Dear Friends:
The news from Northern California
confirms that more than 40 people died in the wildfires of the “wine county”
during the current month.
According to different stories, in only minutes or seconds,
a dried wind spread the flames of fire through houses, stores, shopping centers
and woods of an extensive territory.
This kind of natural disaster is not new in California;
however the fury of this wildfire will make history. In 1994, a similar fire
burned the same area. But in that moment, the county was a rural sector with
less population and businesses. (The Washington Post: “Santa Rosa ignored nature’s warning” By Gaye LeBaron. October 18
at 7:24
PM)
When the wildfire started, the troops of the local police
warned the population in an admirable effort of knock door by door in the
middle of the night. A lot of people were sleeping and in some cases the
reaction of the inhabitants was slower than the arrival of the flames. (Wall Street Journal: “Wildfire Victims Had
Only Seconds to Make Fateful Choices” By Sara Randazzo, Erin Ailworth and Ian
Lovett. October 15, 2017.)
For this reason, some persons, in general, elder people
could not escape in time. The flames trapped them; in between the stuff that was
burning, in their own houses.
In one of a lot stories posted by Wall Street Journal, a
journalist wrote that an elder woman when she received the warning from a
police officer, tried to pick up her dog, entering to her house looking for the
animal. She never returned. Days after, her family was looking for her in the
neighborhood. When they entered to her home among debris and ashes, they found
only a human skull and bones next to the bones of a dog. (Wall Street Journal: “Wildfire Claims Life
of a Mother as She Tries to Rescue Her Beloved Dog”; By Alexandra Berzon,
October. 13, 2017.)
We don’t know about
the tragic stories of each of the other dead people. We can image they lived
similar situations. One of the last reports from NPR (National Public Radio, October
19, 2017) said that
the majority of the dead people were between 60 and 80 years old.
Can you image the horror and pain a human being feels when
his/her body start to burn? Can you think the terrible experience of become a
human bonfire? Can you realize the despair when you don't find escape, and you
shout and nobody comes for you? The hot air cuts your breath. You feel suffocation,
convulsion. All is flames and burning material. You also are burning, but you
are alive till that moment. (Oh, God!, Why me?) (There are instants between the
"life" and the "death" that are eternal. You cannot suffer
more and you want to die, but you don't die instantly.)
From one side to other of the wine county, the burning wind
spread the fire in different directions and the focuses of blaze, made very
difficult the action of the firefighters and police.
The materials easy to burn immediately were covered by
flames. Wood houses, vehicles, trees and plants ignited different bonfires
through the urban sectors.
The fire without control killed people, burned houses and
cars, destroyed woods and maintained per days the high temperatures around a
series of counties and cities of the Northern California.
It is evident, this natural disaster is a terrible human
tragedy and a serious economic blow for a region of private entrepreneurs and
shops involved in the wine industry.
Again, we can realize the fury of nature is cruel and it is
difficult to stop despite the efforts of these anonymous heroes that are the
firefighters.
We have to recognize also the courage of these firefighters
who put their lives at risk during all the natural disaster, but this is not enough.
This tragic experience will force to the Californian
population, businesses and authorities to rethink how in a near future, they
have to avoid tragedies of this dimension in the wine county and other regions
of this state. It is necessary to prevent in all that is possible, the
spreading of the wildfires iin the way to avoid the loss of human lives and
economic damages when new dried winds try to spread fire in any direction.
Domingo A. Trassens
Email: d.a.trassens@gmail.com
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MY BLOG COMMENT ABOUT THE WILDFIRE NEWS
Till now nobody
knows what will happen when this “inferno” ends. After that, it will start the
painful count of all the deaths and losses suffered.
10/18/2017 03:13:33 PM
2 Recommendations
The fury of nature
is cruel against humans.
10/16/2017 07:07:37 PM
1 Recommendation
Nobody can doubt
police and firefighters made an extraordinary effort to help the inhabitants
and fight against the wildfire, but nature sometimes is cruel.
10/16/2017 02:36:46 PM
10 Recommendations
Always the wildfire
generates horror and devastation. Are the authorities taking control of this
disaster?
10/15/2017 12:43:32 AM
1 Recommendation
Californians deserve
more support than Puerto Ricans because they are really Americans who make America better.
The wildfires are
hitting Northern
California. They
are a serious damage for the wine industry.
10/12/2017 04:28:35 PM
2 Recommendations
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SOURCES:
1) External Sources:
Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Washington Post and NPR (National Public Radio).
2) Own Sources: Before
this wildfire I visited the famous “wine county” of California in different opportunities and I was in
contact with the producers of the region.
Website: http://world-rethink.blogspot.com/
