Four years after the conflagration of 2003, we in southern California once again are enjoying the sight of pink skies not caused by the sun, the aroma of burning chaparral, and the sting of smoke getting in our eyes. One can only wonder: what is the role of government in this?Nearly half of the land in Calfornia is owned by the US government, a bunch more by the state. And the fire protection services are government run. That doesn’t sound like a good way to prevent fires.
Dr. Richard Minnick, professor at the University of California, Riverside, argued on a radio program yesterday that the cause of these conflagrations is the past one-hundred years’ policy of fire suppression, that is, the policy of putting out every fire as quickly as it arises. The consequence is that chaparral, the brush that in October burns like paper continues to grow and grow. If fires were allowed to burn when they occur, say, in July, they would burn more slowly and under control. The fuel that is now burning out of control in October would not be there. Minnick said that one of the current fires (I don’t remember which one) is getting close to an area that has not burned in one hundred years.
The news media, of course, are keeping us informed about how the fire protection services need more resources: more people, more equipment, and, especially, more money.
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I live in Riverside, and yes the state’s BBQ isn’t nice at all.
We should call for the federal government to turn over control of the public lands to the state governments. That would at least make the California government responsible for preventing forest fires in California. Right now the policies are made by people who only see the results of their decisions on TV.
Call the proposal “Texas Rights for the West” (recall that Texas got control of its public lands when it joined the union).
We all know that government can only grow. In order for more and greater growth in the “protection of public land”, we need more and greater fires to destroy public (and private) land. I see in the future an ability of the Secretary of the Interior to confiscate privately owned land in order to “protect it for the future.” As environmentalism and public policy continue to merge, more of our rights as private citizens will be engulfed in the flame of government power. There are times when I wish i could simply move to the moon.
Dr. Minnick continues to offer excellent insight, as he again spoke on Los Angeles Radio KFI yesterday about fire suppression and the larger amounts of fuels becoming more readily available. Those who have had the chance to make the same observations in Mexico see he is exactly right; forests & lands with small fire departments have small fires. Small fires make natural fire breaks & reduce the fuel load.
The past 100 years of both limited logging and fire suppression have resulted in larger fire fighting budgets, more money spent on fire fighting equipment, and a forest full of bark beetles.
Solutions include:
Limited fire suppression on Federal & state lands.
Structures cleared of exterior flammables.
Structures & utility infrastructure protected by gels & fireproof materials.
More logging.
Our local, state & federal leadership is beginning to recognize these solutions by helping to fund Fire Safe Councils at the grass roots level. These are local folks that have some of the best solutions. Thanks for reminding us of Dr. Minnick’s discussion.
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