Free Republic

You have to admit that what Gavin Newsom lacks in brains and sound policy he makes up for in sheer hubris. That's the only reason that Newsom could say with a straight face that his state is a global model for fire management. Perhaps that's true in a sense; Canada was burning so much that people as far south as Virginia were seeing, smelling, and feeling the impacts. That's because Canada, like California, refuses to do basic fire management like clearing brush and old growth. This is nothing to brag about, of course. But brag Newsom did. "I can say...

As a child in Southern California, Berleman was deeply afraid of wildfire. But at community college, she learned that Native Americans used fire for thousands of years to manage forests and grasslands and protect their villages. Tribes regularly burned California’s oak woodlands, for instance, to remove underbrush and fight pests. It helped them spot prey more easily, keep weevils out of the acorns they gathered for food, and safeguard their homes from wildfire. In 2009, Berleman transferred to the University of California, Berkeley to study fire ecology. There, she worked on her first prescribed burn. “I instantly fell in love...

PATHS TO PROGRESS   Instead of having understaffed towns try to do their own research in the middle of an emergency, the FAC Network offers a cooperative model where communities can share best practices and get help quickly. LOS ANGELES—For Annie Schmidt it began in 2014, with a stranger on a bus. Ms. Schmidt was in Colorado Springs for a workshop held by the newly created Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, or FAC Net. On the way to a field trip, she found herself sitting beside Justice Jones of the Austin Fire Department, discussing his extensive work on post-fire recovery....

<p>Toad gambling. Fireworks burning down tents. The bubonic plague. And the dust from 100,000 trampling feet coating everything.</p> <p>Those are just a few stories waiting to be rehashed tonight when aging Boy Scouts gather to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1953 National Scout Jamboree held where Fashion Island now stands.</p>

Who's responsible for the fires? What really caused the Summerhaven, Arizona fire which destroyed a town of 259 homes? Could it have been prevented? Who is actually responsible? The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service stopped the historic, frequent burning of brush and grasses. They outlawed the removal of mature trees. The highly inflammable brush, grass, and old trees accumulated, year after year, decade after decade. For the last 11,000 years, first Indians, then pioneers, and lately ranchers and farmers, regularly set fires to burn off accumulated flammable materials. All of North America was adapted to these historic, frequent,...