Fighting fire with fire
An ancient art perfected by Indigenous people and verified by scientific data, the practice could be used more in the struggle against ever-intensifying wildfires amid climate change. So what is standing in the way?
An ancient art perfected by Indigenous people and verified by scientific data, the practice could be used more in the struggle against ever-intensifying wildfires amid climate change. So what is standing in the way?
Meet the people burning California to save it
California is reckoning with a terrifying new normal, and it’s fueling a movement to radically rethink how we deal with fire.
California is reckoning with a terrifying new normal, and it’s fueling a movement to radically rethink how we deal with fire.
The climate change link to more and bigger wildfires
Something else to keep in mind is that fire is normal. Lots of forests need fire - before Europeans got here there was lots of natural fire in North America, and Native people also set fires to manage the landscapes they lived on. It helps open up the land, it can rejuvenate growth, some species of animals thrive after burns.
Something else to keep in mind is that fire is normal. Lots of forests need fire - before Europeans got here there was lots of natural fire in North America, and Native people also set fires to manage the landscapes they lived on. It helps open up the land, it can rejuvenate growth, some species of animals thrive after burns.
Amid summer of fire and floods, a moment of truth for climate action
“What more can numbers show us that we cannot already see? What more can statistics say about the flooding, the wildfires, the droughts and hurricanes and other deadly events?” United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told a gathering of energy and environment ministers from G-20 nations. “Numbers and statistics are invaluable, but what the world requires now, more than anything else, is climate action.”
“What more can numbers show us that we cannot already see? What more can statistics say about the flooding, the wildfires, the droughts and hurricanes and other deadly events?” United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told a gathering of energy and environment ministers from G-20 nations. “Numbers and statistics are invaluable, but what the world requires now, more than anything else, is climate action.”
Underpaid firefighters, overstretched budgets: The U.S. isn’t prepared for fires fueled by climate change
Yet fire experts say the escalation of wildfires, fueled by climate change, demands an equally dramatic transformation in the nation’s response — from revamping the federal firefighting workforce to the management of public lands to the siting and construction of homes.
“As our seasons are getting worse and worse … it feels like we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Kelly Martin, a wildfire veteran and president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters. “We need a new approach.”
Yet fire experts say the escalation of wildfires, fueled by climate change, demands an equally dramatic transformation in the nation’s response — from revamping the federal firefighting workforce to the management of public lands to the siting and construction of homes.
“As our seasons are getting worse and worse … it feels like we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Kelly Martin, a wildfire veteran and president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters. “We need a new approach.”
‘Fire is medicine’: How Indigenous practices could help curb wildfires
Lake and the Cultural Fire Management Council are trying to revive the intrinsic knowledge that long guided Indigenous life in a natural fire zone.
“It’s important to recognize there was a fire system in place that was culturally influenced,” Lake said, referring to the Indigenous fire management he has researched and participated in for the last several decades. “We have to question the narrative of history that has demonized fire, coming from a colonial perspective,” he added.
Lake and the Cultural Fire Management Council are trying to revive the intrinsic knowledge that long guided Indigenous life in a natural fire zone.
“It’s important to recognize there was a fire system in place that was culturally influenced,” Lake said, referring to the Indigenous fire management he has researched and participated in for the last several decades. “We have to question the narrative of history that has demonized fire, coming from a colonial perspective,” he added.
Climate change or forest management? ‘Everyone is right’ Wildfires. OSU prof: 'The bill for those decisions has come due'
“As a society we’ve made every wrong choice. When it comes to dry forests in the American West, we made a choice to log most of the old fire resistant trees. We made a choice to exclude fire from forests that need fire to thrive,” he told KOIN 6 News. “We made a choice to warm the atmosphere by several degrees, and we made a choice not to thin stands and re-introduced fire under the right conditions. The bill for those decisions has come due.”
“As a society we’ve made every wrong choice. When it comes to dry forests in the American West, we made a choice to log most of the old fire resistant trees. We made a choice to exclude fire from forests that need fire to thrive,” he told KOIN 6 News. “We made a choice to warm the atmosphere by several degrees, and we made a choice not to thin stands and re-introduced fire under the right conditions. The bill for those decisions has come due.”
‘A recipe for catastrophic fire’: how an Oregon blaze became the nation’s largest
Beyond the heat and dryness, experts say decades of forest-management policies are partly to blame for the Bootleg Fire and many other large blazes. Under aggressive fire-suppression policies, every fire, no matter how small, is extinguished. But fire ecologists say it is better to allow some smaller fires to simply burn, or to conduct controlled burns, to consume the underbrush that ends up feeding much larger blazes.
Beyond the heat and dryness, experts say decades of forest-management policies are partly to blame for the Bootleg Fire and many other large blazes. Under aggressive fire-suppression policies, every fire, no matter how small, is extinguished. But fire ecologists say it is better to allow some smaller fires to simply burn, or to conduct controlled burns, to consume the underbrush that ends up feeding much larger blazes.
Experts: more logging won't stop Oregon's wildfires
Dr. Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist for Wild Heritage and an evacuee of last year's wildfire in Talent, Oregon, said increasingly the term "wildfires" is a misnomer, because they become urban fires that destroy unprepared communities.
"Every dollar spent in the backcountry logging forests is a dollar that is not being spent assisting communities in hardening their homes for our new climate/fire reality," DellaSala asserted.
Dr. Dominick DellaSala, chief scientist for Wild Heritage and an evacuee of last year's wildfire in Talent, Oregon, said increasingly the term "wildfires" is a misnomer, because they become urban fires that destroy unprepared communities.
"Every dollar spent in the backcountry logging forests is a dollar that is not being spent assisting communities in hardening their homes for our new climate/fire reality," DellaSala asserted.
Extreme fire behavior has erupted in the West. Here’s what that means.
It’s likely that more extreme fire behavior is in the offing over the next several months. While the environment, characterized by excessive heat and a pronounced lack of humidity, is a tinder box, winds are a major factor in fueling fire expansion. They usually ramp up during the autumn. Offshore wind events are also effective at drying the landscape even more, particularly on the western slope of hillsides and within mountain valleys.
As climate change continues to foster more extreme heat events and a drying of the West, it’s probable that bouts of extreme fire behavior will continue.
It’s likely that more extreme fire behavior is in the offing over the next several months. While the environment, characterized by excessive heat and a pronounced lack of humidity, is a tinder box, winds are a major factor in fueling fire expansion. They usually ramp up during the autumn. Offshore wind events are also effective at drying the landscape even more, particularly on the western slope of hillsides and within mountain valleys.
As climate change continues to foster more extreme heat events and a drying of the West, it’s probable that bouts of extreme fire behavior will continue.
Indigenous-led prescribed burns could help reduce wildfire risks, experts say
Wildfire experts say British Columbia must spark far more prescribed burns, akin to how Indigenous communities have managed forests, to mitigate the risk of huge blazes.
“We’re not burning anywhere near as much as we should,” said fire ecologist and noted burn boss Bob Gray, from Chilliwack, B.C., who consults for local, provincial, state and tribal governments across Canada and the United States.
Wildfire experts say British Columbia must spark far more prescribed burns, akin to how Indigenous communities have managed forests, to mitigate the risk of huge blazes.
“We’re not burning anywhere near as much as we should,” said fire ecologist and noted burn boss Bob Gray, from Chilliwack, B.C., who consults for local, provincial, state and tribal governments across Canada and the United States.
Wildfires are intensifying. Here’s why, and what can be done.
Wildfire experts see the signature of climate change in the dryness, high heat and longer fire season that have made these fires more extreme. “We wouldn’t be seeing this giant ramp up in fire activity as fast as it is happening without climate change,” said Park Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA. “There’s just no way.”
These conditions have been exacerbated by fire-suppression policies. Before the modern settlement of the American West, forested land in the region burned naturally from lightning or else was intentionally burned by native communities as a form of forest maintenance. But for the past hundred years, most Western states have suppressed fires. That has led to increasingly dense forests and ample brush on the forest floors.
“We’re primed for fire,” Ms. Quinn-Davidson said.
Wildfire experts see the signature of climate change in the dryness, high heat and longer fire season that have made these fires more extreme. “We wouldn’t be seeing this giant ramp up in fire activity as fast as it is happening without climate change,” said Park Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA. “There’s just no way.”
These conditions have been exacerbated by fire-suppression policies. Before the modern settlement of the American West, forested land in the region burned naturally from lightning or else was intentionally burned by native communities as a form of forest maintenance. But for the past hundred years, most Western states have suppressed fires. That has led to increasingly dense forests and ample brush on the forest floors.
“We’re primed for fire,” Ms. Quinn-Davidson said.
Why does California have so any wildfires? There are four key ingredients to the disastrous wildfire seasons in the West, and climate change is a key culprit.
“In pretty much every single way, a perfect recipe for fire is just kind of written in California,” Dr. Williams said. “Nature creates the perfect conditions for fire, as long as people are there to start the fires. But then climate change, in a few different ways, seems to also load the dice toward more fire in the future.”
“In pretty much every single way, a perfect recipe for fire is just kind of written in California,” Dr. Williams said. “Nature creates the perfect conditions for fire, as long as people are there to start the fires. But then climate change, in a few different ways, seems to also load the dice toward more fire in the future.”
Fighting wildfires in western WA requires different approaches
Although the 2020 fires were a new and devastating experience for modern society, such fires are very much business as usual when viewed over longer history.
For millennia, massive and severe fires have periodically burned millions of acres in the western Cascades. Unlike the east side of the state, where fire suppression and fuel buildup have contributed to uncharacteristically large and severe fires in dry forests, such fires are entirely characteristic for the west side.
Although the 2020 fires were a new and devastating experience for modern society, such fires are very much business as usual when viewed over longer history.
For millennia, massive and severe fires have periodically burned millions of acres in the western Cascades. Unlike the east side of the state, where fire suppression and fuel buildup have contributed to uncharacteristically large and severe fires in dry forests, such fires are entirely characteristic for the west side.
Lack of federal firefighters hurts California wildfire response
Forest Service firefighters in the Golden State say all kinds of jobs are sitting open, from hand crew members to bulldozer operators, and that crews assigned to major fires are struggling to assemble teams.
Forest Service firefighters in the Golden State say all kinds of jobs are sitting open, from hand crew members to bulldozer operators, and that crews assigned to major fires are struggling to assemble teams.
Residents of Gates, Oregon, aim their ire at Pacific Power nearly a year after their town burned
Dan Benjamin, assistant chief for the Gates Fire Department, remembers going from one fire to another after 9 p.m. that night. He said he had just helped extinguish a power line fire at a fellow firefighter’s house when he noticed a new fire on Potato Hill. Then, he was called to help with the fires ignited by power lines at Gates School, where about a hundred members of the Beachie Creek firefighting team were stationed…Firefighters were forced to evacuate immediately, and the incident command station was relocated from Gates School to Salem.
Dan Benjamin, assistant chief for the Gates Fire Department, remembers going from one fire to another after 9 p.m. that night. He said he had just helped extinguish a power line fire at a fellow firefighter’s house when he noticed a new fire on Potato Hill. Then, he was called to help with the fires ignited by power lines at Gates School, where about a hundred members of the Beachie Creek firefighting team were stationed…Firefighters were forced to evacuate immediately, and the incident command station was relocated from Gates School to Salem.
What western society can learn from Indigenous communities
As the world increasingly recognizes the accomplishments of many Indigenous communities that successfully coexist with ecosystems, there is much for Western society to learn.
As the world increasingly recognizes the accomplishments of many Indigenous communities that successfully coexist with ecosystems, there is much for Western society to learn.
As Western Wildfires Worsen, FEMA Is Denying Most People Who Ask For Help
The techniques FEMA uses to weed out ineligible or fraudulent applicants can end up denying aid to disaster survivors whose cases may be legitimate but who can't provide the documents FEMA needs to verify a claim — people who in some cases just lost their entire home and belongings.
The techniques FEMA uses to weed out ineligible or fraudulent applicants can end up denying aid to disaster survivors whose cases may be legitimate but who can't provide the documents FEMA needs to verify a claim — people who in some cases just lost their entire home and belongings.
Top wildfire expert prescribes controlled burns as preventive care
From the perspective of Mark Finney, one of the nation’s top fire experts, the U.S. is too focused on fighting wildfires instead of trying to prevent them in the first place.
Finney runs the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Montana, the country’s only public institution dedicated solely to the study of wildfires, and he’s critical of the recent response to blazes ravaging western states.
From the perspective of Mark Finney, one of the nation’s top fire experts, the U.S. is too focused on fighting wildfires instead of trying to prevent them in the first place.
Finney runs the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Montana, the country’s only public institution dedicated solely to the study of wildfires, and he’s critical of the recent response to blazes ravaging western states.
White House to raise federal firefighter pay to $15 an hour. Biden focusing on increased threats from climate change as wildfires, heat waves beset parts of the U.S.
President Joe Biden is raising wages for federal firefighters to no less than $15 an hour, as the White House seeks to put a spotlight on the growing threats of wildfires and heat waves exacerbated by climate change.
President Joe Biden is raising wages for federal firefighters to no less than $15 an hour, as the White House seeks to put a spotlight on the growing threats of wildfires and heat waves exacerbated by climate change.