Whether the fires are intentional, by accident, or natural, it seems there are better solutions to manage and mitigate damage. How many more disasters are needed before we change approach. I live in the land of Waymos, autonomous taxis in SF. I can’t be the first to advocate the following but how about smoke/thermal sensors for x number of acres in urban forests that are connected to drones with thermal imaging and water/foam tanks. How hard would it be to preposition these drones, x per acre to immediately be the first responders to any spark igniting dry brush?
Experts much smarter and more experienced can optimize the concept. It does not have to be the same set of lunacy we have been subjected to.
"I spoke to someone last month who took part in a Venture Capital presentation for fully autonomous wildfire suppression helicopters. In their capital raise pitch to investors, they said they expect the first fully autonomous Type 1 helicopter to be operational in 2025, likely in California.
This would be a giant leap forward in realizing top-to-bottom AI wildfire suppression.
Then you get into the AI drones coming into the wildfire space… Palmer Luckey, famed inventor of the Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, now runs Anduril Industries. They are a massive producer of drone systems for the Pentagon.
His company is working on fully autonomous systems to detect, scout, and suppress wildfires. They already have marketed and sold autonomous drones for the battlefield, so the transition to wildfire is not expected to be too complicated for this company. "
While these types of technologies and many others in development are good ideas, the high gust wind factor involved with this current and some past wildfires made flying anything over the engulfed areas an impossibility.
Perhaps a regularly scheduled routine flyover, saturating those dense and dry brush areas with water during high heat and drought seasons in order to prevent a random spark from igniting might be something to consider.
Thanks Sharon for link and update. Glad Palmer is on this. He’s a total genius like Musk. This solution is pretty obvious and would be cost effective. Sadly and tragically not in time to save LA.
Amazing that the dems who are always so quick to point out white racism against blacks , can’t bring themselves to do that when it’s Arab janjaweeds massacring African blacks.
Hi Scroll! I generally greatly appreciate your reporting, but this is not true.
"There are between destructive corporate practices of course, like the Forest Service’s replacement of recently cut Douglas Fir trees that had grown over centuries with Douglas fir seedlings bred for rapid growth to maximize timber harvest." What they did was collect seed from large healthy trees. And now we think growth is not only a good thing because trees get ahead of the brush and survive, but also they accumulate carbon faster. I was there at the time and recently visited some of the sites from that period.
Netanyahu is a deep, dark, SOB. The ‘Clean Break’ doctrine that Netanyahu supports since late 90’s and has dragged US foreign policy and MIC along to also support, must end. Netanyahu was the world’s biggest cheerleader on the lie that Saddam possessed and would use WMD’s, which led to Iraq war. USA neocons gladly went along. Lots of ‘mass immigration’ to the EU resulting from the region-wide destabilization of that misadventure. Replace continual war with every Arab state who supports Palestinians by continuation of Abraham Accords peace treaties instead + co-economic development of the Gaza Marine (Israel, Palestinians, Egypt). Give Palestinians something to economically hope and rally around to finally replace/surplant the mullah money.
Not exactly. Netanyahu was a private citizen at the time. P.M. Sharon’s advised against, arguing "that if Saddam were removed, Iran, a far more dangerous player, will be rid of its principal enemy and free to pursue its ambitions of regional hegemony.” That wasn’t an argument to invade Iran, but merely to leave Saddam in place....
Sharon didn’t recommend any specific action to Bush. He merely set out what he believed would follow an invasion and regime change in Iraq. He made clear that Bush’s decisions were his alone."
"Netanyahu was the world’s biggest cheerleader on the lie that Saddam possessed and would use WMD’s, which led to Iraq war. "
Actually the intelligence organizations of the major European countries, as well as that of Russia all concurred with that evaluation, spurred on by Saddam's too cute by half games of playing hide and seek with international inspectors
Not sure your age Bill, but I recall watching news of Netanyahu espousing Saddam's WMD to the US Congress in 2002 (prior to US invasion of Iraq in ‘03). Here’s a refresher for you:
As for other EU intel agencies, they are all part of the MIC and wanted that war, too.
As Trump reminded us all from the 2016 South Carolina debate stage, the Iraq war was a ‘big fat mistake’, sunk neocon Jeb Bush — and from that moment onward, the Establishment took their knives out and went after him.
I understand why Netanyahu wanted to pivot and bring down as many Arab countries friendly to Palestinians. Israel had experienced existential threat several times in late 20th century. Where I take objection is Netanyahu use of the US military to further Israel’s strategic aims. It’s not lost on me that 6 out of 7 countries on the ‘Clean Break’ doctrine are now destabilized using US and Israeli armed forces and 3-letter agencies (Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Libya). The 7th (and final from that list) is Iran. I would use much caution w/ Iran, as this country is likely already nuclear tipped, and an invasion of this country will be viewed as existential threat to the mullahs.
Israel using the US armed forces?? Where? It is the IDF fighting in Gaza, attempting to free not only Israeli hostages but Americans as well. How many American soldiers have died fighting in Gaza attempting to free Americans held hostage? None. It is the IDF sending soldiers to die while attempting to free Americans. Nor did America send troops to fight on behalf of Israel in any of their other wars. With American forces stationed throughout the world but no large military presence in Israel, the notion that Netanyahu uses American forces is nonsense.
Netanyahu has influenced the use of US forces across the Middle East for the past 3 decades. It has benefited Israel immensely to destabilize Arab countries that support Palestinians and its aim for a State of its own. 6 Arab countries have been destabilized in last 25 years. The US declared a ‘War on Terror’ in 2022. People at time asked ‘how do you declare war against an idea?’ Go read Bibi’s 1986 book and he lays out the neocon answer to this question quite well. It’s all good for US MIC business. It’s why Trump is so opposed by the Blob, because he took a different approach. Gaza and 10/7 occurred IMO for 2 reasons. First, to prevent Saudi Arabia from signing onto Abraham Accords and peace w/ Israel. Iran doesn’t want this. 2nd, preventing (delaying?) the development of the Gaza Marine $3B natural gas field. Iran also doesn’t want this, as that $ could partly replace the mullahs $ influence w/ Hamas/PA. Are you aware that Israel, after 23 years, finally agreed to co develop Gaza marine (w/ Egypt & Palestine) in the summer of 2023? It was done quietly:
You say Trump is opposed by the Blob. Who or what is the Blob? Sounds like some fat a$$hole who dislikes the fact Trump and his policies are much favored in Israel.
“ In 2002, after the Israeli Labor Party left the coalition and vacated the position of foreign minister, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Netanyahu as foreign minister. Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party in the 2002 Likud leadership election, but failed to oust him.”
The actual hard news that The Scroll puts out is refreshing in these times of high spin opinion journalism.
Whether the fires are intentional, by accident, or natural, it seems there are better solutions to manage and mitigate damage. How many more disasters are needed before we change approach. I live in the land of Waymos, autonomous taxis in SF. I can’t be the first to advocate the following but how about smoke/thermal sensors for x number of acres in urban forests that are connected to drones with thermal imaging and water/foam tanks. How hard would it be to preposition these drones, x per acre to immediately be the first responders to any spark igniting dry brush?
Experts much smarter and more experienced can optimize the concept. It does not have to be the same set of lunacy we have been subjected to.
Jonathan, you might want to follow The Hotshot Wakeup substack. He's been following the tech industry as it is coming into this space. https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/p/first-ever-fully-autonomous-ai-lookout
"I spoke to someone last month who took part in a Venture Capital presentation for fully autonomous wildfire suppression helicopters. In their capital raise pitch to investors, they said they expect the first fully autonomous Type 1 helicopter to be operational in 2025, likely in California.
This would be a giant leap forward in realizing top-to-bottom AI wildfire suppression.
Then you get into the AI drones coming into the wildfire space… Palmer Luckey, famed inventor of the Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles, now runs Anduril Industries. They are a massive producer of drone systems for the Pentagon.
His company is working on fully autonomous systems to detect, scout, and suppress wildfires. They already have marketed and sold autonomous drones for the battlefield, so the transition to wildfire is not expected to be too complicated for this company. "
While these types of technologies and many others in development are good ideas, the high gust wind factor involved with this current and some past wildfires made flying anything over the engulfed areas an impossibility.
Perhaps a regularly scheduled routine flyover, saturating those dense and dry brush areas with water during high heat and drought seasons in order to prevent a random spark from igniting might be something to consider.
Thanks Sharon for link and update. Glad Palmer is on this. He’s a total genius like Musk. This solution is pretty obvious and would be cost effective. Sadly and tragically not in time to save LA.
And not in 100 mph Santa Ana winds.
California's disastrous environmental policies are the cause of this horrible fire
Amazing that the dems who are always so quick to point out white racism against blacks , can’t bring themselves to do that when it’s Arab janjaweeds massacring African blacks.
Why are you using "illegal" immigrants to describe "undocumented" immigrants?
Hi Scroll! I generally greatly appreciate your reporting, but this is not true.
"There are between destructive corporate practices of course, like the Forest Service’s replacement of recently cut Douglas Fir trees that had grown over centuries with Douglas fir seedlings bred for rapid growth to maximize timber harvest." What they did was collect seed from large healthy trees. And now we think growth is not only a good thing because trees get ahead of the brush and survive, but also they accumulate carbon faster. I was there at the time and recently visited some of the sites from that period.
Netanyahu is a deep, dark, SOB. The ‘Clean Break’ doctrine that Netanyahu supports since late 90’s and has dragged US foreign policy and MIC along to also support, must end. Netanyahu was the world’s biggest cheerleader on the lie that Saddam possessed and would use WMD’s, which led to Iraq war. USA neocons gladly went along. Lots of ‘mass immigration’ to the EU resulting from the region-wide destabilization of that misadventure. Replace continual war with every Arab state who supports Palestinians by continuation of Abraham Accords peace treaties instead + co-economic development of the Gaza Marine (Israel, Palestinians, Egypt). Give Palestinians something to economically hope and rally around to finally replace/surplant the mullah money.
Not exactly. Netanyahu was a private citizen at the time. P.M. Sharon’s advised against, arguing "that if Saddam were removed, Iran, a far more dangerous player, will be rid of its principal enemy and free to pursue its ambitions of regional hegemony.” That wasn’t an argument to invade Iran, but merely to leave Saddam in place....
Sharon didn’t recommend any specific action to Bush. He merely set out what he believed would follow an invasion and regime change in Iraq. He made clear that Bush’s decisions were his alone."
"Netanyahu was the world’s biggest cheerleader on the lie that Saddam possessed and would use WMD’s, which led to Iraq war. "
Actually the intelligence organizations of the major European countries, as well as that of Russia all concurred with that evaluation, spurred on by Saddam's too cute by half games of playing hide and seek with international inspectors
Not sure your age Bill, but I recall watching news of Netanyahu espousing Saddam's WMD to the US Congress in 2002 (prior to US invasion of Iraq in ‘03). Here’s a refresher for you:
https://youtube.com/shorts/33vOBjMpXTo?si=RPHgjeJ3vrSGaXKR
As for other EU intel agencies, they are all part of the MIC and wanted that war, too.
As Trump reminded us all from the 2016 South Carolina debate stage, the Iraq war was a ‘big fat mistake’, sunk neocon Jeb Bush — and from that moment onward, the Establishment took their knives out and went after him.
https://youtu.be/1VZGucSkq_A?si=Bd30NxTVMFus7r-c
I understand why Netanyahu wanted to pivot and bring down as many Arab countries friendly to Palestinians. Israel had experienced existential threat several times in late 20th century. Where I take objection is Netanyahu use of the US military to further Israel’s strategic aims. It’s not lost on me that 6 out of 7 countries on the ‘Clean Break’ doctrine are now destabilized using US and Israeli armed forces and 3-letter agencies (Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Libya). The 7th (and final from that list) is Iran. I would use much caution w/ Iran, as this country is likely already nuclear tipped, and an invasion of this country will be viewed as existential threat to the mullahs.
Israel using the US armed forces?? Where? It is the IDF fighting in Gaza, attempting to free not only Israeli hostages but Americans as well. How many American soldiers have died fighting in Gaza attempting to free Americans held hostage? None. It is the IDF sending soldiers to die while attempting to free Americans. Nor did America send troops to fight on behalf of Israel in any of their other wars. With American forces stationed throughout the world but no large military presence in Israel, the notion that Netanyahu uses American forces is nonsense.
Netanyahu has influenced the use of US forces across the Middle East for the past 3 decades. It has benefited Israel immensely to destabilize Arab countries that support Palestinians and its aim for a State of its own. 6 Arab countries have been destabilized in last 25 years. The US declared a ‘War on Terror’ in 2022. People at time asked ‘how do you declare war against an idea?’ Go read Bibi’s 1986 book and he lays out the neocon answer to this question quite well. It’s all good for US MIC business. It’s why Trump is so opposed by the Blob, because he took a different approach. Gaza and 10/7 occurred IMO for 2 reasons. First, to prevent Saudi Arabia from signing onto Abraham Accords and peace w/ Israel. Iran doesn’t want this. 2nd, preventing (delaying?) the development of the Gaza Marine $3B natural gas field. Iran also doesn’t want this, as that $ could partly replace the mullahs $ influence w/ Hamas/PA. Are you aware that Israel, after 23 years, finally agreed to co develop Gaza marine (w/ Egypt & Palestine) in the summer of 2023? It was done quietly:
https://besacenter.org/why-israel-approved-development-of-the-gaza-marine-gas-field/
You say Trump is opposed by the Blob. Who or what is the Blob? Sounds like some fat a$$hole who dislikes the fact Trump and his policies are much favored in Israel.
“ In 2002, after the Israeli Labor Party left the coalition and vacated the position of foreign minister, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appointed Netanyahu as foreign minister. Netanyahu challenged Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party in the 2002 Likud leadership election, but failed to oust him.”