Posted on 08/20/2018 11:40:07 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
As temperatures rise in the U.S. West, so do the flames.
The years with the most acres burned by wildfires have some of the hottest temperatures, an Associated Press analysis of fire and weather data found. As human-caused climate change has warmed the world over the past 35 years, the land consumed by flames has more than doubled.
Experts say the way global warming worsens wildfires comes down to the basic dynamics of fire. Fires need ignition, oxygen and fuel. And what’s really changed is fuel — the trees, brush and other plants that go up in flames.
“Hotter drier weather means our fuels are drier so it’s easier for fires to start and spread and burn more intensely,” said University of Alberta fire scientist Mike Flannigan.
It’s simple, he said: “The warmer it is, the more fire we see.”
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
Bad forest management worsens wildfires.
No, criminally criminalizing the removal of excess flammable biomass worsens wildfires.
What happens when we have an unusually cold winter and we are back to “Climate Change”? How does that affect forest fires?
The Sahara shrinks during times of warming becomes the world gets wetter when its warmer.
Oddly enough, they’ve only been fighting forest fires for the past century... Previous to that nobody even bothered and the forest fires just extinguished naturally.
I thought only you could prevent forest fires? I’m blaming you.
The Sahara was once a rain forest.
I blame the Russians. If TV hasn’t lied to me, they are to blame for everything.
That’s not to say there aren’t problems. There are. But it doesn’t lie with California Gov. Brown’s white whale, global warming, on which he is truly an Ahab-like fanatic.
He should instead point the finger of blame at two major reasons for destructive fires: One, in recent decades we’ve built homes and expanded towns in remote areas where previously there were few people or none.
But even more seriously is the federal government’s foolish policies related to fire control.
“One of the biggest problems is the overcrowding of Western forests with dead trees, and the areas beween stand with dry, flammable grasses,” noted a recent analysis in the Washington Examiner. “Part of the problem is that logging and grazing have been discontinued or discouraged in too many places.”
Worse, the federal government’s policy of wildfire suppression has, perhaps paradoxically, contributed to the problem. Before humans lived here in enormous numbers, the landscape had many small fires that suddenly erupted from lightning strikes and other causes, and then burnt themselves out.
But in recent decades, the policy has been to stop fires immediately. This leaves huge areas of accumulating dry brush that catches fire fast and burns hot, with the fire traveling quickly once lit. That’s where we are today.
Tell me how bringing in 30 million Illegals helped reduce global warming?
The 30M lived a low carbon 3rd world life prior to arriving.
Hmmmm....no. Glo-Bull warming does no such thing.
It’s incompetent people placed into forestry management positions that would rather promote the visionary, brain-dead ,liberal ideas, instead of doing their damn jobs that worsens wildfires.
These people are stupid.
Indians who lived in forested areas often lit burns to burn out the underbrush. Kept the forests healthy and since there was not loads of fuel on the ground, the big trees didn’t burn and there were not gigantic infernos such as we have now.
In fact I’ve been breathing smoke for more than a month as there are fires in just about every direction here in OR.
Bad forest management that cuts back on logging, on cutting down the dead trees and clearing the dry underbrush are the worst manageable human offenses that have worsened the problems of wild fires. Were the forests actively managed better the wild fires that do occur, no matter their reason, would be shorter lived, sooner contained and smaller overall.
It would also help if in addition to flood insurance that is required for many homeowners, some homeowners had to obtain additional “wild fire” insurance in developments expansively encroaching on areas with histories of wild fires. It would dissuade many buyers from participating in those developments and reduce the loss of homes when wild fires do occur.
I have friends I love dearly who have a home in a forested mountain area with some trees as close as a foot or two from their house. I can, sorrowfully imagine how easily they could lose their home if a major fire hit their area. I pray that is never going to happen, but I recognize the potential.
I heard it was [because]of straws....and balloons.
Wait...
I thought CO2 caused Global Warming...
Trees are made of mostly carbon...
Forests act as a type of carbon sink...
When forests burn they release all that CO2 back into the atmosphere.
Which begs the question — Are all these severely overgrown forests that cannot be controlled when they burn causing Global Warming?
Things that make you go WTH?!?!??
“But even more seriously is the federal government’s foolish policies related to fire control.”
People don’t build homes and expand towns on federal land.
Non-federal land is the responsibility of states/counties/towns/property owners.
AP analysis is now considered science?
Global Warming is a good excuse to cover up for bad forest management practices, allowing more psychos on the streets, and building houses in high fire danger areas.
The liberals can’t handle the fact they have aided and abetted the current wildfire problem. Global Warming allows them to sleep without any sense of guilt.
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