Wildfires and the 3
little pigs
Wildfires for the last 3
years have been headline news across Canada and the U.S. -- in Summer and even
Fall.
Fort McMurry in Alberta
(2016)[i] and now Paradise in
California have been engulfed by flames and destroyed, with thousands forced to
flee for their lives and only to return to find mass destruction and loss.
California's current two
major wildfires -- in the north and south -- have claimed over 77 lives with over
700 plus missing and unaccounted for.
Lack of seasonal rain
and resultant droughts have made forests into easily started matches - whether from lightening or
human error.
And, of course, ‘experts’
and the media link these fires and losses to Global Warming and Climate Change –
all caused by us humans.
But as I have argued
many times in the past, human activity in the period since the Industrial
Revolution is a very small factor in climate change.
1.
Volcanoes and
earthquakes produce far more carbon and other greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere 'naturally'.
2.
So do massive wildfires in
heavily wooded or grassland areas of British Columbia, Ontario, California and elsewhere.–
whether started by ‘natural’ lightning, spontaneous combust or human error.
As well, and more
importantly, the changes in rainfall patterns are simply
explained by the global impact of the ‘natural’ El Nino and La Nina effects off the coast of
Peru. When they flare up for years on end, they alter wind and air
moisture across the world: east, south, north and west.
In North America the
effects go to mid-continent, and their westward reach is across Japan and China
and India and all of Europe to Britain.
So do not fall victim to
the mantra that it is human activity is the key cause of Global Warming and
Climate Change.
The media frenzy -- that
wildfires are becoming more frequent and much larger of late – due to Global Warming
-- is also incorrect.
Despite readily
available media pictures and video footage, we actually have fewer and smaller ‘massive’
wildfires today than in previous centuries[ii] as we have far better technology
to stop their spread: aerial water and chemical drops from specialized
airplanes, and satellite and other methods to see where fires are rising and spreading.
Obvious
Solutions
Most importantly, as
pointed by Glenn McGillivray in his article, “We have to treat wildfires like
actual fires” (G&M, Nov. 14, 2018, A9), it is not hard for towns and cities
to avoid suffering massive destruction and loss of life if 4 simple rules are implemented:
1. Build only at a safe
distance from wooded and dense grassland areas. Most buildings damaged and destroyed by
wildfires are not caught in rolling, ground level fireballs but start
from burning cinders that are blown by the wind downstream. So a ‘safe’
distance is a substantial distance.
2. Plant and ensure trees closest
to human habitation areas and communities are ‘slow burn’ or ‘fire resistant’
varieties. These act as a barrier and
allow firefighters extra time to arrive and defend homes and communities.
The government of Alberta recommends the
following species:
“Trembling aspen, balsam
poplar and white birch are commonly found throughout Alberta. Since the
characteristics of these trees do not readily support fast-moving
wildfires, they make ideal species to plant in and around FireSmart
communities[iii]”.
In British Columbia, giant cedars and Douglas fir
also resist fire spreading.
3. ‘Block cutting’ – i.e., rectangular
clear
cutting - is now recommended by the government of Alberta so dense
sections of trees can be separated by safety gaps to minimize wildfire spread[iv].
4. Build with fire resistant
exterior materials such as BRICK and CONCRETE – or other, fire resistant materials and new technologies.
Other
recommendations:
As noted in SHARP
magazine (Winter 20019, pages 88 -91), ”How
the West was Burned”:
1. Plant within forests
Douglas fir, mountain ash, cedar and spruce.
They are fire resistant varieties unlike the
predominant, lodgepole pine favoured by forestry companies and – unfortunately –
the Mountain Pine Beetle that has already burrowed into and killed over 30
million hectares of western Canadian and U.S. forests.
2. ‘Cull’ such dead
standing lodgepole forests. Where possible, use their wood as best as possible[v] or they are matches
waiting to blaze at up to 800*
C.
3. Have governments and
park authorities return to the old practice of larger ‘prescribed burns’: to create ‘buffer zones’ within and on the edges
of forests.
Conclusion
The mindset that forests
must be preserved in their ‘natural state’ – the naive ‘tree hugger’ mindset – has proven counter-productive and destructive:
to the forest themselves, human property and lives.
The government of Alberta
in the above quote talks of FireSmart communities who
anticipate the worst and are pro-active.
This mindset must become the norm in
all human habitations and communities near potential fire Armageddons.
Governments must insist
on this!
Japan’s
example
Japan learned its lesson
re: earthquakes in 1923 when almost every dwelling and building in Tokyo fell
to the ground and 143,000 people lost their lives.
Today, skyscrapers dot
Tokyo with high tech floating base pads and shock absorbers built into each
such tower.
Since 1981 every
building in Japan must be able to withstand an earthquake of Level 6 on the 7
level Japanese Shindo scale.[vi]
We need to similarly
smarten up re: wildfires.
Remember the tale of the
Big Bad Wolf and Three Little Pigs.
Build
for survival. No straw or stick
dwellings. Wildfires do not 'huff and puff' like hurricanes and
cyclones and tornados do, but their predictable effects on human dwellings and
human life can be thwarted..
[i] 88,000
people were forced to evacuate,. 2,400 homes and building destroyed at a totawl
cost of $9.9 billion. (Wikipedia, “2016 Fort McMurry wildfire”).
[ii]
See for 19th century U.S.A. wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_wildfire_suppression_in_the_United_States
and re: Canada see the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fires_in_Canada.
[iii]
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/%24department/deptdocs.nsf/all/formain15744/%24FILE/tree-species-impact-wildfire-aug03-2012.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjIxaT2qe7eAhUq04MKHfrNBzQQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1OXtdaEKWu46T_hyjV6Fec
[iv] Ibid.
[v]
See latter half of entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pine_beetle
[vi] From https://www.ft.com/content/3efc4da8-c3bd-11e2-aa5b-00144feab7de
