Firefighters on Quarantine so Take Pity Folks!

[Ulu]

Please forgive me if any of this sounds political. It's about safety.

 

On the 3rd and 4th we had ten thousand idiots shooting off rockets, mortars and m80s all over the county. It's been normal desert heat and no rain for months. There's a lot of tinder where folks don't irrigate. It's hard to water enough.

 

Modern people are beyond insane. This will be their footnote in history:  Over The Edge. . . . .

Fresno city had 211 fire calls in one night. Structures burned down and 911 callers could not get an ambulance. Every cop was busy, and the county Sherriff had nearly 2000 calls in two days. This is on top of a emergency force which has been severely reduced by quarantine, and (because we fortunately haven't had riots) has been sending many men to serve in Oakland and other places having big race-riot problems.

Two nights of indiscretion had the police haul in two drunks from a party down the street from me. Two nights in a row they were shooting off rockets over the trees (fortunately downwind from me).

 

I was in the back, soaking down my redwoods with a hose. I have a concrete-stucco house with concrete tile roof, so not a lot to catch sparks, but I have 7 mature trees, and they were not safe at all. People both upwind and downwind were lighting off rockets. I went out both nights to try and get them to knock it off, but Saturday someone heard me yelling at them from the center of the cul-de-sac, loudly, command voice booming off six houses like farkin sasquatch, "YOU better knock that OFF or there's gonna be TROUBLE!"

 

Neighbors called the cops, who, amazingly came within 5 minutes...

But by then I was already in back, watering my neighbor's unirrigated weed patch, so it wouldn't burn and catch my fence. When the cops arrived I missed all the action. I was told eight cops showed up in 4 cars. No firetruck showed up, but I guess the local cops were busting people in force. Nothing burned down here, but a downwind neighbor found his swimming pool afloat with burnt rockets.

 

Anyhow, California fire camps are reporting 30% of their men are on covid leave or quarantined. The police aren't saying, but I know it's grim.

 

So think twice folks. All our emergency responders are spread thin. Drive carefully, BBQ carefully, douse those campfires and bury those damn mortars!

[plymouthcranbrook]

Around here north of Chicago from about 8 P.M. on the 4th till 3 A.M it sounded as I  might have thought a WWII Battle might have. Non Stop. I went outside and watched for a while. Saw a group of about 8 7 or 8 year olds running in the street setting off large fire works. Bottle rockets, and star shells, plus Roman candles. Worst I have ever been through for non professional stuff.