Firebrands: How to protect your home from wildfires’ windblown flaming debris
Firebrands can travel over a mile by the wind and can be a major cause of spreading fires. In the Tahoe region, for example, firefighters couldn’t just focus on the main fire line in summer 2021 – they also had to patrol for spot fires.
Firebrands can travel over a mile by the wind and can be a major cause of spreading fires. In the Tahoe region, for example, firefighters couldn’t just focus on the main fire line in summer 2021 – they also had to patrol for spot fires.
‘Moneyball’ analytics help fight wildfires. This year’s blazes are testing their limits.
Forest conflagrations are so extreme that the best new weapons crews have—computer models to predict how flames spread—sometimes can’t keep up.
Forest conflagrations are so extreme that the best new weapons crews have—computer models to predict how flames spread—sometimes can’t keep up.
Worsening California blazes prompt new calls for innovations to fight fires smarter
“The technology for monitoring, mapping, and modeling wildfires is like a technological renaissance,” he added. “What we have as a problem is under-utilization of all this investment in technology for fire management.”
“We still are in this kind of war-on-wildfires paradigm, still seeing fire as an enemy to attack, extinguish or eliminate,” he said. “And this technology really has the ability to shift our paradigm, so we see fire more as I dare say ally, or at least a tool, for managing ecosystems in ways that really better protect communities and also sustain the ecosystem services that we all rely on.”
“The technology for monitoring, mapping, and modeling wildfires is like a technological renaissance,” he added. “What we have as a problem is under-utilization of all this investment in technology for fire management.”
“We still are in this kind of war-on-wildfires paradigm, still seeing fire as an enemy to attack, extinguish or eliminate,” he said. “And this technology really has the ability to shift our paradigm, so we see fire more as I dare say ally, or at least a tool, for managing ecosystems in ways that really better protect communities and also sustain the ecosystem services that we all rely on.”
The Labor Day fires burned towns and homes. Oregon has a plan to avoid a repeat.
Clearing that fuel is part of a new program called the Wildfire Workforce Corps that provides young people with paid job training and experience as well as college tuition credit.
The program has $11 million in funding through Oregon’s new wildfire protection plan to work in the “home ignition zone” in areas like the South Hills of Eugene, where forests and other wildlands meet houses. Collectively, these areas are called the wildland urban interface, or WUI, and they’re known to face higher fire risks.
Clearing that fuel is part of a new program called the Wildfire Workforce Corps that provides young people with paid job training and experience as well as college tuition credit.
The program has $11 million in funding through Oregon’s new wildfire protection plan to work in the “home ignition zone” in areas like the South Hills of Eugene, where forests and other wildlands meet houses. Collectively, these areas are called the wildland urban interface, or WUI, and they’re known to face higher fire risks.
EXPLAINER: What are some key decisions in fighting fires?
WHY DO FIRE MANAGERS LET SOME WILDFIRES BURN?
Sometimes fires fit a beneficial land management goal, like when they burn in a wilderness area or national park.
Fires are part of the natural forest cycle, and “at times that’s the right approach,” said Lane, who is in his 35th season as a firefighter, much of that spent in western Oregon. He joined Washington’s natural resources agency in 2019.
Also, wildfires sometimes burn in areas where it is unsafe to put firefighters.
WHY DO FIRE MANAGERS LET SOME WILDFIRES BURN?
Sometimes fires fit a beneficial land management goal, like when they burn in a wilderness area or national park.
Fires are part of the natural forest cycle, and “at times that’s the right approach,” said Lane, who is in his 35th season as a firefighter, much of that spent in western Oregon. He joined Washington’s natural resources agency in 2019.
Also, wildfires sometimes burn in areas where it is unsafe to put firefighters.
Fighting fire with fire. As climate change continues making wildfires worse, how do we learn to live with fire?
The Forest Service also has been slow to embrace another kind of good fire that experts say the West desperately needs: managed wildfires, in which fires are allowed to burn in a controlled manner to reduce overgrowth. To protect the future of the land and people – especially with climate change making forests drier and hotter – the Forest Service needs to embrace the idea of good fire.
The Forest Service also has been slow to embrace another kind of good fire that experts say the West desperately needs: managed wildfires, in which fires are allowed to burn in a controlled manner to reduce overgrowth. To protect the future of the land and people – especially with climate change making forests drier and hotter – the Forest Service needs to embrace the idea of good fire.
The racist removal of Native Americans in California is often missing from wildfire discussions, experts say
Climate change is a driving factor of California wildfires, but so is a build-up of excess fuels. That’s often attributed to a century of fire suppression dating back to the era of the Great Fire of 1910.
But what experts say is often missing from this conversation is the racist removal of Native American people from California. Along with their physical beings, the knowledge of taking care of the land was also removed resulting in overgrown forests, experts say.
Climate change is a driving factor of California wildfires, but so is a build-up of excess fuels. That’s often attributed to a century of fire suppression dating back to the era of the Great Fire of 1910.
But what experts say is often missing from this conversation is the racist removal of Native American people from California. Along with their physical beings, the knowledge of taking care of the land was also removed resulting in overgrown forests, experts say.
Wildfires in the West are inevitable, but this strategy can help control them
Fuels treatments aren’t a panacea. Super hot fires or wind-driven spread can overwhelm even a treated area. But treatments—either mechanical thinning or prescribed fire, or ideally a combination—can help drop flame lengths and the “fireline intensity,” measures of how intensely a fire burns. In turn, that can help slow the pace of fire spread.
Fuels treatments aren’t a panacea. Super hot fires or wind-driven spread can overwhelm even a treated area. But treatments—either mechanical thinning or prescribed fire, or ideally a combination—can help drop flame lengths and the “fireline intensity,” measures of how intensely a fire burns. In turn, that can help slow the pace of fire spread.
As California burns, anger and pointed questions for caretaker of its vast forests
Oftentimes, keeping fire crews away from a new fire is “the right call from the standpoint of firefighter safety,” said Ingalsbee, head of an Oregon-based group called Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics & Ecology. What’s more, trying to put out every fire at once can be unrealistic, he said. “Sending crews to attack all fires in all places ... spreads the resources thin,” Ingalsbee said.
Oftentimes, keeping fire crews away from a new fire is “the right call from the standpoint of firefighter safety,” said Ingalsbee, head of an Oregon-based group called Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics & Ecology. What’s more, trying to put out every fire at once can be unrealistic, he said. “Sending crews to attack all fires in all places ... spreads the resources thin,” Ingalsbee said.
Our wildfire breaking point. We’ve lost the war and must rethink how to protect our communities
A hundred years waging war on fire and criminalizing its use gave us broken ecosystems and communities on the brink. We won many battles, but with climate change as an ally, fire won the war. It’s over, and as long as we refuse to surrender, fire will keep up its siege until every last mountain town and green tree burn to ash
A hundred years waging war on fire and criminalizing its use gave us broken ecosystems and communities on the brink. We won many battles, but with climate change as an ally, fire won the war. It’s over, and as long as we refuse to surrender, fire will keep up its siege until every last mountain town and green tree burn to ash
How one town put politics aside to save itself from fire. Timber Wars tore this town apart. Wildfire prevention brought it back together.
The Forest Service — no longer able to conduct the business of managing timber sales as usual — focused instead on building access roads for firefighters and thinning trees deemed a wildfire threat. “It was almost presto-chango,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. “All of a sudden the Forest Service, instead of doing timber extraction, was all about tinder reduction.”
The Forest Service — no longer able to conduct the business of managing timber sales as usual — focused instead on building access roads for firefighters and thinning trees deemed a wildfire threat. “It was almost presto-chango,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. “All of a sudden the Forest Service, instead of doing timber extraction, was all about tinder reduction.”
Why the South is decades ahead of the West in wildfire prevention
As Western states contend with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, some are looking to the Southeastern U.S., where prescribed fire is widespread thanks to policies put in place decades ago. From 1998 to 2018, 70% of all controlled burning in the country was in the Southeast.
As Western states contend with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, some are looking to the Southeastern U.S., where prescribed fire is widespread thanks to policies put in place decades ago. From 1998 to 2018, 70% of all controlled burning in the country was in the Southeast.
To save Lake Tahoe, they spared no expense. The fire came over the ridge anyway.
They sent thousands of firefighters, 25 helicopters and an arsenal of more than 400 fire engines and 70 water trucks. Yet the fire still advanced.
They dropped retardant chemicals through an ash-filled sky and bulldozed trees and brush to slow the march of the flames through the steep and rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada. Yet the fire still advanced.
They sent thousands of firefighters, 25 helicopters and an arsenal of more than 400 fire engines and 70 water trucks. Yet the fire still advanced.
They dropped retardant chemicals through an ash-filled sky and bulldozed trees and brush to slow the march of the flames through the steep and rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada. Yet the fire still advanced.
The difference between direct and indirect fire line
In the wrong situation, namely fast moving and intense fires, direct attack can be both dangerous and futile. Sending firefighters out day after day to employ the wrong tactics can expose them to undo risk and waste precious time if at the end of the day no real progress has been made. Deciding when to shift from direct attack to indirect attack is one of the more critical decisions firefighters must make.
In the wrong situation, namely fast moving and intense fires, direct attack can be both dangerous and futile. Sending firefighters out day after day to employ the wrong tactics can expose them to undo risk and waste precious time if at the end of the day no real progress has been made. Deciding when to shift from direct attack to indirect attack is one of the more critical decisions firefighters must make.
Wildfire, drought and chainsaws: California’s iconic trees are casualties in the war on fire
California’s forests are in trouble. Wildfire and drought have ravaged millions of trees. Scientists say, perhaps surprisingly, the answer is more frequent fire.
Humans are largely to blame. Researchers say climate change underpins the devastation, while a century of aggressive logging and fire suppression has left timberlands choked with younger, thirsty trees primed by drought for destructive conflagrations.
The health of these exalted landscapes has for the last century taken a backseat to human interests and militarized firefighting forces. But a tipping point has been reached. Fires have become overwhelmingly explosive.
California’s forests are in trouble. Wildfire and drought have ravaged millions of trees. Scientists say, perhaps surprisingly, the answer is more frequent fire.
Humans are largely to blame. Researchers say climate change underpins the devastation, while a century of aggressive logging and fire suppression has left timberlands choked with younger, thirsty trees primed by drought for destructive conflagrations.
The health of these exalted landscapes has for the last century taken a backseat to human interests and militarized firefighting forces. But a tipping point has been reached. Fires have become overwhelmingly explosive.
Why top California fire expert is so worried about Caldor Fire as it approaches Tahoe
The thing that’s surprising this year is the spot fires. Almost 90% of embers that are dropping on unburned fuel have the potential to start a new fire this year because it’s so dry after two years of drought. That’s very extreme and just really enables these fires to move ahead of the fire lines.
The thing that’s surprising this year is the spot fires. Almost 90% of embers that are dropping on unburned fuel have the potential to start a new fire this year because it’s so dry after two years of drought. That’s very extreme and just really enables these fires to move ahead of the fire lines.
Can ‘active forest management’ really reduce wildfire risk?
Mitigating wildfire impacts by reducing home losses is one area where scientists and politicians find common ground. Programs like FireWise USA, which helps individuals and communities protect against structure loss by assessing ignition potential and working with property owners to decrease it, enjoy widespread support in both policy and research circles. But when it comes to active forest management, the farther from a community a proposed logging, thinning or burning project is, the more controversial it becomes.
Mitigating wildfire impacts by reducing home losses is one area where scientists and politicians find common ground. Programs like FireWise USA, which helps individuals and communities protect against structure loss by assessing ignition potential and working with property owners to decrease it, enjoy widespread support in both policy and research circles. But when it comes to active forest management, the farther from a community a proposed logging, thinning or burning project is, the more controversial it becomes.
Fighting fire with fire: Native American burning practices spark interest in a year of historic wildfires
“The fires are much more dangerous than ever before, because we have interrupted that long-standing practice of cultural burning by Native peoples, which kept things in check,” said Kari Norgaard, a sociologist at the University of Oregon who has been working with the Karuk Tribe for the last 15 years. “I think there’s no question that what we’re seeing now has to do with the changing climate, as well as a combination of [the] failed management of fire suppression.”
“The fires are much more dangerous than ever before, because we have interrupted that long-standing practice of cultural burning by Native peoples, which kept things in check,” said Kari Norgaard, a sociologist at the University of Oregon who has been working with the Karuk Tribe for the last 15 years. “I think there’s no question that what we’re seeing now has to do with the changing climate, as well as a combination of [the] failed management of fire suppression.”
Attacking fires by air often does no good, expert says
More than three-quarters of air attacks on wildfires are ineffective, according to internal data from the fire command in the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia, whose head researcher is calling for major changes in how the warming world battles its blazes.
More than three-quarters of air attacks on wildfires are ineffective, according to internal data from the fire command in the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia, whose head researcher is calling for major changes in how the warming world battles its blazes.
The science of how wildfires got so hellish
Two factors have collided to turn “good” fires into “bad” ones: climate change and, ironically enough, a history of fire suppression. Climate change means that vegetation is drier and primed to burn catastrophically. Extinguishing burns, especially those that threaten lives and structures, means that mountains of that fuel have built up.
Two factors have collided to turn “good” fires into “bad” ones: climate change and, ironically enough, a history of fire suppression. Climate change means that vegetation is drier and primed to burn catastrophically. Extinguishing burns, especially those that threaten lives and structures, means that mountains of that fuel have built up.