One thing people can do to prepare for wildfire, to know
One thing people can do to prepare for wildfire, to know
During the summer of 2016, I fought wildland fire for the Weiser Ranger District of the Payette National Forest in Idaho. I worked on a type four heavy engine, E-421. As a firefighter, I was able to witness climate change and increasing fire activity first hand on an off forest assignment to Midas, Nevada. It was there where my module was the first to respond to the Hot Pot Fire. In a little under 36 hours, the Hot Pot Fire spread 123,000 acres.…
Before the 2003 California collaboration had begun to help respond to major fires in this region. However, even after the inclusion of all the major planners involved could not compared to what occurred during this fire. There were five counties engulfed in this major fire, so the need for total collaboration was critical in fighting this fire. Fortunately, all players from the top down had planned for such event in their respective areas.…
On November 23, 2016, Tennessee's biggest fire occurred in Gatlinburg. This enormous fire lasted over a span of days and affected thousands of animals and people. A numourous amount of people had to evacuate the area and leave all their possessions behind. Researchers are saying that the fire was possibly man-made. Some civilians believe this statement, while others think it was caused naturally.…
Some people in life make the best out of every bad situation they are in while others do not. In “The Santa Ana,” by Joan Didion, and “Brush Fire,” by Linda Thomas, both writers discuss their feelings towards the Santa Ana winds. Both Didion and Thomas are from Southern California where they are both well aware of the Santa Ana winds. The Santa Ana winds are dry winds that blow from northern to southern California. These winds are a major topic as there is controversy over if they are a good or bad thing.…
There are some legendary forest fires that have been documented all the way back to the late 1800s. The most notable fire in that century was the Peshtigo Fire of 1871. After these fires, there were two main conservationists, Franklin Hough and Bernard Fernow, which pushed for protecting timber supplies and watersheds. The federal government then established the US Forest Service in 1905. The Forest Service was given control over the national forests.…
Freeway 41, also called SR 41 (which means it is a state route) was constructed in 1933, and was established the state sign route system in 1934. The freeway is approximately 185.6 miles long and starts off by branching off of highway 1 at Murro Bay, from there it heads inland. On route it passes by other freeways and highways, at one point even intermixing with another freeway for a time. it passes through Fresno and enteres Yosemite national park, not stopping till it reaches wowana.…
This is a very good reason why humans cause climate change. According to Plos ONE #11.4, 95% of California’s wildfires are caused by human actions. The interaction between humans and wildfires across all of California demonstrate the need to understand the relationship between them, mostly in the face of a changing climate and expanding human communities. People in California have built in areas of natural vegetation know as the Wildlife-Urban Interface,(WUI), much of which the area is known to be fire prone. This means that most of the wildfires are made by humans, and also meaning that humans cause major fires.…
When lumber mills make boards and posts that people used in their houses they only used the best trees in the area and the best wood out of the tree (Hyser and Arndt 2008, 348). This process created multiple problems with using more trees than needed and elevated the risk of fires with lots of brush to fuel a fire (Hyser and Arndt 2008, 348). To build a mine usually prospectors had to clear an area of trees so their method of clearing the trees was to start fires (Hyser and Arndt 2008, 348). The problem with this method is that it is very hard to control a fire so they usually burned out of control burning trees that did not need to be burned (Hyser and Arndt 2008, 348). Ranchers were always needing new grazing land for their livestock so they usually started fires to clear land for new pastures (Hyser and Arndt 2008, 349).…
The EFO paper, Developing a Risk Reduction Plan for the Wildland Urban Interface in Asheville, North Carolina, by Joy Michelle Ponder is a well-researched and presented paper. The author does a good job in identifying the community fire risk of wildland fires in the urban interface. Given the limited time frame and the amount of data collection and research necessary to complete the assignment, the author was very thorough and descriptive. She gathered information from a wide variety of subject matter experts from different agencies, submitted surveys for additional feedback from all levels of the fire service organization, and obtained information from California Department of Forestry. Wildland fires are very dynamic and challenging to fight.…
The first of two fires began on Thursday, May 4th, 1950 when a cook stove overheated and started casting sparks. Fanned by winds of up to 70 mph, then began the first of two forest fires in the Capitan Mountains. The Los Tablo's fire burned approximately 1000 acres before fire crews had it under…
Firefighters are still working diligently to contain the fire that is burning miles or terrain, but other precautionary measures are being taken. On June 8th, evacuations orders were made for another 300 homes, which would allow firefighters to try and get a better advance on the blaze. To help with these evacuations, police in the area are helping escort vehicles out of the area. Additionally, the residents of the 300 homes that were a part of the evacuation order had till 4:00 PM on June 8th…
San Bernardino Wildfire San Bernardino, California was hit by a scary, tragic, wildfire on Tuesday morning, August 16, 2016. Over 30,000 homes and about 80,000 people were given evacuation warnings. Many people packed up with all their belongings and animals in their car and left town. Within 24 hours authorities had assembled 10 air tankers, 15 helicopters and 1,300 firefighters to the dangerous fire. At this time no dead bodies have been found but rescue dogs are still searching for anyone who got caught up by the flame.…
Earlier this year, California Governor Jerry Brown declared an unusual state of emergency -- a state of emergency over 22 million dead California trees. Unfortunately, a new study http://www.newsweek.com/california-drought-58-million-trees-could-die-409557 confirms that the emergency is far from over: 58 million more California trees could be lost thanks to California's ongoing drought, while another 888 million trees are drought stressed. The severely depleted of water and drought stressed trees should concern everyone. Less trees means less habitat for wildlife.…
I think it is our fault that California is in a drought because there are some people who do not really care about saving water. People should follow Governor Brown’s plan to save water. ’’His plan will require golf courses,cemeteries,and other large landscaped areas to use less water”. His plan would also “help city governments replace 50 million square feet of lawn with drought tolerant landscaping and reward consumers for replacing old dishwashers with more efficient models.…
The Great Chicago Fire burned for 3 days, destroying over 200 acres and 17,000 homes, causing 200 million dollars in damage. This blaze resulted in 300 fatalities and left 90,000 homeless. Meanwhile the Peshtigo Fire was ablaze. This flash forest fire created a “tornado of fore” over 1000 feet high and 5 miles wide. As a result of these tragic fires, strict building and fire codes were enforced.…