to an update from the Monterey County Emergency Operations Center."

 

[AzScorpion]

? It is ironic that the whole idea of the giant battery storage facility is to reduce the use of fossil fuel power plants. However, the contamination from burning this massive amount of lithium batteries might be worse than whatever emissions might come from a natural gas power plant. I wonder how many ICE vehicles would have to drive down the road and for how long to make up for the environmental catastrophe here??‍

 

[KNI]

? It is ironic that the whole idea of the giant battery storage facility is to reduce the use of fossil fuel power plants. However, the contamination from burning this massive amount of lithium batteries might be worse than whatever emissions might come from a natural gas power plant. I wonder how many ICE vehicles would have to drive down the road and for how long to make up for the environmental catastrophe here??‍

Not really.

It will first burn to lithium oxide, which will then react to Co2 to make lithium carbonate*. Just acts as a Co2 sink (for the Co2 which was released because of making the lithium in the first place).

* = aka.. rocks.

 

[dtech]

Well at least Vistra is not a public utility in the traditional sense that is typically allowed to pass on rate changes for whatever reason, Vistra has to have competitive rates, a bit from yahoo finance on the stock - which is already taking a hit on the news :


Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) has been on an even more bullish trajectory in the past year. It has gained 333.6% in the past year and YTD performance hasn’t disappointed either.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) is a power company that generates electricity and sells it to customers in states like Texas and Illinois. The more recent buzz around it has been centered on beating expectations and boosting guidance. They beat both revenue and EPS expectations in Q3, with revenue up almost 54% year-over-year and EPS up 276.1%.

 

[AzScorpion]

Not really.

It will first burn to lithium oxide, which will then react to Co2 to make lithium carbonate*. Just acts as a Co2 sink (for the Co2 which was released because of making the lithium in the first place).

* = aka.. rocks.

It's not just Co2 there's a lot of poison gasses emitted.

https://www.strategic-risk-global.c...-in-lithium-ion-battery-fires/1445595.article

“Traditionally where fires and smoke are concerned one would stay low to avoid inhalation, doing so where lithium battery fires are concerned is likely to prove problematic,” observes Dalus.

The toxicity of gases given off from any given lithium-ion battery differ from that of a typical fire and can themselves vary but all remain either poisonous or combustible, or both.

They can feature high percentages of hydrogen, and compounds of hydrogen, including hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen cyanide, as well as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and methane, among other dangerous chemicals.

In terms of hazards to the well-being of those in the vicinity of such an incident, one particularly problematic component is hydrogen fluoride (HF).

Although HF is lighter than air and would disperse when released, a cloud of vapour and aerosol that is heavier than air may be formed (EPA 1993).

On exposure to skin or by inhaling, HF can result in skin burns and lung damage that can take time (hours to weeks) to develop following exposure.

HF will be quickly absorbed by the body via skin and lungs depleting vital calcium and magnesium levels in tissues, which can result in severe and possibly fatal systemic effects.

The hydrogen content of the released gases can give rise to vapour cloud explosion risks which have the potential to cause significant damage.

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