Posts Tagged: Wildfire

*Stay, defend, or leave early* wildfire policy has UC advocates

A wildfire policy that has met with some success in Australia - in which trained homeowners stay and defend their own homes in the face of a wildfire - is not popular with California firefighters, but some UC experts believe it has a place in the Golden State.

According to a story in the San Jose Mercury-News today, the California Professional Firefighters have dubbed the program "Stay and Die."

When homeowners refuse to evacuate, firefighters use this scary tactic: "If they stay, we'll gather personal information from them, such as dental records, so we can identify them in the event we find their remains," the story quoted sheriff's department spokesman Sgt. Dan Campos.

But UC fire scientist Scott Stephens said that in populous California, the current system of mandatory evacuation is not sustainable.

"I don't know how you can continually move people out of harm's way and somehow think it's going to be sustainable," Stephens was quoted in the article. "It's just a nutty idea."

Stephens told reporter Bruce Newman that it's easy for homeowners to put out sparks that might land on or near their home.

"Then as the fire gets right on top of you, people go into their houses, and the houses provide very good shelter. When the fire passes, people would come out and patrol their areas and continue to put out those small fires," Stephens said.

Stephens told the reporter that losses in Australia dropped by 70 percent under the plan. "And that includes lives," he said. "In this state, we lose houses, we lose neighborhoods, we lose lives, then we come back, rebuild and do it again."

Newman also spoke to Faith Kearns, the associate director of the UC Berkeley-based fire center. She said that, even under mandatory evacuation, some people will stay.

"When there were 2,000 fires burning across the state last year, a lot of communities felt abandoned because there weren't enough firefighters to go around. Given the reality of what it takes to completely suppress all fires, there are going to be more and more people who want to stay and defend their homes. Because they feel it's not going to happen otherwise," Kearns was quoted.

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In other UC- and fire-related news, the Contra Costa Times reported today that a car was engulfed in an arson fire across the street from UC President Mark Yudof's home in Oakland. A clear link between the car fire and Yudof has not been established, the story said.

UC part of "stay, defend or leave early" debate.

Joshua Trees could vanish in Joshua Tree National Park

Under any of six models of climate change, in 100 years there will be no new trees in Joshua Tree National Park and a significant number of existing trees will be dead, according to a recent Riverside Press-Enterprise story. The climate models, developed by Ken Cole, a biologist and geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., and plant ecologist Kirsten Ironside of Northern Arizona University, suggest a temperature increase of seven degrees.

Joshua Trees were prolific and widespread 11,000 years ago, Cole told newspaper reporter Janet Zimmerman. Their seeds were carried long distances from Mexico to Nevada in the dung of the Shasta ground sloth. Now, seeds are transported only short distances by rodents.

Climate change is expected to combine with other human impacts to threaten Joshua Trees. Factors mentioned in the Press-Enterprise article include:

• Non-native grass species, such as red brome and cheatgrass, are transported along roads by passing cars.
   
• The non-native grasses are fertilized by nitrate and ammonium deposited in the soil by car emissions. Edith Allen, a UC Riverside professor of plant ecology, has found that the levels of those chemicals in the park are 15 to 30 times higher than those in an undisturbed ecosystem.
   
• Dirt patches that separated native plant species are being replaced with a continuous carpet of non-native grass.
   
• Wildfire is increasing in frequency and intensity as the continuous bed of tinder dry grass carries fire long distances from plant to plant.

A possible bright side: Joshua Trees are taking root in areas to the north, such as Tonapah, Nev., where none existed a century ago because it was too cold.

JoshuaTree

Wildfire study shifts more responsibility to homeowners

While federal agencies are faulted in a recent study for not doing enough to reduce the fire hazard in areas where forest and chaparal wildland abuts human-inhabited communities, another study points to the greater importance of the homeowners themselves in reducing fire danger.

The Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2002 was supposed to cut annual fire-fighting expenses by, for example, thinning forests, eliminating ladder fuels and creating buffers, according to an Associated Press story that was circulated yesterday. However, federal agencies have fallen short of the Act's goals.

Some scientists are now saying more effort should be made to help homeowners protect their properties themselves.

"With crime, we lock our doors and we get a security system," the story quoted Tania Schoennagel, a fire ecologist at the University of Colorado. "With earthquakes, quake-proof construction is required in earthquake zones. We are not allowed to build in 100-year flood plains. But with wildfire, it's different. We don't lock our homes down to fire."

The story said research at the Forest Service's Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Montana has found that most homes that burn in wildfires are ignited by falling embers, sometimes from far away, showing that thinning forests and cutting brush on public lands is not enough.

UC Berkeley fire science professor Scott Stephens agreed that more needs to be done on private land.

"No fuel treatment on federal lands adjacent to the WUI (wildland-urban interface) will keep fire out," he was quoted. "Even if we treat those areas, you're still going to have embers and sparks flying."

Scientists want forests with vim and vigor

An array of scientists are working together to help the U.S. Forest Service determine the best way to ensure the long-term health of California forests. One aspect of the wide-ranging effort - called the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project or SNAMP - is to define a healthy forest. UC Berkeley scientist John Battles is leading a group of researchers who have been extracting core samples from thousands of trees in the Sugar Pine and Nelder Gove areas over the past two years to analyze their health.

A recent public field trip in the experimental area was covered by Sierra Star reporter Jill Coppler. Her article said people are continuing to buy and build homes in the beautiful mountain area. The population is projected to triple by 2040, amplifying the importance of effective fire management.

"This is very much a learning enterprise," Battles was quoted in the story. "We don't have all the answers locked in an ivory tower and we don't rely on a strategy of hope or hoped-for outcomes.

"We're here to analyze what happens to a sweep of elements because we know you can't push on one and have the others not effected."

forest

California forests have 'cruel beauty'

With the beginning of the summer fire season looming, media are taking note of UC wildfire management expertise.

The High County News published an article last week about preparations in California for "the next burn." Writer Peter Friederici based his story on a new CalFire map that places Portola Valley in a "very high" fire hazard zone. Residents are concerned the designation will cause insurance companies to cancel their coverage or raise rates and that it could also devalue their property.

The concerns seemed to garner little sympathy from Peter Moraga, speaking for an insurance industry group.

"Those people who aren't in the high fire areas shouldn't be subsidizing those in the high-risk areas," he was quoted in the story. "If you choose to live in a higher-risk area, you should be prepared to pay higher rates."

Breathtaking views, fresh mountain air and proximity to natural areas with lush vegetation outweigh the hazards -- until a fire strikes, Friederici wrote. "Many of these places are beautiful," he quoted Moraga, "but it's a cruel beauty."

For the story, the reporter discussed the idea of homeowners staying and defending their property - instead of evacuating when a fire approaches - with the director of the UC Berkeley Fire Center Max Moritz.

He noted that the full name of the philosophy is "Prepare, stay and defend, or leave early." The key, Moritz told the reporter, is making a property as fire-safe as possible, and then deciding early whether to stay or go.

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