Lasting scars
This summer’s drought-fueled wildfires are changing California’s landscape and, possibly, its way of thinking. Fires over the past month have left two firefighters dead, chewed through emergency funds and altered the scorched ground.
Handling this fiery wave is a deadly challenge. But it could also be an opportunity. This state must better prepare itself as unusually hot and fast-moving flames sweep across California. It’s time to pay for fire prevention, not just fire crews.
So far this year, the state has experienced nearly double the number of fires and burned acreage compared with an average of the last five years. A city-size army of 11,000 firefighters are at work. The U.S. Forest Service said last week that over half its budget goes to battling blazes, an all-time high.
The fires are producing other economic effects. A spokesman for the marijuana industry, the top crop in three north state counties, says prices will jump by 50 percent because smoky skies harm the maturing weed. Lake County’s wine grapes, its most valuable farm product, so far appears to be spared as the smoke and flames head away from vineyards.
What’s left after the flames die down is worrying scientists. Fire experts say that decades of undergrowth combined with dry conditions are producing blowtorch-hot, fast moving blazes as the Rocky blaze showed. These fires incinerate seeds and hardy trees that usually regenerate hillsides with new growth. Only the toughest plants survive, limiting nature’s options.
The state’s first response to douse and protect makes sense as flames near inhabited areas, which means nearly all the state. But as the climate shifts, it will be time for a new approach that prevents fires in a changing climate.