Wildfires: The West in Flames
October 9th is Fire Prevention Day. As this year’s fire season is shaping up to be one of the most intense ever, it’s more important than ever to learn about wildfires and how to manage them properly.
What is a Wildfire?
In this month’s THiNK OUTSiDE booklet, we learned that wildfires are uncontrolled fires that occur in wildland areas. They can burn millions of acres of land, destroy homes and threaten people’s lives.
Wildfires are actually a necessary part of many healthy ecosystems. Fire helps clear the forest of brush, debris, and weaker trees. This allows the remaining trees to grow bigger and stronger and prevents future fires from growing out of control. It also provides habitats for plants and animals, kills diseases, and allows new generations of trees to grow.
Wildfires become problematic when they grow out of control and when they get too close to developed areas threatening people and structures. Unfortunately, the West is experiencing unprecedented devastation from wildfires this year.
The West in Flames
As of October 7th, the National Interagency Fire Center reports there are currently seventy large active fires in the Western United States. To date, 7.9 million acres have burned in 2020 – 27% more than the 10-year average. The fires are spread across 11 states with the biggest impact in California.
The August Complex is California’s largest fire ever recorded at one million acres earning it the classification as a “gigafire” – a term used to describe a fire that burns more than a million acres. The fire started on August 17th due to multiple lightning strikes and is still only 60% contained.
The El Dorado Fire has also made headlines, not because of its size but because of its cause. The fire began on September 5th as a result of pyrotechnic smoke devices used at a gender reveal party. The fire forced the evacuation of 5 communities, destroyed 5 homes and has caused 1 death and 13 injuries.
Not only has 2020 produced California’s largest fire ever, it has produced 5 out of the 6 largest fires in the state’s history, 5 of the 20 most destructive fires and 2 of the 20 deadliest fires. So, what is behind the increased severity of this fire season?
Causes of Increased Wildfires
The recent increase in wildfires can be attributed to a few main factors – climate change, fire management practices, and human development patterns.
Climate change has led to higher temperatures, earlier snow melts, and more frequent droughts. These hot, dry conditions make wildfires more likely. Scientists have proven that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, are the main cause of climate change. Long-term relief from wildfires will require addressing climate change.
Forests naturally go through fire cycles to maintain their ecosystem with smaller, less intense fires clearing out brush and smaller trees. However, early fire management policies were focused on preventing fires and suppressing fires as quickly as possible. As scientists learned more, policies were adjusted in the 1970’s to allow naturally caused fires to burn where appropriate.
Since the 1990’s, the Forest Service has faced new challenges to proper forest management. Human development has sprawled into more of the natural lands requiring the suppression of more fires to protect people and structures. Increased costs of fire suppression also mean that not enough funding is left for preventative measures such as prescribed burns and forest thinning that could help reduce the risk of large, uncontrolled fires.
What can i do to help?
In order to get wildfires under control, we will all need to do our part. Always practice good fire safety and learn what you can do to help impact long-term changes.
- Always follow fire safety rules. Fire is one of our greatest tools but it is also very dangerous. That is why there are fire safety reminders all throughout the THiNK OUTSiDE fire booklet.
- Always have an adult with you when you are trying to build and start a fire.
- Never build a fire within 15 feet of your shelter, tent or anything else that can catch on fire.
- Never build a fire on grass or anything that could easily catch on fire. Use an existing fire pit or a dry area made of sand or stone.
- When working with fire, always have a way to extinguish it, like a bucket of water or sand.
- Never start a fire in windy or extremely dry conditions. Always check your state’s warnings.
- If you are visiting a campground, find out if they prohibit the use of outside firewood and sell their own pre-cut logs on site.
- Respect the fire. It gets hot, really hot, and can quickly burn you if you get too close.
- When building a fire, always start small and add larger pieces as the fire picks up.
- A fire can quickly get out of control, so NEVER walk away from a fire and leave it unattended.
- Before you leave your fire, make sure it is completely extinguished with no chance of rekindling.
- If you live in an area prone to wildfires, use this guide from the National Fire Protection Association to learn how to prepare your home for wildfire.
- Consider giving a gift to the American Red Cross to support wildfire relief for families and firefighters.
- Check out the Nature Conservancy guide to tackling climate change. It will take policy changes and moving to clean energy to make impactful long-term change. We have much of the needed technology available. Vote and let your elected officials know that climate change is important to you.
- Thank a firefighter. They are true heroes putting their lives at risk to help keep us safe.
We are small compared to the world around us, but we can have a BiG impact!
