...sometimes it is easy to overlook the not so obvious...
It’s not just hot, dry conditions and fire suppression that has exacerbated 2020's western fires. There’s also the attack of the beetles to consider.
www.nationalgeographic.com
The photos and news from the past month’s devastating fires across parts of the West—charred towns, dramatic helicopter rescues, apocalyptic skies—have provoked fear, anger, and an understandable search for blame. It’s clear that fires are getting worse. But why? Scientists point to a number of reasons. Hotter and drier conditions brought on by climate change can prime vegetation to burn, and decades of fire suppression have allowed fuel to accumulate in forests. Millions of people now live closer to those dry forests than ever. And then there is
the matter of the beetles.
There are 600 species of bark beetles in the United States, and they’ve evolved with their various host trees over millennia. Many bark beetles infest already dead or dying trees, but some, like the mountain pine beetle, attack living ones. The mountain pine beetle alone has killed roughly 100,000 square miles of trees across western North America over the past 20 years, from New Mexico all the way up to
northern British Columbia. Climate change has instigated this dramatic spread, by eliminating the cold spells that kill off the beetles and by leaving the trees stressed by drought, unable to defend themselves.
Sorry the beetles didn't set the trees on fire otherwise you wouldn't call them bark beetles, you'd call them pyro beetles or Antifa.
If the beetles are a problem in Cali then why didn't they take their multi million dollar home property taxes and spray the base of the trees where their eggs sit and hatch? Oh that's right, they can't even spray the sidewalk poo, what makes us think infestation of beetles is more important then hairdresser appointments.
You ever try to spray 100,000 acres of trees?? For my ASH beetle problem, I've got to do injections or insecticide every 2 years for maybe the next decade.. That's a lot of work for 16 trees.
Bark beetles DONT set trees on fire.. MAN, Lightning, and PGE lines coming down do...
It's insecticide now or fire retardant or water later according to the OP blaming beetles.
Yes that's a lot of work as is putting out fires if that can have volunteers then put the hippies to work and get them to save the forests and volunteer.
Lightening was to blame for the previous fires and maybe one recent
but most others during this one were arsons.
I think it is easy to ignore the interrelatedness of the causes of these events. It isn’t just the initial spark,
it is all the other factors that go into turning an easily managed fire to a thousands of acres devastation.
When tree killing insects spread, weakening and killing trees, you are lookIng at thousands of acres of dead wood.
But certain insects do strange things to trees...
Key Findings
- Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) trees are chemically altered after mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) attacks. Trees dry out rapidly during the red stage and are more flammable than unaffected trees.
- Beetle attacks increase the emission rates of several highly flammable terpenes.
- The flammability of yellow and red trees is higher than green trees because they have (1) shorter times to ignition, (2) lower temperatures at ignition, and (3) higher heat yields.
- Needles of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) during the yellow stage of a spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) attack contain less moisture and are more flammable than unattacked trees.
Fire managers and firefighters should be aware of the possibility of increased potential for crown fire initiation in beetle-affected stands as well as the prospect for rapid changes in fire behavior as fires move in and out of beetle-affected areas.
Healthy trees can usually withstand fire and limit both it’s spread and intensity. Affected trees, or worse, large amounts of dead forest plus overly dry conditions and winds turn it from manageable to out of control.
I don’t understand why people it’s just one thing leading to a forest fire.
As to the claim most were arson, that is simply untrue. Arson is the deliberate setting of a fire (and every fire is automatically investigated for possible arson), most are human caused, but accidental, not intentional.
What started the fires?
Many fires were started because of human causes, including most of the fires in California. The El Dorado Fire in Southern California’s San Bernardino County was started on September 5 by a pyrotechnic device at a gender-reveal party in El Dorado Ranch Park, just 80 miles outside Los Angeles. In Oregon, officials have opened an arson investigation into the Alameda Fire, which is responsible for multiple deaths and has destroyed hundreds of homes.
However, some of the fires, including the August Complex Fire, were caused by lightning strikes in extremely dry areas. Others in Oregon and California were started by downed power lines. Unusually strong winds in Oregon have helped spread the fires rapidly there while typical winds in California were made even worse by a sudden winter snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains, which sent cold air blasting into the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges.
Multiple far-right and conspiracy websites have been spreading misinformation about the origin of the fires, on Facebook and YouTube especially. They claim, with absolutely no support, that they were set by members of antifa and Black Lives Matter. Websites the Gateway Pundit and the Post Millennial have claimed without evidence that Jeff Acord, a 36-year-old man arrested on charges of starting a fire in Washington, was an “antifa militant.” Many of the rumors have been amplified by self-professed QAnon supporters.
In my state, we are 78% forest. We have not seen forest fires such as have been engulfing the west. We have our share of flammable idiots and meth labs...but no devastating fires.
I am 7 miles from a state forest where I regularly hike my dogs. The paths are maintained And cleared, trail signage put up, and new shelters created largely by the fund raising and volunteer efforts of the “hippies” you disparage, because our state does not provide a lot of funding for park maintenance.
