Raging fires
Its hard to escape the news these day, of the conflagration of Southern California, fanned by the roaring Santa Anna Winds. It seems that if celebrity homes and life styles are threatened then there is no shortage of coverage and news. We get it all, from pronouncements of aid to flaming castles to satellite plumes. All the stations have the obligatory coverage.
But there is something to be taken to heart in all this, aside from the obvious. Disaster is no respecter of wealth and influence. And in this case there is far more here than meets the eye. It is obvious that the drought has played a great role in the ravaging fires, by providing tinder and fuel for the fires. But what has also played a pivotal role is the fact that for the past fifty years we in North America have believed the hype that all forest fires are bad, that the adage of Smokey and cohorts were to be applied no matter what. All fires were to be extinguished. In fact this is not the case. Fire plays a crucial role in the regeneration of forests, clearing detritus and clearing the slate for species to occupied new niches. In nature fire is a necessary evil, as we have found out. It we inhibit the process, when it does inevitably break out, either naturally or through the actions of people, it becomes a devastating raging inferno from which nothing escapes alive.
The second point to notice is the sprawl of our population. We are now building in places that we shouldn’t, because we are crowding ourselves out of our cities. We are building beside forests which have become tinder boxes, on the slopes of mountains that can come crashing down on us when the earth moves and close to ocean shores that turn deadly when storms turn the waters to towering waves and floods.
What began the process was the incredible drought that has affected not only North America, but also China, India, Africa and Australia. Somehow it is more newsworthy when it affect the denizens of Malibu, than it does the African Sahel.
What we can learn from the California conflagration is that sometimes when you play with fire, you can get burned. What are we in the Maritimes going to get burned by? Just like the West Coasters we treat the environment as disposable at our our peril. We have our own disasters waiting to take their turn. Consider the Gulf Stream, our prime disaster waiting to happen. Or our storms, hurricanes and ETs being generated with increasing freuency and intensity. Or our new climate with its prolonged summer and feeble winters. California and Santa Anna wind fires are not so far away after all.
October 31st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Hi Richard,
I was in the LA to San Clemente area while the fires were raging in the Malibu and San Diego areas. All along the Pacific Coast Highway, canyons were tinder dry brush. Mile upon miles of it. No one could ever afford to clear all that dry brush. There is just too much of it. Yet, further up the canyon would be tier upon tier of new, beautiful homes, most with Cedar Shingles.
The Santa Ana winds were constant, the air was thick with smoke. Much like Grass burning at home, only on a larger scale.
We have our own weather and natural disasters here in the maritimes, but, after being there for a week…it’s a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
Mike Harris, Saint John
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Hi Mike:
Thank you for the observation. No, I am sure that the brush couldn’t be cleared. It is a huge amount. But left to its own devices, nature could have done it with small fires over a period of time, if we hadn’t circumvented the process. Its a matter of action and reaction. We erred again. I was trying to say that we need to think a bit more about our actions no matter how well intentioned.
Again thanks for the comment. I agree with you. I to wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but the Maritimes
November 5th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Hi Mike:
Thanks for the input. Part of the reason for all the brush is that we haven’t let it burn as nature intended. The second part is the constant population pressure into new areas. Yes we do have our own issues as Noel has just illustrated
November 16th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hi,
I have heard you claim that storms-Hurricanes will increase in a warmer world. –YOu should read the IPCC report, this has NOT been demonstrated. I shouldnt have to tell a metereologist that storms are driven by temperature contrasts not warming. In a warmer world storms number/intensity decrease as ice core data for the last interglacial has shown. Likewise during glaciations storms were more intense.
One more thing. You an Andrew Krystal abruptly cut off a caller who dared to suggest that nature might have a role in warming. Get your facts in order. Both the last interglacial and the medieval warm period were warmer than today, and the cyclicity of climate change is beyond question. Warming started in the early 1700’s and the industrial revolution did not significantly add greenhouse emissions until the late 1800’s.
So at least part of the warming trend was a cyclical response to the little ice age.
Ralph