What Los Angeles could have done to prepare better for wildfires
Los Angeles County has one of the world's top fire suppression organizations. Most technologically advanced. The firefighting force is highly trained and well paid.
There could have been ten times the number of crews and equipment there and they would not have been able to stop the spread of these fires.
If anything, this is another screaming signal about climate change. When these conditions of prolonged droughts and hurricane force winds and record heat waves are all aligned, it's just not humanly possible to stop the spread or put out these fires.
[Interview with Timothy Ingalsbee at 3:25:00 mark]
Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts
For decades, Jack Cohen and Stephen Pyne have studied the history and behavior of wildfires. The magnitude of destruction this week in Los Angeles and Altadena, they argue, could have been mitigated. Society’s understanding and relationship to fire has to change if the conflagrations like these are to be prevented.
Why Los Angeles was unprepared for this fire. Several key factors left L.A. exposed to disaster.
“There was a lot that could have and should have been done,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Oregon-based Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “Decades before we knew about climate change, we knew this kind of urban sprawl was a big risk.”
Why right-wing influencers are blaming the California wildfires on diversity efforts
As for the impact of DEI policies on putting out wildfires, "I give it only slightly more credibility than the Jewish space laser theories," said Mike Beasley, who heads the board of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology. In 40 years of firefighting, he says he has watched wildfires become more extreme and "meaner."
"There is no number of people that will stop all the fires in the middle of a hot, dry season with the climate charged fuel aridity. There just isn't," said Beasley.
Conspiracy theories are blaming the scale of L.A. wildfire destruction on DEI efforts
HAGEN: Mike Beasley is with Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. He fought fires for 40 years and says there are many serious discussions these fires should raise - about climate change, funding firefighters, water management, housing development, aging infrastructure. But...
MIKE BEASLEY: Well, I'd give it only slightly more credibility than the Jewish space laser theories.
Fires are moving much faster now. Here’s how to prepare.
In short, we need to prepare. By the time a fast fire ignites, it is too late. To support firefighters and protect our communities, we need to be ready long before fire comes.
Could more controlled burns have stopped the L.A. fires?They can be an effective wildfire prevention tool — but not always.
Once the fires stop burning in Los Angeles and the city picks itself up from the rubble, the chorus of voices asking how such a disaster could have been prevented will rise. In California, the answer to that desperate query is so often “better forestry management practices,” and in particular “more controlled burns.” But that’s not always the full story, and in the case of the historically destructive L.A. fires, many experts doubt that prescribed burns and better vegetation management would have mattered much at all.
This Week’s Unholy Mix of Drought, Wind, and Fire in Southern California: A Warning of an Accelerating Insurance Crisis in Climate-Risk Areas?
In the not-too-distant future, certain areas will effectively be red-lined from a flood or fire insurance perspective, either formally or by having policies be so expensive as to be unaffordable, or having terms that limit coverage in the event of wildfire or flood losses? What happens to those properties when the only market is cash-only buyers (or much smaller mortgages, limited to the maximum that insurers will cover), and then ones who understand that they are at risk of bearing the full or large losses?
And consider: what happens to current home borrowers if they can’t meet the obligations in their mortgage to maintain adequate home insurance?
Hollywood Hills fire breaks out as deadly wildfires burn out of control across Los Angeles area
The Sunset Fire was burning near the Hollywood Bowl and about a mile (kilometer) from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The streets around Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were packed with stop-and-go traffic as sirens blared and low-flying helicopters soared by on their way to dump water on the flames. People toting suitcases left hotels on foot, while some onlookers walked towards the flames, recording the fire on their phones.
5 dead, more than 1,100 structures destroyed as firestorm besieges L.A. County
More than 1,100 buildings have burned and at least five people are dead in wildfires burning across L.A. County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.
Giving Guide! Eugene Weekly’s annual effort to help you decide what nonprofits to support—FUSEE
“FUSEE is engaged in paradigm-shifting educational and policy work around fire. Shifting fire policy is essential to responding to the climate crisis, protecting communities and ecosystems, and supporting Tribal sovereignty and traditional ecological management. FUSEE’s work is incredibly important for our region at this moment.” – Sarah D. Wald, associate professor of environmental studies and English, University of Oregon
Malibu residents flee as wildfire swallows homes along iconic Southern California coastline
The beaches are empty in Malibu as a wildfire tears through swaths of the iconic Southern California coastline, consuming homes and vehicles and forcing residents – including legendary actor Dick Van Dyke – to flee their coveted hillside properties.
Experiencing natural disasters increases partisan disagreement on climate change
Mike here: ndividuals often cling to pre-existing beliefs on politicized topics like climate change, even in the face of contradicting evidence. This phenomenon, well-documented in social psychology, shows that people frequently double down on their beliefs rather than reconsider them. For example, a study involving supporters of the false WMD claims in Iraq revealed that even after being shown evidence to the contrary, including President Bush's admission, their conviction in the validity of those claims increased. Interestingly, some who have experienced climate-related disasters may also deepen their denial, influenced by partisan media that supports their views.
The uncertain fate of America’s iconic Christmas tree
Rich Fairbanks is among the rare-but-vocal landowners who support fire management, even as he questions some of the federal government’s efforts. He collaborated with a regional Prescribed Burn Association — the first of its kind in the state — to burn an acre of land right by his home.
He wishes more landowners would realize that to protect the forest, it needs to burn occasionally.
There’s a Simple Way to Stop Dangerous Wildfires. We Barely Use It.
Latest writing by Friend of FUSEE, M.R. O’Connor. She lives in Brooklyn and is author of the recent book, “Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World.” This article continues her journey of discovery within the fire practitioner movement.
It’s time to redefine what a megafire is in the climate change era
“The modern era of megafires is often defined based on wildfire size,” wrote Jennifer Balch, associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her colleagues in the new study, “but it should be defined based on how fast fires grow and their consequent societal impacts.” While large fires have a major effect on air quality, ecosystems, and the release of planet-warming carbon, it is fast fires that have the greatest impact on infrastructure damage, evacuation efforts and, ultimately, death tolls.
Wildfires in the West Aren’t Just Getting Bigger. They’re Faster, Too.
When it comes to wildfire threats, “we’ve been so focused on size,” said Jennifer Balch, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. “But what we really need to focus on is speed.”
Many of today’s deadliest fires burn so ferociously that firefighters cannot do much in the moment but get out of the way, Dr. Coop said. “If we’re not prepared for them, they hit us and they hit us hard.”
Forest Service halts prescribed burns in California. Is it worth the risk?
“They’re backed into a corner, but they’ve backed themselves into a corner,” Quinn-Davidson said. “They’re not leading, and it seems like they’re not capable of leading on prescribed fire, given the nature of politics and how they do business — always choosing short-term risk over long-term vision and strategy.”
She calls for a rethinking of how prescribed burns can be applied on federal lands.
“If the Forest Service is consistently not able to do the work, how can we lean on local resources — tribes and prescribed burn associations, for example — to get that work done?”