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Date Posted: 13:10:09 10/30/03 Thu
Author: wwolfe
Author Host/IP: 161.149.63.110
Subject: The Firestorms of 2003: A Report From California

The southern half of my state is burning down.

As of this morning, 675,000 acres have burned. That's approximately the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

More than 2,000 homes have burned.

When I called the Red Cross this morning, they said the lowest estimate of people made homeless by these fires is 5,000. But that's changing by the minute, they said. Realistically, it will almost certainly be a number between 10,000 and 20,000 by the time this is done. Twenty people are known to have died, with many more expected to be found in the ashes of their homes.

There are five major fires in this state, three in the counties surrounding Los Angeles and two in the area around San Diego. Last night, airborne embers crossed the border into Mexico and started a new fire there.

One of the fires in the Los Angeles area stretches 60 miles from end to end, with flames reaching as high as 200 feet. Each of the other four fires are nearly as long. The two in San Diego may combine today, depending on which way the wind blows; if that should happen, the result would be a blaze that would dwarf the others.

This disaster started last Thursday. Every night since then, I have scanned the three major networks in prime time, searching for prime time news coverage from the national news media. Last night, as with each preceding night, there was nothing.

No Special Bulletins. No interruptions for breaking news. Nothing.

At 8:00 p.m., CNN led its broadcast with footage shot at the Stevenson Ranch development in Ventura County, north of LA. It gets dark here now at around 5:30 p.m., but this footage was shot in broad daylight. Judging by the angle of the shadows, I'd estimate it was taken at around 2:00 p.m. The newscaster was speaking confidently of how the fire at the Stevenson Ranch was "contained."

The only problem was that in the intervening five or six hours, the very homes the newscaster was standing in front of had burned to the ground.

Which leads me to my question.

Where the hell is everybody?

This is a disaster of horrifying, overwhelming, even Biblical proportions. It's already the worst disaster in the history of the state, with no end in sight. By the time the fires stop burning, this could well be the worst disaster in the history of the country.

So why the hell isn't this on the god damn news?

When I speak to my friends and family around the country, it's clear that they have no concept of how terrible this is. And it's equally clear that's because no one's telling them about it.

Where are the reporters? Where is the prime time coverage? Where is the footage and interviews and analysis that would make it clear just how horrendous this is?

The networks are licensed by our elected representatives, a license which requires them to act in the public interest. Why aren't they fulfilling that requirement?

Where are the Senators and Congressmen from other states, touring the devastation?

Where is the National Guard? Where is the Army, with tents and Quonset huts to house the homeless?

Where is the President?

Why the hell has my state been abandoned by the people who have the power to do something?

If the rest of the country knew, I am absolutely certain that offers of aid of every kind would be pouring in already. That's how we act. And not just here. I'll never forget the Canadians who let our planes land after September 11 and who gave the people on those planes a place to stay. If people knew, they'd help.

Why don't they know?

To try to give you a sense of just how big this is, I got out an atlas and a ruler and took some rough measurements using the scales on each page of the book.

First off, according to MapQuest, California is 772 miles from Chula Vista on the Mexican border to Eureka, an hour south of the Oregon border. That's 13 hours by car.

This is a huge, huge state.

From Fillmore, the northernmost point of the fires above LA, to the fires in Mexico is about 300 miles.

That's roughly the equivalent of the distance as the crow flies from:

- Montreal to New York, or

- New York to south of Washington, DC, or

- Boston to Philadelphia

The 60 miles that the longest fire stretches is roughly equivalent to the distance as the crow flies from (and I'm using references that will mean something to our regular Board members):

- Boston to Providence

- Chicago to the Wisconsin border

- Orlando, Florida to the Atlantic Ocean

- Downtown Philadelphia to the shore in Atlantic City

- Tucson to the Mexican border

- Detroit to the Ohio border and then continuing on south past Toledo, OR Detroit west to Ann Arbor, and then continuing westward for another 20 miles

- the Empire State Building in Manhattan to New Haven, Connecticut

- Greensboro, North Carolina almost to Raleigh

- Cleveland, Ohio to the Pennsylvania border

- Nashville, Tennessee south almost to the Alabama border

- Houston to Galveston and then on out into the Gulf of Mexico for another 15 miles

- Ogden, Utah to Provo

- Montreal to midway down the eastern shore of Lake Champlain in Vermont

- Washington, DC to Baltimore, and then continuing northward for another 20 miles



If two states on the East coast had burned to the ground over the last week, don't you think there would be armies of reporters from the networks covering that story straight through prime time every night?

If there were a wall of flames stretching from Washington, DC to 20 miles north of Baltimore, do you think that would be covered on prime time TV? Put it another way: Do you think there'd be ANYTHING ELSE on prime time TV??

If Georgetown had burned down at 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, do you think CNN would have shown a six-hour old film clip of a newscaster standing in that neighborhood saying the fire was "contained"?

If there were fires stretching from New York to Washington, DC, would there be anything else on the three major networks, from dawn to midnight?

All my life, I've been a Civil War buff, and I've always been an ardent Union man. Over the last few days, for the first time I've understood why the people of the South chose to secede.

One out of every ten Americans lives in California. One out of every seven tax dollars collected by the Federal government comes from California, an amount at least double that which comes back in the form of service and public works. That doesn't seem to matter to people with power right now.

My state has been fucking abandoned. Not by my fellow citizens. But by the people with the power to do something.

Where the hell is everybody??

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Replies:

[> A stripe from Maine to L.A., 1/2 Kilometer wide. -- Grim ,_,_), 14:47:49 10/30/03 Thu (66.95.229.84)


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[> I would imagine... -- LaVelle, 14:02:38 10/31/03 Fri (130.245.253.130)

"They" are waiting for it to get big enough to scare the pants of everyone twice.... and then come in as heros... that or it hasn't registered with anyone yet that this is an issue of catastrophic proportions. I hope they'll wake up in time.

Stay safe Bill, Heather and the rest of our dear Californians.


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[> Re: The Firestorms of 2003: A Report From California -- Maye, 16:40:23 11/02/03 Sun (68.78.236.219)

I've been thinking about you and Heater. I hope you and yours are all safe.

Actually, the stories that have gotten to me are the people in their backyards with hoses because there are no more firemen to help them, and those burned in their cars because they waited too long to get away. *shudder*

I hope more relief is headed your way soon.


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[> [> There are three specific images that will stay with me. -- wwolfe, 14:56:46 11/03/03 Mon (161.149.63.106)

A husband and wife who owned a horse ranch in the hills. In the event of a fire, each had specific duties, hers being to load up the horses so they could be driven to safety. When the fires came last week, the husband went to load their household belongings in the car, while she went for the horses. She never came back. Apparently, the fire turned suddenly and unexpectedly and swept down the hillside, consuming the barn, with her and the horses inside.

A father was driving his two small children down a mountain. On the narrow mountain road, with the smoke and general confusion, he was unable to see which direction led to safety and which led toward the fires. Stopping the car and instructing his clidren to stay inside, he walked a short distance down the road, where he got directions from a police officer. No more than a minute or two after leaving the car, he returned to find that the fire had swept over the road, burning the car and his children along with it.

Lastly, one of the common sights on the roads leading down from the burning hills and mountains: cats and dogs, in flames, running.

Someday, our President will bother to say something about all of this.


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