Graph of the Day: Size of US Wildfires, 1983-2008
Data on wildland fires in the United States show that the number of acres burned per fire has increased since the 1980s. In the western United States, both the frequency of large wildfires and the length of the fire season have increased substantially in recent decades, due primarily to earlier spring snowmelt and higher spring and summer temperatures. These changes in climate have reduced the availability of moisture, drying out the vegetation that provides the fuel for fires. Alaska also has experienced large increases in fire, with the area burned more than doubling in recent decades. As in the western United States, higher air temperature is a key factor. In Alaska, for example, June air temperatures alone explained approximately 38 percent of the increase in the area burned annually from 1950 to 2003.
There are a lot of reasons why this is on the increase. Overpopulation made possible exurbanite residential development in areas where it did not exist before such as the mountains and foothills of extreme fire prone areas where wildfires used to be caused soley by lightening strikes. Now the cause is more often than not "human cause" or arson ("under investigation"). Arsonists, as I understand it, are like porn addicts, it is sexual to them and even the hint of cloudy day will get them going. Arson stats for last year only were well above a thousand just in California. Then we have the illegals landing in droves who do not speak English and are unfamiliar with the rules and the reasons why these rules exist – such as no cooking over open fires in fire prone areas. Then there are just plain stupid people who drag chain link fencing from their trucks sending sparks into the curb grasses unknowingly creating massive brush fires in their wake, far from the public eye or as in the case this week, a few men cutting steel in the pasture throwing off sparks with only a 5 gallon bucket of water on hand in case something happened.
More stupid, recall Catalina Island burned two years ago because the city voted to remove the goats who, in previous times, kept the brush in check. The goats were thought to be unsightly for a popular port of call. The worst offender of all however is what they call Cheat Grass, an introduced species that gave much of the west its golden color because it grows green initially, but climate change dries it to hard beige straw in mere days. This can only increase, unfortunately. And it is everywhere now, thus California is known as the Golden State for this reason. People who make their home in fire prone areas are smart to keep goats.
In review:
Climate Change
Overpopulation (housing bubbles, greed, natural habitat destruction, introduction of flammable materials and fuels, shoddy construction not to code)
Illegal Immigration
Stupid actions
Ignorance of history which put the goats on Catalina in the first place.
The worst offender of all however is what they call Cheat Grass, an introduced species that gave much of the west its golden color because it grows green initially, but climate change dries it to hard beige straw in mere days. This can only increase, unfortunately. And it is everywhere now, thus California is known as the Golden State for this reason. People who make their home in fire prone areas are smart to keep goats.
In review:
Climate Change
Overpopulation (housing bubbles, greed, natural habitat destruction, introduction of flammable materials and fuels, shoddy construction not to code)
Illegal Immigration
Stupid actions
Ignorance of history which put the goats on Catalina in the first place.