Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 13 augusT 2019
Goals to fight fire with fire often fall short in U.S. West

By BRIAN MELLEY The state acknowledged in
Associated Press a draft environmental im-
KINGS CANYON NATION- pact report that clearing
AL PARK, Calif. (AP) — The vegetation may not slow or
thick scent of smoke hung halt extreme fires.
in the midday air when a But successful prescribed
trail along the Kings River burns can save property
opened up to an omi- from some future fires, sup-
nous scene: flames in the porters said.
trees and thick gray smoke Four years ago, Cedar
shrouding canyon walls. Grove in the bottom of
Firefighters were on the job. Kings Canyon escaped a
In fact, they had started massive lightning-ignited
the blaze that chewed fire — flames burned up to
through thick ferns, black- where periodic prescribed
ened downed trees and burns had thinned under-
charred the forest floor. The growth. About $400 million
prescribed burn — a low- in property, including em-
intensity, closely managed ployee housing, lodging,
fire — was intended to campgrounds and a wa-
clear out undergrowth and ter treatment plant, was
protect the heart of Kings spared, said Theune, the
Canyon National Park from parks spokesman.
future wildfires that are Last winter was a very wet
growing larger and more In this June 11, 2019 firefighters keep an eye on a prescribed burn in Kings Canyon National Park, one in California, and that
frequent amid climate Calif. left brush and vegetation
change. Associated Press less volatile through spring.
The tactic is considered one In Kings Canyon, firefight-
of the best ways to prevent of intentional fire, said Mike Michael Theune, a spokes- fornia, some environmen- ers returned in June to burn
the kind of catastrophic de- Mohler, deputy director of man for Sequoia and Kings talists opposed intentional different segments along
struction that has become the California Department Canyon National Parks. burns because they can a narrow strip of pines, ce-
common from wildfires, but of Forestry and Fire Protec- In the American West, destroy natural drought-tol- dars and manzanita be-
its use falls woefully short tion. where the landscape is erant shrubs and replace tween the raging Kings Riv-
of goals in the U.S. West. Despite the push for more steep and downed trees, them with flammable inva- er and a road that ends in
A study published in the burns, there are disastrous brush and other fuels have sive weeds and grasses. the canyon.
journal Fire in April found reminders of prescribed built up over decades of Rick Halsey of the Califor- With other firefighters
prescribed burns on feder- fires blowing out of con- fire suppression, the so- nia Chaparral Institute said standing by in case em-
al land in the last 20 years trol — such as a 2012 Colo- called burn window can reintroducing fire through bers escaped, a half-doz-
across the West has stayed rado burn that killed three be short because of hot, prescribed burns is appro- en members of the park's
level or fallen despite calls people and damaged or dry conditions. priate in the Sierra Nevada, Arrowhead Hot Shots me-
for more. destroyed more than two Relaxing environmental re- where more frequent light- thodically dripped flame
Prescribed fires are cred- dozen homes. strictions has cleared the ning-sparked fires and blaz- from gas-and-diesel torch-
ited with making forests Overcoming public fears way for more prescribed es historically set by Native es to ignite dry pine nee-
healthier and stopping or by teaching about "good fires in some cases. Americans are believed to dles, twigs and other accu-
slowing the advance of smoke, bad smoke, out-of- Oregon recently changed improve forests by clearing mulated material.
some blazes. Despite those control fire and prescribed air quality rules for planned brush to allow taller trees A mosaic-like pattern of fire
successes, there are plenty fire" is just one hurdle before fires to strike a balance be- to thrive and opening se- crept through grasses, pine
of reasons they are not set firefighters can put match tween smoky winter skies quoia seed pods so they cones and dead branches.
as often as officials would to kindling, Mohler said. and bad summer blazes. can reproduce. Downed ponderosa pines
like, ranging from poor "It's the difference between California proclaimed a But Halsey said prescribed became occasional flash-
conditions to safely burn fire under our terms and state of emergency to al- fires don't help much of points. Teams with hoses
to bureaucratic snags and fighting fire on Mother Na- low it to fast-track brush the rest of the state. The doused flames that threat-
public opposition. ture's terms," he said. clearing. fire that tore through Para- ened to climb living trees.
After a wildfire last year It can take years to plan Most states and federal dise showed how ineffec- Ideally, Sequoia and Kings
largely leveled the city of and clear federal, state agencies in the U.S. West tive clearing underbrush Canyon parks would burn
Paradise and killed 86 peo- and local environmental have ambitious goals they can be — it roared across 10,000 or more acres a
ple, the state prioritized 35 and air pollution regula- don't achieve, said Crystal 7 miles (11 kilometers) that year, Theune said. The an-
brush and other vegeta- tions. A burn among gi- Kolden, a University of Ida- had burned just 10 years nual target is about a fifth
tion-reduction projects that ant sequoias once took 13 ho forest and fire science earlier. of that, and the actual
could all involve some use years to accomplish, said professor whose study con- "It was still grasses and acreage burned often falls
cluded that not enough weeds and shrubs, and far short of that goal.
prescribed fires are being that's the model these pre- Over two days, the fire
done in the region. scribed burning advocates crew blackened the 218
"They know they need to have used," Halsey said. acres targeted, doubling
be doing more prescribed "They say if we have young- the total area burned last
fire, they want to be doing er fuels on the landscape, year in the two parks.
more prescribed fire," she we'll have less fires or lower But it was merely 10% of
said. "They are simply un- intensity fires, and we can the parks' annual goal and
able to accomplish that." use those areas to protect just a tiny fraction of land
Opponents cite the threat communities. And that has in the U.S. West that could
to wildlife and release of never happened in wind- be treated with prescribed
greenhouse gases. In Cali- driven fires." fire.q