What you might not know about wildfires:
Many people have the notion that wildfires are only bad and need to be prevented. However, some aspects of forest fires are actually beneficial for ecosystems. According to National Geographic, fires can increase soil fertility, germinate certain seeds, broaden food webs, and decrease invasive species. Prescribed burns, also known as controlled fires, are a useful way to allow fires to occur within these ecosystems without endangering the people or properties that reside nearby. If fires do not occur frequently enough, dead organic matter will build up on the ground, fueling more devastating and dangerous wildfires.
How are fires started?
The majority of wildfires are started by humans, accounting for about 90% of all wildfires in the United States. This can be due to negligent acts such as an unattended campfire, downed power lines, or even a cigarette. A total of 42.9% of fires are started by these unintentional acts while another 17.8% of fires are caused by intentional acts of arson. Of the naturally caused fires, many of the ones in California this year have been due to lightning strikes.
What is happening now?
Over time, wildfires have occurred all over the world, both through natural and unnatural means. However, the reason the fires are becoming so significant now, especially within the past few years, is not due to their frequency but rather the increasing destruction that has come along with them.
Why are the fires getting worse?
The short answer to this is climate change. As emissions of greenhouse gasses have increased, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, the hot/dry season of the year has increased in length and intensity which gives fires the ability to start and spread more quickly.
What are the short and long term effects of the worsening wildfires?
An increase in acreage of fires burning is directly correlated to an increase in estimated emissions of CO2, PM10, and PM2.5, implying a cyclical effect between man-made emissions contributing to climate change and wildfire emissions.
Not only do the emissions have the long term effect of further contributing to climate change in this way, but they also create a more immediate issue with the air quality of the surrounding areas. This guide states that wildfires worsen the air quality significantly, leading to many short-term and some long-term health effects for those in the surrounding area. The guide defines at-risk groups to include “people with respiratory or cardiovascular diseases, children and older adults, pregnant women, people of lower socioeconomic status, and outdoor workers.” In order to avoid the air, actions that are recommended are “staying indoors; limiting physical activity; reducing indoor air pollution sources; effectively using air conditioners and air filters or cleaners; creating cleaner air shelters; and using respiratory protection appropriately.” To reduce particle levels in a vehicle, it is better to use the recirculation mode for the air conditioning.
Controlling wildfires has also taken an economic toll, as can be seen from the graph below, which shows the expenses that have gone into fire suppression since 1979, demonstrating a significant increase in costs since that time.
Who is fighting the fires?
Around 14,000 firefighters are fighting the fires, led by CalFire. 53 come from Australia and New Zealand, and 200 are US soldiers. 1,916 of these are incarcerated people, who earn roughly 1$ an hour for their work. Previously, incarcerated individuals would join this firefighting program, becoming trained and equipped to meet the qualifications of being a professional firefighter, yet unable to obtain this job due to their criminal record. This has changed as of September 11, 2020 when Assembly Bill no. 2147 was signed by Governor Newsom. The bill essentially recants accusations against an eligible incarcerated person (eligibility for this includes successful participation in the California Conservation Camp Program, and it also depends on the severity of the offense) which gives them a better opportunity to obtain a firefighting career after being released. The benefits of this include more people to fight fires as well as a more stable income for these individuals, hopefully reducing the likelihood of further commission of crimes in addition to reduction of wildfire destruction.
Where are the fires happening right now?
This is an image taken on September 21, 2020 of a map detailing the locations of the fires in the California region. There are other large fires also occurring along the west coast in parts of Oregon and Washington.
A more current version of this map can be found from this link here.
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