Wildland fire
Hello, First off I’m a huge fan. I wanted to make some points on yesterday's topic of wildland fire, you nailed some of the topics. I spent nearly a decade fighting wildland fire from being on Hotshot crews (fires elite hand crews) to a Helicopter rappeller. I’ve fought the nation's smallest to largest fires. The main reason for the severity of our fires in conjunction with global warming is nearly a century of unintentional mismanagement of our forest, we have been removing fire off the landscape (a natural process) to protect and preserve our resources and have done a really good job at it. Then we stopped logging. Fire naturally thins the forest, logging thins the forest. Both these have created a crisis; a massive build up of fuel that has never happened in our forest until now. A healthy forest has a mosaic pattern to it where fire would only burn unhealthy or overgrown areas. Young, healthy forests do not burn well and large mature trees have natural defenses to thwart off fire. Some plants need fire to grow. Healthy fires create amazing wildlife habitat that our wildlife needs, including us. Most of the western U.S. eco system has evolved with fire until the last 100 years when we removed it. As to the insurance companies not covering homeowners building in fire susceptible areas is understandable. People are building homes without defensible space. What I mean by that is you can drive around these areas and see brush and trees up against houses without a fire break. Add this in steep terrain and homes are not defensible, firefighters risk their lives to protect these homes. All over the west I see homes and trophy homes being put on the sides of mountains in terrain that will eventually have fire on the landscape without regulation.
How to spot a grifter
At some point, every political commentator is accused of being a grifter, sellout, or mouthpiece for an American adversary. Aside from following your gut, how do you separate the honest actors from the dishonest ones, and what are your bottom-line sources for confirming if information you’re hearing is true and accurate?