Western U.S. Will Keep Burning Unless Fire Policy Changes

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) It is only mid-July, and Colorado has already had its most destructive wildfire in history -- some 350 houses in and near Colorado Springs burned, causing more than $110 million in damage.

This broke the previous state record, which was set earlier this summer in a fire farther up the Front Range of the Rockies. In May and June, New Mexico suffered its most devastating blaze ever -- worse than the one last year that threatened Los Alamos.

This is a scary trend.

In the 1960s, Colorado had about 460 fires a year that burned an average of 8,000 acres, according to a report compiled from state forest service records. In the past 10 years, the state averaged about 2,500 fires a year that consumed about 100,000 acres. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-16/western-u-s-will-keep-burning-unless-fire-policy-changes.html

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[Warpy]

2. Western states will keep burning because they're supposed to.

Western pine needs the heat of forest fires to open their cones and disperse the seed. Burning an area over is necessary and must be done with fair frequency.

What changed is that we had a period of strict fire suppression for decades, allowing fuel to build up on forest floors. We got smart enough to realize that prescribed burns on calm days are needed to reduce the amount of fuel but even they have gotten away from us when the weather has changed. See: Los Alamos, 2004.

We'll likely see the very destructive crown fires instead of the necessary brush fires until all the excess fuel is gone. In the meantime, people who insist on building their homes in the more picturesque forest areas have got to come to terms with the fact of fire in those areas and take fire suppression measures seriously, and that means non combustible materials in their houses and extremely restrained landscaping keeping fuel well away from the structure.

Returning to a policy of fire suppression is the worst thing we could possibly do. It made the forests very unhealthy and we've been paying for it recently.

[Downwinder]

3. If Colorado Springs had to pay firefighting costs,

their taxes would go up. They would rather burn in....