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Aerial view of Station fire
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / August 31, 2009)
Smoke from the Station fire over the Angeles National Forest as seen from a helicopter.
La Crescenta, Sept 1. Courtesy of LA Times.According to this article written yesterday on the LA Times website. The Station Fire burning in the Angeles National Forest is the county’s largest fire in history and it continues to grow.
Here is that article…
September 2, 2009 4:30 pm
The Station fire is the largest blaze in Los Angeles County’s modern history and is continuing to grow, said county Fire Department Capt. Jerry Meehan.
“This is the biggest ever,” Meehan said.
He said the fire was unusual for other reasons as well, including that it was not wind driven and that flames reached reported lengths of 300 to 400 feet. Meehan studies the history of fires in the county and describes himself as “the wildfire guy”.
“This is the hottest-burning, most damaging I’ve seen,” he said.
The Station fire passed what had been the county’s biggest blaze, the 1970 Clampitt fire.
But the Station fire is still much smaller than some of the biggest fires in state history.
The largest was the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County, which burned 273,000 acres and 2,800 structures. The 2007 Zaca fire charred 240,000 acres in the Central Coast mountains. The 2007 Witch fire in San Diego County scorched 197,000 acres and destroyed 1,650 homes.
– Ari B. Bloomekatz at Hansen Dam
“This is the biggest ever,” Meehan said.
He said the fire was unusual for other reasons as well, including that it was not wind driven and that flames reached reported lengths of 300 to 400 feet. Meehan studies the history of fires in the county and describes himself as “the wildfire guy”.
“This is the hottest-burning, most damaging I’ve seen,” he said.
The Station fire passed what had been the county’s biggest blaze, the 1970 Clampitt fire.
But the Station fire is still much smaller than some of the biggest fires in state history.
The largest was the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County, which burned 273,000 acres and 2,800 structures. The 2007 Zaca fire charred 240,000 acres in the Central Coast mountains. The 2007 Witch fire in San Diego County scorched 197,000 acres and destroyed 1,650 homes.
– Ari B. Bloomekatz at Hansen Dam
Another interesting piece written by Dr Joe D’Aleo of Icecap.us wrote about how claims quickly surfaced that Southern California’s huge Station Fire was attributed to Global Warming but it is said that a Cold PDO and still warm AMO attributes to drought and less rainfall in the Southwest, whilst a warm PDO and warm AMO tends to encourage more drought in the Northwest and Southeast..
I wrote in a previous post, that California is a naturally dry place. It sits beneath a semi-perminent sub-tropical high pressure belt and with it’s complex and variable topography, wildfires are easy to get during the summer and particularly late summer and fall when 5-6 months of no rain has dried out all the dense brush lining the hillsides. Particularly dry years such as 2003, 2007 and 2009, it’s the perfect set up of hot, cloudless skies, extremely low humidity and the dense, unlimited amount of brush covering the hillsides that creates the perfect storm when it comes to wildfires in this part of the world.
The cold PDO brings drier conditions and with summetime heat a given, low humidity a given and at times Santa Ana wind events. It’s close to impossible not to get wildfires to break out.
The thing we all need to remember here is that Southern California lies within the world’s desert belt! The coastal areas and LA basin is basically a desert, when you think of rainfall and it’s meager seasonal distribution (wet years are those within a warm PDO and more frequent and stronger El Ninos. Back in 2007, LA recieved it’s driest year on record with a mere 3 inches of rain over a 12-month period… The problem is that wildfires have ALWAYS roamed the hillsides of Southern California and it’s rugged mountains, but as for people and luxurious homes, well they haven’t always been there and they sit in likely some of the most dangerous wildfire prone areas on earth. Where beautiful homes and communities with their picturesque pools, nice air conditioning, manicured lawns, double garages etc etc, perched up on a hill overlooking the canyon, with the daily sunshine (garenteed through the long, hot and dry summer months) beating down through the thick, tinder-dry brush, not a drop of rain in months, PERFECT! Folks pay millions to get their dream home with a view and perfect weather that comes inclusive. Few places in the world can offer the scenery and sunshine and even winter heatwaves which can boost 90s to even 100s between the canyons and coastal valleys to the Pacific when high pressure builds inland and a low forms off Catalina Island and you get the Santa Ana’s to blow. Sure you might get roaring 40 to 60 mph winds rattling the house, rippling the pool and flexing the palms, but it’s hot and sure you can live with the plummeting humidity, but the arid winds that kick up to what is known as the Santa Ana also brings a hellish, frightening problem that can create bavoc most years at least somewhere in SOCAL. The risk of fire…
Each and every year, those living across the dense forested landscape of beautiful California always have and always will need to watch out their windows when the heat rises and humidity drops and yes, especially when those winds pick up and roar down your canyon. It’s all part and parcel of living the California dream. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t not want to live in Southern California. I’ve been fortunate to stay in Yorba Linda, Orange County looking from the back yard pool over the 91 freeway and the Santa Ana Mountains, cool, cloudy and foggy mornings gave way to brilliant sunshine and mid to upper 80s, with being on the windward side of the coastal range, cooling Pacific breezes reach all the way into Box Canyon and others in the vast network of narrow, winding canyons that interwind the coastal mountains. It couldn’t get better, but I would worry about wildfires and it’s when you see the situation millions are going through right now in hot, arid, Southern California it makes me wonder, is it only a matter of time before fire comes to you, this year, next year or 10 years from now, it’s not global warming, but life under the sub-tropical ridge and where mountains, loal winds and upper level weather patterns all come together to bring year in and year out wildfires?
What is remarkable about the 2009 fires so far is that the Station Fire is spreading rapidly not because of Santa Anas but because of the imense fuel left within dense, tinder dry brush that’s been caused by several years of serious drought.. Matured by a cold PDO? Quite possibly.
Why more frequent fires and burning down of homes? Oceanic cycles and more homes being built in the fire zones!
Thanks for reading.
-Mark
>It's a shame that people feel the need to tackle these wild fires. Its just part of nature and they should let them run their course. That way increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere might contribute further to the global cooling trend that you have discovered.