Mind-boggling photo of the day
posted at 5:17 pm on October 24, 2007 by Allahpundit
Share on Facebook | regular view
NASA added red to the fire areas to draw out the contrast but otherwise this is an unretouched, honest to goodness god’s-eye-view. For scale purposes, that’s Baja California at the bottom right. Those wisps are mammoth plumes blowing out into the Pacific. Want more? Gawk away.
CBS is claiming that the Santiago Canyon wildfire (there are several different blazes by now, I gather) is an act of arson with, intriguingly, two separate points of origin. According to the LA Times, cops suspect arson in another fire too. It’s probably just run of the mill degenerates behind it, but what a terror weapon, huh? Relatively low body count but a cool $1 billion in damage for the cost of some kerosene and a Bic lighter. That would be some cost-effective jihad, yo.
Update: The winds are easing, at least.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
Iraqi oil fields?
Shy Guy on October 24, 2007 at 5:20 PM
Oddly enough, That picture was taken 6 months ago.
That is not wild fire smoke but analyst believe it was actually medical marijuana.
TheSitRep on October 24, 2007 at 5:21 PM
It just looks like some wispy clouds. Need better picture.
MB4 on October 24, 2007 at 5:24 PM
On Michelle’s page there is a report of one supsect being killed agter he rammed the police with his car, and another suspect being sought. NO names released, That in itself does not bode well, if it were a run of the mill; white ne’er do well it would have already been released.IMHO.
bbz123 on October 24, 2007 at 5:24 PM
That’s gonna take a lot of carbon offsets to cancel out.
Hoodlumman on October 24, 2007 at 5:25 PM
We’re all gonna have to eat us some serious cattle in the next few weeks.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on October 24, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Probably some Evangelical Lutheran of some Buddhist run
a monkamok.MB4 on October 24, 2007 at 5:33 PM
I live and work between the big plumes in San Diego. When you look North or South it is complete haze. This fire is not as close as the last fire. That fire was throwing embers over the 805 well inside the city.
Theworldisnotenough on October 24, 2007 at 5:35 PM
Geraldo is on FOX right now to tell you all about the fires. : )
abinitioadinfinitum on October 24, 2007 at 5:38 PM
What? Arson? That’s not what Harry Reid said, Harry said the California fires are because of Global Warming. No… I’m not kidding, yes he really said that.
Yes, he really is that dumb or I guess I should say he’s not above using this tragedy that has struck over a million Americans to push his political agenda. Gee Harry is an even bigger dirtball than we suspected !!
Maybe Harry meant to say Global Warming causes arson. Or maybe he meant to say Global Warming is caused by wildfires, instead of the other way around which would make slightly more sense. Or maybe Harry is just a political hack willing to say anything to push his political agenda. My bets’ on the last one.
Maxx on October 24, 2007 at 5:41 PM
Actually, smoke and dust increases albedo (i.e., reflects sunlight away from the planet). So this should be a contribution to global cooling, no?
Blacklake on October 24, 2007 at 5:42 PM
But look at the bright side.
Regardless of gigantic destructive fires, we’ve made darn sure that nobody is going to highjack another airplane dressed as an old lady or a nun.
Lawrence on October 24, 2007 at 5:44 PM
Just so you guys know, the Race Card is out in force and African American and Latino leaders are saying that the reason things are going ‘well’ in San Diego is because white people live here
Defector01 on October 24, 2007 at 5:46 PM
A fair number of the wildfires in San Diego County are attributed to the campfires of transiting illegals. They are “forced” to enter into the county’s backcountry because of the evil, bigoted fence in place between San Diego and Tijuana.
PatrickS on October 24, 2007 at 5:49 PM
I see the results of burning carbon.
I wonder if this smoke affects the Governor’s plans of caps and trades of carbon emissions? Will California be buying carbon credits from states that aren’t burning to the ground?
If burning carbon is so bad for the environment, would investing in more firefighting equipment and better land management be a wiser move than regulating energy and carbon from cars? I think it would be cheaper in the long run. And lots more people would still have their homes.
BelchSpeak on October 24, 2007 at 5:50 PM
The Japanese had wanted to do the same thing in WWII with their weather balloon bombs, they were “unlucky” enough to catch the pacific northwest during the wet season. With leftards caterwauling about the wildfire debris clearing initiative this was a perfect scenario for a conflagration. Same thing with the Tahoe fires…
liquidflorian on October 24, 2007 at 5:52 PM
My friend was telling me that if you really wanted to cause problems in LA, just rent a plane, get a couple hundred flares, and just drop them out of the window at low altitude.
PRCalDude on October 24, 2007 at 5:53 PM
Funny thing is, look at the evacuees down at Qualcomm Stadium. White, black, hispanic, asian. Then look at the volunteers; white, black, hispanic, asian. Hmmm.
PatrickS on October 24, 2007 at 5:55 PM
To San Diego locals,
How’s the San Diego Children’s Hospital faring? I used to work there and am getting kind of concerned for the safety of the patients and the staff. Even though the people there were total jerks, this is horrible and I feel terrible for them, undoubtedly losing house and home because of this.
mjk on October 24, 2007 at 5:55 PM
I was thinking the same thing.
from wikipedia, but it’s the same as everything I’ve read everywhere else:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling#Aerosols
Forest fires have always been an important part of the ecology. Maybe they have something to do with the internal variability of the Earth’s temperature over the long term…
RightOFLeft on October 24, 2007 at 5:56 PM
Doesnt it seem strange that the smoke is blowing not only westward but OUT to sea?
Labamigo on October 24, 2007 at 5:57 PM
Of course. Heads we win, tails you lose!
At any rate they might be right, though for entirely the wrong reasons. People integrated into a culture of self-responsibility (to the extent that such still exists in California…) will tend to fare better when forced to rely on themselves than members of identity-political groups focused on entitlements.
Meanwhile, the implication that there are no hispanics in and around San Diego is pretty damned funny.
Blacklake on October 24, 2007 at 6:00 PM
And I would be a racist if I repeated that sentiment, now wouldn’t I?
Nessuno on October 24, 2007 at 6:01 PM
Firebugs have been setting fires every time the Santa Ana winds blow for decades. As soon as the winds come up, the firebugs come out of the woodwork. Nothing new here, they’ve been doing it for years and years.
crosspatch on October 24, 2007 at 6:05 PM
“Meanwhile, the implication that there are no hispanics in and around San Diego is pretty damned funny.”
Very much so considering that probably the vast majority of of the population of San Diego and surrounding suburbs are hispanic. Even up here in San Jose, the lowest crime city of 1 million or more people in the country, has a hispanic majority.
crosspatch on October 24, 2007 at 6:08 PM
Blacklake, are you in the defense industry?
PRCalDude on October 24, 2007 at 6:12 PM
MJK
I was just by Children’s Hospital Today, its fine and running at full speed. Nothing to worry about
The reason San diego was successful in keeping death low was because after the Cedar Fires of 2003 the city (working with the state as well) created and put into use some new systems for disaster preparedness. This included the use of automated evacuation notices sent to both land lines, cell phones and emails to the target homes and some SET locations for evacuations that were initially well stocked with food/water/the like and were added to by people’s donations. Qualcomm has room for 60,000 people and enough food to feed them all plenty of times over, same goes with the Del Mar Fair. Not to mention the city began evacuating areas that were still a good 15-20miles away from the fire just to give the fighters more room to work with. And San Diegans didn’t play any of this “I’m staying to protect my land” BS; they got out and left when the call came.
That’s why we are working through this better, that’s why there’s few casualties and that’s why you don’t see a ‘SuperDome’ type situation. Good local preparation and coordination, strong attitude and work by the locals and great leadership from Mayor Sanders to Ron Roberts to the Governor and the Fire/Police/Sheriff Chiefs.
Defector01 on October 24, 2007 at 6:13 PM
Defector01 on October 24, 2007 at 6:13 PM
THANK YOU!! I’m quite relieved to hear that. I thought it’d be okay, but you know, seeing all the devastation had me more than worried. I’ll worry about their homes and the like more than the hospital itself.
mjk on October 24, 2007 at 6:17 PM
There’s a number of HA readers/posters we’ve haven’t heard from lately.
I hope, no, I wish them all well and back soon.
Kini on October 24, 2007 at 6:18 PM
Geraldo must be nashing his teeth.
I need to work on earthquake preparation.
mram on October 24, 2007 at 6:20 PM
Just a clarification, the instrument detects fire and adds the red coloration as part of the process. No one at NASA went in and drew the fire boxes in — it is part of the system.
phelps on October 24, 2007 at 6:21 PM
Did anybody but me see the devil’s image in that smoke cloud?
OOPS – my error – it is an image of Hillary.
OBX Pete on October 24, 2007 at 6:23 PM
This is not going to fly.
Halle Berry is black (when she wants to be) and, as we now know, she has a jewish cousin. It’s common knowledge that the Jooooos own Southern CA. So this can’t be because Booooosh hates teh blacks.
I personally think they used the same warning system that was used to warn the Jooooos to stay away from the WTC on 911. Hence the timely evacuation.
As for the wind blowing westward, clearly they are reusing Rove’s hurricane machine! Hey, at least they recycle.
redzap on October 24, 2007 at 6:26 PM
Yep. If you look real close you can see the flaming polar bears.
RedWinged Blackbird on October 24, 2007 at 6:50 PM
How is the San Diego Wild Animal Park faring? My wife and I loved that place when I was stationed in SoCal; it looked like it would be very vulnerable to fires on that scale.
Lancer on October 24, 2007 at 7:08 PM
I know the fire was near there in San pasqual but I don’t remember hearing it was hit or really in danger. It should be fine
Defector01 on October 24, 2007 at 7:18 PM
Oh Lord…
eanax on October 24, 2007 at 7:20 PM
I know it was within the burn area, but they did evacuate all endangered species as well as those involved in the shows. They also allowed the larger animals to roam in areas with little to no fuel for the fire. Hope that helps….
PatrickS on October 24, 2007 at 7:33 PM
At least the infamous B.Boxer was made to look like the ignoramous she is when she said yesterday that Ca. wasn’t getting the help it needs because their Nat Guard was in Iraq. Well the Ca Nat Guard Gen today said only 1700 members were in Iraq and 17,000 were on duty helping in Ca. She changed her tune quickly today, but still looked like the jerk she is normaly. Also the infamous Harry ‘the hopeless sap’ Reid blamed the fires on ‘global warming’ which he said is personally caused by George Bush. This guy is the MAJORITY LEADER of the U.S. Senate. Maybe he doesn’t realize this yet and thinks he’s in some bar talking to anyone who will listen. On the bright side, maybe this is good, as it makes the Democ-rats look even worse every time he opens his mouth. Op-ed pieces in Nevada are finally starting to say maybe he shouln’t run in 2010 when he’s up for reelection.
countywolf on October 24, 2007 at 7:45 PM
Not strange at all. We have been experiencing Santa Ana winds since early Sunday morning. That is a condition in which hot, dry winds blow from the east, reversing the normal prevailing westerlies. We get them in Southern California every year about this time and, to a lesser degree, in the spring. It basically signals the change between our 2 major seasons (Winter and Summer). We really don’t have the equinoctial seasons that the rest of the country gets to any recognizable degree.
Re: terrorist arson. I have thought about that before now, but it never seems to play out that way. Whenever they catch arsonists they always turn out to be the typical personality-deficient types you would expect. I think the problem with using this kind of arson as a terrorist weapon is that the fires start in unihabited areas where there is a lot of dry brush and timber. They usually don’t make it into the urban population centers, most of the damage is done to housing in the peripheral suburbs. And the damage isn’t permanent. People will rebuild those housing tracts and the whole thing will start over, in the meantime increasing the property value for everyone who didn’t lose their homes. In order to make an effective terror weapon, you would have to follow up the arson with something like a dirty bomb in the city centers while the emergency response teams are distracted with the fires. Not that I want to give the bad guys any ideas, but my point is it requires more planning and coordination than Allah is suggesting.
Re: global warming. Well, we have been in drought conditions here on and off for more than a decade, which is what makes these fires so devastating. Some people blame the droughts on global warming, so Reid’s comments are about as credible as anything on that subject. I don’t buy it, especially since SoCal has been a desert for as long as there have been historical records of the region.
JackOfClubs on October 24, 2007 at 8:30 PM
What’s funny is the same people who blame the fires on Global Warming and drought also forget to mention that Southern California is a Mediterranean climate — it’s normally dry throughout the year with winter rains…
eanax on October 24, 2007 at 9:06 PM
Too true. We are formally a semi-arid climate, with about 10.6 inches of annual rainfall, most of which occurs from December to March.
PatrickS on October 24, 2007 at 9:27 PM
Actually, no.
First of all, there is very little terror (i.e., endemic, uncontrollable fear) associated with these wildfires.
The $1 billion in damage is a lot to guys like you and me, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s less than one-ten-thousandth of the country’s GDP. Or to put it in a different perspective, we’ve spent $1 billion in Iraq so far this week. Doesn’t make you shudder, does it?
But most importantly, starting wildfires is poor terrorism because it doesn’t play well on Al-Jazeera. You see, these jihadis are largely playing to a domestic (pan-Arab) audience. They want to show that they are tough enough to sock it to the Americans. That requires the target to be well known back home. Destroying the WTC was great. Blowing up the Statue of Liberty or the White House or maybe the Sears Tower would be good PR. 200 dead in a bomb attack on a Six Flags in Maryland hardly competes with the latest run-of-the mill market bombing in Ramadi. Burning suburbs in California won’t even make the news.
factoid on October 24, 2007 at 10:07 PM
I’ve edited this advice column for terrorists down to its essentials and repeated it here for convenience–my convenience in deriding it. If one objects that it’s harmless to think out loud, I respond that I think mosques and imams are flammable. If one objects that you’ve just stated the obvious, I respond that the Americans have Bics and kerosene.
Kralizec on October 24, 2007 at 10:22 PM
-
If I remember correctly doriangray lives in Ramona out to the NE of San Diego. The entire city of Ramona (36,000) was evacuated, converting it to a ghost town which has been subject to some localized looting.
-
I can only assume that he was forced to leave home as well. This only a day or so after he was rear ended and had to have his head sutured shut with 5 staples.
-
He is probably not having the best week of his life.
-
If so he is one of the 1,000,000 people more or less who had to pack up an leave.
-
In any case I hope he and all the others are OK.
Herikutsu on October 24, 2007 at 10:51 PM
dorian is as well as can be expected….he posted in “Katrina vs. SD…” not long ago….
PatrickS on October 24, 2007 at 10:57 PM
Actually, if it came down to me vs. the Islamists, I’d just employ the Israeli method. I’d steal a tractor and just start bulldozing mosques. Then I’d figure out where the Islamists lived and bulldoze their places as well. It’s much more surgical than setting fire to their places and makes much more of a point.
PRCalDude on October 24, 2007 at 11:05 PM
I’ve thought it but haven’t said it. I haven’t heard anyone say it. But now I know I’m not the only one thinking it.
I live in Orange County just north of Camp Pendleton and am used to our annual wildfire season but there seem to be so many fires at the same time and same place that it feels like they may be coordinated and set by more than one individual.
It will be interesting to see who they apprehend and prosecute. We do get these guys from time to time.
sanclemman on October 25, 2007 at 1:24 AM
What is our exit strategy for the War on Fire? Fire just wants to be fed and to live undisturbed. But, thanks to us, thousands of innocent flames have been extinguished.
pistolero on October 25, 2007 at 6:24 AM
With now even more carbons to be offset, I suggest we toss Al Gore into the fires to appease the firegods. He’ll use up all available oxygen, especially if he has his slideshow with him.
Doug on October 25, 2007 at 9:51 AM
I live in Coto de Caza, just south of Ranch Santa Margarita, about 5-10 miles from the hot area of the Santiago Canyon fire. I often ride my motorcycle up that road, and our horse used to be stabled at the facility which has been evacuated and probably burned just north of the “Cook’s Corner” location at El Toro and Santiago Canyon Road.
It seems that the fire has grown some, but out into the forest and away from most homes.
Some schools have been closed all week, but my daughter’s school system (Capistrano Unified) closed all schools today for the first time. The stated reasons were (1) increased danger to some schools from the north (Santiago fire) and south (Camp Pendleton/ Ammo fire) and (2) 4th consecutive day of extremely poor air quality due to smoke.
I am on the east coast on business – tough on the family, even though we are not in immediate danger. The stress really builds. My heart goes out to those that have lost their homes, and to those in really immediate danger – the load is very heavy.
peski on October 25, 2007 at 10:04 AM
Comment pages: