Inclusion of Indigenous voices in revised Northwest Forest Plan focus of symposium
“One of the ways we are going to get through both the climate and the wildfire crisis is by bringing in the values and perspectives of indigenous people,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology. “They survived here, thrived here for millenia.”
Symposium stresses need for Indigenous perspectives in Northwest Forest Plan amendment
One point of emphasis for one of the speakers was how going forward fire management needs to change its year-round approach, especially outside of wildfire season.
"As wildfires come through, then we pick up the broken pieces,” says Ryan Reed, an Indigenous fire practitioner and wildland firefighter. “There is a lot of power that needs to be distributed into the proactive aspect. It's wintertime now, where work and strategy-making has to be done now."
‘We surpassed human limits to stop this’: LA megafires show our approach to fire needs to change.
“Our current dominant model is to invest in reactive wildfire suppression, and the costs are just soaring,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology (Fusee) and a former wildland firefighter.
“The problem is we surpassed our human limits to prevent or put out all wildfires, particularly during these extreme wind-driven weather events that have a link to climate change.
“We surpassed our human limits to stop this,” he said.
The Tongva’s land burned in Eaton fire. But leaders say traditional practices mitigated damage
“It’s important to listen to Indigenous voices and to understand that the knowledge that communities hold is thousands and thousands and thousands of years of knowledge,” she said. “I think that listening and allowing that knowledge to be practiced is really the key to the future of wildfire.”
Here’s what we know about L.A. fire department’s DEI efforts, which Republicans have attacked
Timothy Ingalsbee, a former wildland firefighter and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, a public education and advocacy group, said the wildfires are "a clear sign that we have surpassed the human capacity to stop these extreme, urban conflagrations during these extreme conditions."
It’s a "grand delusion" to suggest that "more white, male firefighters, bigger fire engines or bigger air tankers" would have stopped this disaster from unfolding, he said.
A new kind of urban firestorm
Rising temperatures and shifting seasons have increased the risk of wildfires that burn faster and are harder to contain. When those blazes jump into nearby communities, they are fueled not by forests but by buildings — moving from home to home, from garage to business to school, until they consume even areas far away from the wilderness.
“It’s a new beast,” said John Abatzoglou, a climatologist at the University of California at Merced. “Or rather, it’s a beast that existed and we thought we had controlled.”
Experts say one practice could have slowed down devastating LA fires
But one thing that could have limited the mind-boggling devastation, many experts say, is better preparation by communities, specifically the widely promoted, yet sometimes overlooked, practice of creating “defensible space” around buildings and “hardening” homes to fire.
In Los Angeles County, like in so many parts of California, entire neighborhoods exist in or next to fire-prone wildlands. With flames bound to reach these areas and no assurances they can be stopped, especially in an age of climate-charged mega-fires, many say focusing on community-level safety should be top priority.
Trump’s pick for energy secretary rejects linking climate change and wildfires
Oil executive Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Energy Department, has argued that climate change has not fueled more frequent and severe wildfires — a claim at odds with the scientific consensus.
Lesbian fire chief blamed for L.A. wildfires by conservatives. Conservatives falsely complain Kristin Crowley prioritized DEI over firefighting, leading to the horrific situation in Los Angeles.
Mike Beasley, the head of the board of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology, told National Public Radio that blaming DEI for the current difficulties extinguishing wildfires has “only slightly more credibility than the Jewish space laser theories.”
He added that right-wingers’ accusations of DEI are nothing more than political pandering to their ideological allies.
OPINION: As fires rage on, political tensions rise
Mike Beasley, who heads the board of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology, told NPR that “No fire agency is going to sacrifice training and fundamental fire control and fundamental operations at the expense of DEI training” and that “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.”
Could better brush clearance have helped slow the spread of the Palisades fire?
Given the weather conditions, Moritz is skeptical that more landscape-level brush clearance would have done much to slow the fire’s initial spread. He also noted that landscape-level brush management is distinct from brush clearance around individual homes, which is typically the responsibility of the property owner and can help give firefighters opportunities to protect structures.
Aerial support during the California wildfires has been grounded at times by high winds. Here's what the aircrafts do and why they can't fly in certain conditions.
High winds do more than spread fires — they keep firefighting aircraft on the ground
What is pink fire retardant, being used to curb California wildfires — and what are the environmental concerns?
The use of pink fire retardant is not new in the United States — the product has been around for decades. However, growing research has raised questions about its effectiveness and potential harm to the environment.
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.