Tag: forest fires

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Nevada: Tens Of Thousands Evacuated As Wildfire Threatens Reno

Nevada wildfire has burned over 15,000 acres

Here in my home state of Nevada, firefighters made some progress Sunday night in trying to contain a massive wildfire, known as the Hawk Fire, in northwestern Nevada.

More than 15,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada foothills have burned since it began Saturday, and around 45,000 people have been forced to evacuate. Another 40,000 have been told they may need to leave their homes on short notice.

More from the New York Times:

On Sunday evening, firefighters “observed extreme fire behavior,” and expected the blaze to reach “pockets of dense fuels” as it advanced toward Reno, a city of almost 300,000 near the border of Nevada and California.

Still, local officials expressed optimism in their efforts to tame the fire, particularly at the southern end of the blaze, where firefighters largely stopped it from advancing.

About 10,000 customers remained without power, an improvement after 60,000 had no electricity on Saturday.

Six people, including three firefighters, have been injured. It is unknown how many structures the wildfire burned down or damaged.

Officials said that the fire was caused by a human, but did not say whether they suspected arson.

FYI – for folks who have reached out, fortunately I’m located in the very southern part of Nevada in Las Vegas. Thinking best thoughts for my fellow Nevadans up north.

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Trump Cuts Off Forest Fire/FEMA Money For California

Donald Trump announced this morning he has cut off forest fire FEMA funds from California ‘unless they get their act together’ regarding forest management.

Note: California sends far more money to the federal government than it gets back in federal aid.

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Trump: “Raking And Cleaning” The Forest Floor Will Solve Forest Fires

Donald Trump toured the devastation of California town of Paradise following the massive forest fires there with Gov. Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsome.

Speaking to the press in the middle of a town that has over 1,000 people missing, Trump displayed a sudden expertise on the science of forestry.

“You gotta take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important,” Trump said, with Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom listening.

Trump shared that during a recent meeting with the president of Finland, which has 73% forest coverage, told him the secret to avoiding forest fires is ‘raking and cleaning’ the forest floor.

“You look at other countries where they do it differently and it’s a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland and he called it a forest nation, and they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don’t have any problem. And when they do, it’s a very small problem.

What the Trumpster doesn’t mention is most of California forests are on federal land, meaning the federal government is in charge of managing those lands.

Plus, the Trump administration cut funding for fire prevention.

It’s worth noting that Finland is a sparsely populated nation (just over 5 million people) with a land size less than California. Most of that is forests and lakes.

The weather in Finland provides long and cold winters, as well as rain throughout the year.

I imagine that has a lot to do with fewer forest fires.

The president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, was asked if he’d recommended ‘raking’ as a way to avoid forest fires to Trump. He told the press that he’d mentioned that Finland has “a good monitoring system” and that Fins “take care” of their forests.

But, no, he never mentioned ‘raking.’