What’s starting all these fires? We are
And we're starting fires where and when nature normally doesn't -- at places and times where lightning rarely strikes.
But there's hope: Because we cause them, we can stop them.
"In most of
These findings come at a time of growing alarm over the state's 17 major fires. While investigations are still underway, every fire now burning in
The
Keeley's new analysis found that humans caused 95 percent of all wildfires throughout most of the state since 1910. The rest were caused by lightning strikes, mostly in the rural northeastern corner of the state.
In the
Human-sparked blazes are expanding the fire season, according to
We're also starting fires in places that don't typically see a lot of lightning, such as the
"Human ignitions have expanded the 'fire niche,'" she wrote.
Once started, today's wildfires are hotter and more destructive than ever. In the western
Climate change accounted for more than half of the increase in aridity of western
Unusual warmth causes vegetation to dry faster -- and fire has to do less work to ignite the adjacent vegetation, so fire spreads faster, according to Abatzoglou. Warmth also causes an earlier snowmelt in the spring, leading to a drier summer.
Furthermore, there's been an explosion of development in areas at high risk of fires. We start twice as many wildfires on
"The patterns are quite striking, with humans starting fires where people live -- and also where lightning is very very rare," said Abatzoglou. "The story is very different as you move into the Sierra and across much of the more remote western
Environmentalists have expressed frustration over Gov.
"There needs to be a shift to reducing the number of fire ignitions up front, rather than simply responding to fire damage -- i.e., fastening your seatbelt vs. going to the hospital," said
"There is nothing 'natural' about any of these disasters," he said.
Human-caused fires also are longer than lightning fires, Balch found. They last 85 days, on average; lightning fires last 45 days.
"When we have lightning events, smoke-jumpers are on them, right away.
"Human-caused fires are closer to populated areas, with houses and lives at risk. We'll stay on them until they're completely out. And we'll 'mop up,' digging up stumps, 200 feet out," said Henke, now a consultant for major fire operations.
We've made trouble ever since we got here -- yet education and regulations appear to be making a difference, Keeley found. We used to ignite a lot more fires early in the 20th century, when fire prevention was in its infancy and fire response was imperfect. The number of human-caused blazes increased steadily until 1979, then significantly declined with one big exception: power line ignitions. For example, the deadly fires last fall in
While electric power lines don't account for many fires, they account for substantial amount of area burned. That's because they commonly occur during high winds.
Historically, the largest number of fires were caused by equipment, such as gas-powered weed cutters that strike a rock and cause a spark, said Keeley. Ignitions also are triggered by generators, lawn mowers, chainsaws, tractors and off-road vehicles without required spark arrestors.
That is followed by arson, debris burning, kids playing with fire, smoking, vehicles and power lines.
The decline in human-sparked blazes can be attributed in part to better neighborhood watch programs, which include patrols during red flag warnings. There are increased penalties for arson. Debris burning is less accepted. Smoking, once a major cause of wildfires, has declined. Children have been taught not to play with fires, and lighters are childproof. Catalytic converters used to trigger fires when cars overheated; modern vehicles have warning lights when they overheat.
But catastrophic fires such as the
"Data like this is critical, to help us analyze trends," he said. "It tells us where we need to target."
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