Saturday, August 22, 2015
Three levels, none should have been needed.
KREM has stories about three levels of courage in the face of fire.
(1) A man who didn't evacuate but stayed to defend his own property. Gutsy but basically normal. I might do that ... in fact I did that in the 1991 firestorm. Evac was encouraged, but I stayed and sprayed. It made a difference.
(2) A man who didn't evacuate, and is patrolling the streets to help his neighbors. Gutsy and beyond normal. I couldn't do that. In a small town it's not quite so abnormal; everyone is accustomed to doing a little of everything; still tremendously courageous.
(3) A man who didn't evacuate, bought a firetruck that wasn't being used, gathered a crew, and went out to fight fires. WAY beyond normal. Superhero is the only word. Admittedly it took some existing 'superpowers'. He's a lawyer who had enough money to afford a firetruck and enough influence and connections to gather the crew.
If the idiot state and evil feds had been taking the necessary steps to PREVENT explosive fires for the last 30 years, we wouldn't need a superhero. If normal logging had been allowed, the forests wouldn't have built up to explosive density. If we had prevented developers from putting cedar-roofed McMansions in the middle of the forest, we'd have more room for the small fires that Nature needs. If we hadn't placed banks of wind turbines in the forest, the bats would have killed the bugs, and the trees would have been healthy. If we hadn't busted down dams to avoid embarrassing the earthworms, there would be more moisture in the air.
We are doing everything wrong.
Superheroes are wonderful, but they can't really fix 30 years of evil.
Labels: Carbon Cult, defensible spaces, STRONG!
¶ 7:04 AM
