Posted on 01/01/2019 9:00:44 AM PST by Eddie01
As the smoke settles from fires at the close of the year, it serves as a stark reminder of the raging wildfires that have plagued California and the rest of the American West. But how do such wildfires start in the first place?
In the United States, 84 percent of the 1.5 million wildfires reported from 1992 to 2012 were human-caused, while 16 percent were sparked by a lightning strike
However, ignition is only the beginning. And because of climate change, dry conditions are lasting longer and, in turn, causing longer fire seasons.
Though it's been a record-breaking year in California, wildfires are not new. But the wildfires we see today are different from those natural blazes, burning faster and hotter.
"Historically, California burned more than it does now, but at [a] lower intensity and slower," Quinn-Davidson said. "Now, we are seeing fires that are unusual, like the Camp Fire that, at one point, burned through 70,000 acres [about 280 square km] in a day. We've never seen that before."
The change in our climate, perpetuated by human-made greenhouse gas emissions, extends the window of the annual fire season.
For example, the boreal forest in Canada and Alaska has seen an increased number of lighting-ignited wildfires since 1975, likely due to earlier snow melts and fuel drying brought on by global warming
snip*
Based on the Fourth National Climate Assessment, completed just last month, wildfires will continue to intensify with the changing climate, maybe even becoming a problem in other regions of the United States. So, communities need to focus on becoming more resilient to these natural disasters.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
To the climate hoaxters, all you need is little twisted logic (ala Monte Python "what else floats?") and voila, man made climate change is at the root of all wildfires, including those started with a match by man.
Behold. ...and believe.
[Warning: I heavily excerpted this Monty Python skit]
We went to see “Vice” last night. According to the movie, all the wildfires are Dick Cheney’s fault.
Oh, did he set them off with a shotgun blast?
I’m always reminded of the BIG FIRE in California mentioned in TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST published in 1840.
***And because of climate change, dry conditions are lasting longer and, in turn, causing longer fire seasons.***
Back in 1957, public service announcements were warning us that there were so many wildfires in the USA, each year, they they would equal the size of Louisiana. That is 33.522 million acres. Have we reached that in any year since?
How Do Wildfires Start?
This is a test, right?
I’m going to say . . . a match?
Though it's been a record-breaking year in California, wildfires are not new. But the wildfires we see today are different from those natural blazes, burning faster and hotter.
Sure. Because bad forest management has NOTHING to do with this; the issue is some vague amorphous concept called "climate change" which is different than the actual climate change which has been a feature of earth climate since the earth formed.
And in what way do the forests burn differently now? Leave more fuel on the ground; fail to remove the deadwood; more fuel in a smaller area means that fires burn faster.
Maybe these self-styled environmentalists should not be the ones setting forest management policies. Maybe people who have actually studied the biological sciences with an emphasis on forest management should be the ones to set policy.
Man has a long history of irrational, emotional and superstitious relationship to fire.
What is the solution? That is the question.
Eliminate “wild” forests and we eliminate “wild forest fires”.
Sell all forests to the private sector with the stipulation that the private owners have to allow the same level of recreation, hunting and fishing as previously existed.
The private owners (the Koch Bros of the ecomomy) will turn the forests into tree farms. They will clear the underbrush. They will prevent fires that destroy their assets.
Case solved.
Side benefit: Selling off government assets like forests, and the USPS, which is a major real estate owner, will give the government a one time infusion of money to bring down the national debt. With a smaller debt service in the budget the economy can grow.
side problem. Forests are dry. Deserts are even drier. Worldwide there is a shortage of potable water.
Solution: Miles off the Pacific coast, install water cannons powered by waves and solar power. Thes water cannons would shoot salt water spray high in the atmosphere. Much of that spray would evaporate and increase the humidity, and the rainfall down wind from the spray. Rainfall in California and the west would increase. The forests (and the beaches) would be wetter. Because it is powered by the waves and renewable energy it is an eco-friendly solution.
Only those selfish Californians who want sunny beaches could oppose it.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company?
The change in our climate, perpetuated by human-made greenhouse gas emissions, extends the window of the annual fire season.
This area is now filled with houses covered in PLASTICS.
Look at the photos.
The brush burned and the trees were signed but the PLASTIC COVERED HOUSES BURNED TO ASHES.
Correct. Congratulations!
Note that they say climate change causes longer fire seasons which makes sense (if you buy the climate change stuff). But they do not make the logical connection between longer fire seasons and more destructive fires. Your observation is what they need to make their case but then the answer is to allow rational forest management practices and that they cannot do - it is religious heresy to them. It endangers the environment of the Nurovian leaping lemur or something like that.
there is no political will for initial attack suppression. It shows huge amounts of money spent for a very small amount of acreage burned
Hi.
“According to the movie, all the wildfires are Dick Cheneys fault.”
Darn, I thought it was Karl Rove’s weather machine.
Learn something new every day.
5.56mm
Um, doesn’t carbon dioxide put fires out? They need oxygen to burn, not CO2.
Solution: Pump out more CO2 until there’s not enough oxygen in the atmosphere for the fires to burn. Problem solved!
You do know that air can hold only so much H2O as a function of its temperature. The air above the ocean cannot have water added to it by spray unless it has not already absorbed all the moisture that it can hold. Most likely the air is already saturated over a body of water like the ocean.
For most of last here in NJ it’s rained like blazes. Last night it rained like hell.
Ever since I moved to California (1955) I have been told that at certain times of the year (every year) the forests are dry enough that a few well placed fires would devastate the state. (Thanks Smokey)
Always been that way, even before climate change became a “science”. So I say the state has always had a dry season where fires could burn a lot of property. The environmental push (in recent years) has emphasized leaving fallen leaves and trees to decay naturally, this means they have more dry fuel and can burn more completely. I would agree that hotter and dryer weather contributes to this, but it has always been this way. What it new is not climate change, but leaving this debris on the forest floor and reducing commercial logging. (It does not help that we put people in houses in the forest too, I do not know how to stop that, because people do like to live in the woods.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.