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?
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.
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.