Forest Fires: Beyond the Heat and Hype
Few events can grab public attention like a forest fire. TV viewers are mesmerized by the images of racing flames and towering smoke plumes. Moviegoers are saddened by the tale of Bambi and inspired by the heroics of smokejumpers. And homeowners are justly terrified by the prospect of flames approaching their backyard. But precisely because they combine beauty, danger and heroism, forest fires have taken on an outsized role in the American psyche.
Ironically, as the mythology of the forest fire has grown, our response has created conditions that inevitably lead to even bigger blazes. Through understanding forest fires, we can change course and break the cycle that leads to catastrophic infernos. By respecting the nature of forest fires and taking sensible steps that recognize their role in a healthy forest, we can protect homes, save American taxpayers money, defuse fire threats, and strengthen our nation's forests.
The Benefits of Fire
- Restoring minerals to the soil
- Creating habitat for fish and wildlife
- Halting insect infestations
Threats and Realities in Our Forests
Fifty years of aggressive fire suppression by the U.S. government has hindered fire's natural and beneficial processes; many areas have become choked with brush, and other kinds of trees are competing with the large species that formerly dominated the forest. The U.S. Forest Service tried to solve the problem by allowing timber companies to log more of our National Forests. However, the logging companies take only the high-value timber -- the largest trees whose thick bark naturally resists the small periodic fires that sweep through forests, leaving behind saplings and massive piles of sticks and debris called "slash." The forest floor dries out more quickly and temperatures can get much hotter, turning slash piles and debris-strewn clearings to fire-friendly tinder.
With fuels having accumulated from years of suppression and logging, some forest fires can burn far hotter and faster than the smaller fires that periodically swept through the forests before we tried to "control" forest fires. These fires consume the accumulated brush and climb saplings to reach the limbs of the larger trees -- becoming a much larger "crown fire." Thus, as leading scientists have found, "Timber harvest has increased fire severity more than any other recent human activity."
The Solutions
The following recommendations from forest scientists and fire
experts can protect homes, save taxpayers money, defuse fire threats,
and restore our forests' health:
- Clear flammable materials within 30-60 feet of your home and landscape appropriately.
- Restore the natural role of fire to forest ecosystems with prescribed burns.
- Protect National Forests from commercial logging and focus resources on active forest restoration.
Ways to Make a Home Firesafe Today!
- Clean roof surfaces and gutters of needles, leaves, and branches regularly to avoid buildup of flammable materials.
- Remove portions of any tree extending within 10 feet of the flue opening of any wood stove or chimney and remove branches close to homes to a height of 15 feet.
- Landscape vegetation should be spaced so that fire cannot be carried to the structure or surrounding vegetation.
- Store all combustibles such as firewood, picnic tables, and boats well away from structures.
Visit the Sierra Club national site for a complete copy of Forest Fires: Beyond the Heat and Hype.
Points of View on Forestry Issues
Healthy Forests
Initiative will clear-cut environmental protection
by Andrea Karpe
Focus
wildfire management on communities, not logging
by Clyde Hansen