Today on the NOW with Alex Wagner show there was a 10-minute discussion by a five-person panel about the current state of wildfires, how climate change affects wildfires, funding for fire management, and the risk of firefighters while protecting houses. We don’t get involved in politics here on Wildfire Today unless it directly affects fire management. But, even though the host mentions a particular political party once or twice, we believe this video has value here since it is the most in-depth nationally broadcast discussion about wildfires that we have seen.
Unfortunately the scientist who was asked to explain why we are “seeing violent, dangerous wildfires at what would seem to be historic rates”, was from NASA and his expertise appeared to be remote sensing, rather than wildfires or fire behavior.
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I’m sorry, but. Throwing up your hands and saying, “Oh it’s climate change” just seems like a convenient catch-all that isn’t going to do anything except provide politicians with points for budget fights.
I’d like to see a research study covering the past 80 years or so that investigates what I perceive, and many others believe, is the increase in size and severity of wildfires. I’m in the Tahoe National Forest — some of the most dense forest on the planet — and our fuel loads are just plain scary. We haven’t had logging of a significant magnitude in these areas for decades. Fire lookouts were abolished decades ago. Some of the old-timers in my area argue that the lack of forest fuel management is setting the stage for catastrophic wildfires.
Any thoughts/pointers here?
L Todd, a few years ago we were involved with some local area Firewise Grants. We did hazard mitigation in a couple of small subdivisions. You may try contacting your local level responders, and see if there are any programs available there. We cleaned up rights of way, created defensible space around homes, put up address signs at all the homes. Our workforce was inmate hand crew, so that took a little homeowner education and cooperation. We were in heavy timber with brush understory, south aspect, 5 acre lots.
Even if you can’t get a larger effort going, there is a lot you can do individually to help yourself. Clean flammables out of cracks and crevices, clean your gutters, close up foundation vents and bird blocks to prevent embers entrance, make sure your roof won’t sustain fire (take the kindling off ;-), remove all fuels touching your home, remove overhanging branches, reduce ladder fuels (in a high risk environment like you describe, 300 feet from the home wouldn’t be unreasonable), ensure responder access is clear, at least 14 feet high and 12 feet wide along you driveway, with adequate turnouts for passing, and turn around space to allow for water tenders (50,000 lbs, tandem axle 35′ + long). I don’t KNOW your environment, but those are some things that come to mind as quickly as I type.
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Regarding the MSNBC panel discusssion…I wasn’t too impressed.
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Lefty – of course people have to take responsibility for their property with preventive measures. What is ludicris, is the fact that we spend trillions of tax payers dollars protecting people and their property around the world, and the military can’t account for billions of dollars they spend. If just a fraction of the military budget was giving to the U.S. Forest Service for resources necessary to suppress wildfires, Americans would greatly benefit. I’m sure the cost of slurry drops are small in comparison to dropping bombs and firing cruise missiles. I hope you’re never affected by a natural disaster in your life time, especially if your insurance company doesn’t cover the cost to replace your property.
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Excellent points ‘Jim’.
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It would be helpful to the debate and perhaps get people to support funding for prevention efforts if we could show places where fuel mitigation projects have stopped or slowed fires. It’s been a long time since Harold Biswell did his work with prescribed fires.
The nightly news shows dramatic views of air tanker drops and many hours were devoted to the tragic sacrifice of the Granite Mountain hotshots but there is precious little effort to publicize what defensible space looks like and how it saves houses.
Jim- that statement is golden. I have held that would greatly reduce losses in fire country.
Not just people but city,county, and state governments need to get the word out…
Personal experience- owned an acreage on the Oregon south coast. Because of my experience in
airtankers, I kept the place ( which was wooded)
as clean as possible. brush, undergrowth, limbs etc. The fellow who bought it let the brush and
undergrowth grow-“I like my privacy”-yes and it goes well with the shake roof on his new wood sided house..
I am a little scarred at the moment, having just read the chapter in “The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57” which describes the house Engine 57 died trying to protect. That house had what the experienced Fire Captain thought was sufficient defensible space, a swimming pool for water supply, and fire resistant construction. The defensible space turned out to not be sufficient for the fuel load of the surrounding area.
The recent Black Forest Fire in Colorado provides some excellent examples of mitigation being successful. An entire subdivision except for one residence survived because mitigation was subdivision wide. Large homes on 2+ acre lots. As far as this being as widely reported as the tanker drops, not so much.
Apparently the fire in Yosemite,according to local news was
due to (this was from the The San Jose Mercury News)
an “illegal Marijuana grow op.” If they find who did that, they should be paying for the rest of their life. I have a peeve
about that having been shot at by growers.
The new enemy in America isn’t terrorism; it’s wildfires, floods, and extreme weather or climate change. Protecting citizens living in the urban interface should be the new priority for congress. As we contemplate the recent immoral acts in Syria, and the appropriate actions necessary to prevent future atrocities around the world, we must also reevaluate the enormous financial cost associated with our policies that attempt to protect human beings. Congress has always given the Military Industrial Complex bloated budgets, so it’s time to start focusing some of our technology, and federal funds to help Americans protect their property, and live in a safe environment.
Americans who move into wildland fire evironments need to take responsiblity in protecting their lands as well. Americans shouldn’t relie totally on the Wildland firefighters to save the day on their private property and structures. To have congress say tax payers should be held liable to protect private landowners property in high fire evironment is ludicris.
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I agree.
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View from Sequoia’s Buck Rock – I guess about 125 miles away to the south …
http://ssgic.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/camHist_movie.pl?camera=buck_rock_1&visible=false&date=20130831&frame=122
whew …