Arizona wildfire kills 19

[Wolf of Badenoch]

 

At least 19 US firefighters have been killed battling a wildfire in central Arizona, local officials say.

 

They died while fighting the blaze threatening the town of Yarnell, about 80 miles (130km) north-west of Phoenix.

 

The fire was started by lightning on Friday and spread rapidly amid high heat, low humidity and strong winds. At least 200 homes were burned.

 

Arizona and other parts of the western US - including California - had near-record temperatures over the weekend.

 

It is the highest death toll for firefighters in a single incident since 9/11.

 

US President Barack Obama said the firefighters were heroes who had "put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens".

 

Arizona Senator John McCain said the families of the dead firefighters were in the thoughts and prayers of all Americans.

 

"This devastating loss is a reminder of the grave risks our firefighters take every day on our behalf in Arizona and in communities across this nation. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten," he said in a statement.

 

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said it could take "days or longer" to reveal how the deaths occurred.

 

"This is as dark a day as I can remember," she said.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23123817

 

R.I.P to the firefighters.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Valenta

[Acehilm]

What brave men.

[Kwabs]

So sad to see people die that way.

 

That's why I don't want to be a firefighter anymore. I'm not putting my life in danger to save persons whom I don't even know. Thank god there're still a few people who are willing to do so.

[Wolf of Badenoch]

^^^So true. It's firefighters and their willingness to face danger nearly every day of their lives that maintain my faith in humanity. What remains of it anyway.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Valenta

[Creed Bratton]

^^^So true. It's firefighters and their willingness to face danger nearly every day of their lives that maintain my faith in humanity.

And ignoring climate change diminishes my faith in humanity every day. Hopefully more people will realize that there's a reason for these record breaking temperatures and maybe they'll do something about it. Otherwise the deaths of these firefighters will have been in vain.

[gtamann123]

 

^^^So true. It's firefighters and their willingness to face danger nearly every day of their lives that maintain my faith in humanity.

And ignoring climate change diminishes my faith in humanity every day. Hopefully more people will realize that there's a reason for these record breaking temperatures and maybe they'll do something about it. Otherwise the deaths of these firefighters will have been in vain.

Well what do you propose we do about climate change? When it comes down to it there really isn't anything that can be done. Since it is almost entirely out of our control and has more to do with the natural cooling and warming cycles of the earth. I have seen no conclusive evidence to support the hypothesis human activity has sped climate change. There have been periods where the earth was completely frozen over and periods where almost the entire planet was under water. Long before humans came about.

 

I'm more worried about just straight air and water pollution than global warming tbh.

 

 

[Wolf of Badenoch]

 

I'm more worried about just straight air and water pollution than global warming tbh.

So am I. Unlike global warming, which is almost completely outwith our control and not worth fretting over, air and water pollution can be controlled to some degree.

FYI, this wildfire was triggered by a lightning strike, so the heat itself wasn't the direct cause, but it didn't help.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Valenta

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

^^^So true. It's firefighters and their willingness to face danger nearly every day of their lives that maintain my faith in humanity.

And ignoring climate change diminishes my faith in humanity every day. Hopefully more people will realize that there's a reason for these record breaking temperatures and maybe they'll do something about it. Otherwise the deaths of these firefighters will have been in vain.

Well what do you propose we do about climate change? When it comes down to it there really isn't anything that can be done. Since it is almost entirely out of our control and has more to do with the natural cooling and warming cycles of the earth. I have seen no conclusive evidence to support the hypothesis human activity has sped climate change. There have been periods where the earth was completely frozen over and periods where almost the entire planet was under water. Long before humans came about.

 

I'm more worried about just straight air and water pollution than global warming tbh.

You are right, We don't actually know for certain if it is one or the other; one being the global warming/cooling cycles and the other being the notion that we are causing, or contributing to global warming significantly, personally I am inclined to believe we are somewhat responsible, i've noticed a large number of scientists who deny global warming being caused by humans happen to be way out of their field, they are often physicists or engineers who don't specialize in fields more related to the global warming topic. But that's a different argument, let's just leave that there.

 

Since we can't say with certainty one way or another we need to try figure it out, in the meantime we can take steps towards creating a greener climate regardless of whether we are causing climate change or not, because in doing so we are reusing more, becoming more efficient, and reducing pollution which you did mention at the end of your post. Pollution is problematic on its own without the global warming aspect of it because it is upsetting the Ozone balance, one radical chlorine Ion can cause a fair bit of destruction up there in the Ozone layer which can be problematic for us since we seem to be pretty sensitive to UV rays , and having toxins throughout the air is also very bad.

 

After steps are taken to achieve mentioned benefits above perhaps we discover that we were a rather insignificant dent in the grand scheme of things and global warming is being caused by factors mostly out of our control. Well in that case, money spent and lost by going green perhaps wasn't so worthwhile, but at least air quality is better and we are more careful and efficient. But if it turns out we definitely are a significant dent in the scheme of things, and we are significantly contributing to global warming, well at least we got the jump on it and we are already years ahead in the "Going green" thing.

 

Perhaps the only way we will find out if we are causing global warming is when we reduce carbon emissions significantly and then we start noticing temperature increase slowing, or decreasing, That would be some more solid proof there, and then we can sleep easy knowing we made the right choice. I dunno, just an Idea.

 

In a nutshell, I'm saying that going green is a good idea regardless of global warming, there are not all that many negatives in going green, money is probably the largest one.

[acmilano]

Sorry to hear that. Its a hard job and i admire to people who accept the risks of facing danger every day.