As nice as they are they are, just material things that can be replaced. Coming out of those fires with your life is the important thing. Much was lost in those fires. unfortunately it is one of those disasters that seem to be not much answers for. Maybe cleaning the forest floors is a idea that needs looking into. With climate change and other factors they need to seriously get together with some future plans. That is happening way too often.
JT, that was their thoughts also. They actually left for Hawaii the day the fire started so they didn't get to see the devastation until they got home. They had a beautiful home that was literally reduced to rubble. I was surprised at how bad it actually was. Out of it all though, his keepsake hunting knife made it through the fire. By the time he gave it to me to put a new handle on it, the handle material was gone, the blade itself had a large curve in it and it was twisted. I got a new handle on it but couldn't do any thing with the blade without worrying about breaking the metal. It's the hardest knife I've ever had to "repair" but I got it fixed and the handle material came from a piece of Manzanita from their property that I cut 6 months earlier. I also used nails for the handle pins from what I could find at his burned up home site. The FD guessed the temps at their house reached upwards of 3500f. It burned through their "fire proof safe"
Don't even get me started on global warming. I suggest everyone read a book by the title "Collapse" by Professor Jared Diamond. Excellent read. Last I heard trees took in Carbon Dioxide, the number one green house gas, and turned it into Oxygen. I could be wrong but I'm just saying. I manage my forest on my property, with help from the USDA, and take care of what needs to be done and nothing goes to waste. It's milled, chipped or used for fire wood. I never haul off a stick of wood, no matter how small. Some of it actually gets turned into pens...go figure.
