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..

                             

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[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 19^th 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