The only thing that spreads faster than a wildfire is a viral video of a wildfire. Within hours of the first night-time fires in Montecito, burnt orange images of the images were cropping up on video sharing sites. We sent an expedition into the wilds of Youtube and brought back these images of California's most recent burn.
Youtube is, needless to say, a riotous compendium of both the sublime and the ridiculous, so a search there for "wildfire" not only yields the images embedded above, but also directs one to the opening credits for a 1986 Hanna-Barbera cartoon called "Wildfire", and about 40 different clips of Michael Martin Murphey's 1975 hit by the same name.
Searching Youtube for fire-related images also produces hundreds of Smokey Bear and Ad Council PSA's reminding us that one we can prevent forest and wild fires. According to various reports, the fire in Santa Barbara was ignited by an illegal bonfire. The college kids who were out (partying?) that night obviously forgot the over 40 years of Smokey Bear admonitions that have reduced the US's annual woodland fire losses from 22,000,000 to 4,000,000 acres. Here is a Smokey Bear refresher course featuring some our favorites:
RELATED STORIES:
After the Burn: Inside Story - By Producer Angela Shelley - Producer Angela Shelley spent the day at Sylmar Senior High with the evacuees who tell their own moving stories of escaping the firestorm and trying to make sense of the senseless.
WEB ORIGINAL:
Protect Yourself In Unhealthy Air - By the Web Team - Sam Atwood, spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District discusses how wildfires affect air quality and our health. Atwood shares tips on how to protect yourself when air quality is the most unhealthy.
Want to subscribe to SoCal Connected's RSS feed? Click here.
Leave a comment