Fire in Catalina
I’m watching a horrible fire approach Avalon on Catalina Island. Just a few mornings ago I was admiring the amazing view we had of Avalon — it was such a clear morning that we could see the Casino and the condos of Hamilton Cove with our unaided eye, and it was even better through our small telescope. Now it’s so dark — except for the orange flames licking the island’s side — that I can’t see how close it is to Avalon. But reports indicate that the town is being evacuated and that the flames are very close.
Put those enviromentalists wackos on these fires cuased by their own stupididy and their stupid lawsuits
krazy kagu (3e8790) — 5/10/2007 @ 8:48 pmHere’s an AP report. It doesn’t sound good.
DRJ (c6d1df) — 5/10/2007 @ 8:59 pmYour logic is impeccable there, Krazy. *steps back through looking glass*
There was a comment in one of the stories I’ve seen from an Avalon resident blaming the Catalina Conservancy’s decision to stop funding goat herds that ate down the brush — said goat approach is the type of thing that the Laguna Beach area now does regularly following the 1993 fire and the massive home loss there. It’d be good to find out more behind that resident’s claim and if there’s something to it.
Ned R. (c78226) — 5/11/2007 @ 4:43 am“Funding goat herds?” The herders should be paying grazing fees. California is a weird place.
nk (f28d83) — 5/11/2007 @ 4:48 amLCAC’s out of Pendleton are shuffling firetrucks to Catalina 4 at a time this morning. I can see the fire from my house in San Clemente even through the haze.
Gabriel (6d7447) — 5/11/2007 @ 6:37 amThey could well be paying such fees! I really don’t know the details, but I’m seeing more complaints along the lines of “no/not enough goats” popping up now. There was a large feral goat population at one time, and I’m idly looking for more information as I can — looks like they were removed entirely some time back, so I can see how this would be coming up as a question.
There are a variety of articles out there on the Laguna Beach program and similar ones in California — here’s one from the local paper in my neck of the woods that gives an idea as to both the benefits and potential risks. It’s not a perfect solution by any means.
Ned R. (275177) — 5/11/2007 @ 8:40 amMaybe some of those damn pigs will get burned. They stole all our food when we were camping.
TCO (756e41) — 5/11/2007 @ 12:28 pmThe pigs and goats had been there for 300 years. They have now all been killed in a lunatic rush to return the island to “native” species. I’ve been cruising to Catalina for nearly 40 years. We would watch the goats from the boat in the morning, climbing their paths up the hills. The kids would sleep ashore on picnic tables and be deliciously terrorized by pigs coming down to the campgrounds or picnic areas and rooting around. The big kids would tell little kids about the pigs and about mysterious “Catalina man” who would steal a dinghy left ashore and row out to a boat with kids sleeping in the cockpit and kill everybody. This was how kids were indoctrinated into life. Now this is all gone, including the goats and pigs. Read Tom Sawyer and think of how we have made our kids lives so dull they turn to drugs. And Catalina burns up.
Mike K (86bddb) — 5/11/2007 @ 7:14 pmThe pigs are gone? Good riddance, I guess. Although, I always thought they would have made some tasty campfire bacon…
TCO (1c4d1b) — 5/12/2007 @ 6:00 amnk: Catalina is strictly a tourist destination. It is an island, and not a particularly cost effective one to get to. Catalina is about 30 miles from the nearest port, with no agriculture or industry to speak of (other than the slaughtering of buffalo for its hamburger-like meat), so just about everything in the town (food, clothes,etc.) has to be shipped in. Anyone who went to hassle of gathering up their heard of goats onto a truck to Long Beach and then onto a ferry for the seventy five minute long trip to Catalina(longer if you’re coming from Newport Beach) would be doing the residents a favor, and would deserve to be compensated.
Sean P (e57269) — 5/12/2007 @ 4:40 pmHey, this got me thinking — they didn’t move the buffallo off the island too, did they? Their meat was actually pretty good.
Sean P (e57269) — 5/12/2007 @ 4:44 pm