Via National Review Online I came across an “interesting” quote of Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic candidate running for the Senate against John Sununu in New Hampshire:
These wildfires are a direct result of this Administration’s failure to do something about Global Warming.
Because I try to be generous about the motivations of people, I am forced to conclude that former Governor Shaheen is not very bright or capable, because even the slightest amount of research and reading into the history of California brushfires shows that there is nothing new here, not at all.
Far be it from me to assume that Shaheen is actually a bright woman, but instead is willfully ignoring and distorting the facts, standing over dead Californians, as well as the children and their families who have lost their homes, in order to make a political point in her run for the Senate. Far be it from me to do that at all.
So, for the benefit of the ignorant New Hampshire Democrat, here is a basic explanation of why we get fires here in California, and why more homes are lost these days than in the past when we had fires. Look for starters at this chart of average rainfall and temperature at a weather station here. Specifically, this is at Fire Station 3 in Riverside, California, a city just west of where I live, sandwiched between fires north and south of us in recent weeks:
As can be easily seen, rain here in inland Southern California is seasonal. In the winter, we get a fair amount, but in the summer we get hardly any at all. What does this do to the plant life? I’ll tell you. Plants grow in the winter and spring, but then die under the dry heat of the late summer. By the time the fall comes around, the fields and hills of California are covered in kindling, more or less.
And as if that’s not bad enough, there are weather systems here in southern California that aid fires and hinder fire efforts. The Santa Ana winds which blew through here recently, blow fast and hot from the desert. Fires loves those.
Both these rainfall and wind patterns have existed in inland southern California for as long as there have been recorded weather in this region. There is no change here, no difference that can be attributed to an effect or blamed on a President.
Why then are more people losing homes to fires than in the past? The real estate market in southern California is very expensive. Prices are high, but people still want to own homes, so what’s been happening here for decades is a steady sprawling out from urban areas, tracts of homes pushing further and further east, right up against all these hills and fields that are covered with kindling every year. In other words, people are buying cheap land in fire zones and taking their chances.
This cannot be blamed on the President, Ms. Shaheen, nor can it be blamed on some form of global climate change. For you to do so shows only your own ignorance. Get informed before you make your next campaign speeches, please. Leave your ignorance of California out of your leftist New England politicking. Thank you.