As wildfires burn in California and elsewhere, causing deaths and billions of dollars in property losses, elected officials will surely commission new and time-consuming “Blue Ribbon” studies to explore why these fires caused so much damage. These are the same elected officials (federal, state, local) and citizenry who have ignored the results of previous “Blue Ribbon” studies and may ignore new recommendations in the future.
Philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And his point is made clear when it comes to wildland/urban interface (WUI) fires. Year after year, WUI fires occur, lives are lost, and homes and infrastructure are destroyed. As these areas recover, however, residents are allowed to rebuild using the same narrow streets and construction types expecting different results. It is the responsibility of our elected officials to stop the repeat of these devastating wildfires.
Climate change is the reason most given today as to why these fires are so devastating. However, unhealthy landscapes, a reduction of commercial logging, population growth into wildland fire areas and increased frequency/scope of wildfire incidents are other major factors. We need a “Call to Action” for our elected officials to make major policy changes. Too many firefighters and public lives have been lost. And we’ve spent billions of dollars in recovery costs. It’s time that our elected officials step up and do their part.
Where to start
Here is an initial plan to put an end to this madness:
Restore and maintain landscapes
- EPA standards need to weigh the negative effects of uncontrolled smoke during a wildfire versus conducting controlled burns to restore the landscape.
- The environmental review process to approve landscape treatment projects needs to be streamlined.
- Congress must develop a funding source for federal fire agencies that does not supplant prevention dollars with suppression dollars.
- State and local governments must recognize their responsibility and fund wildfire activities themselves and not be solely reliant on federal funding.
- We must develop immunity provisions for government agencies, non-governmental entities and private parties to encourage proactive landscape treatment actions for a backlog of projects.
- The government must empower people who live off the land to be its stewards. These groups (Native Americans, foresters, farmers and ranchers) are the best land managers around because they know that well-managed land will yield the best resources and agricultural products.
Build fire-adapted communities
- Local, state and federal lawmakers must create and enforce legislation that regulates building practices in fire-prone areas.
- The government needs to create and enforce defensible space programs to protect assets at risk.
- Mandate insurance companies to require “ember environment”-protected development and maintenance of properties. (Note: The “ember environment” is that area on or near a structure where the embers may land and ignite a fuel source.)
- The government must realize that there are limits to what regulations can do, and require personal responsibility. Self-sufficiency and personal responsibility needs to be demanded to wean the public off government reliance before, during and after a wildfire.
Wildfire response
- Modify FEMA provisions to encourage full use of local and private resources during emergencies.
- Identify new funding sources to ensure that new growth in wildland fire areas have a corresponding increase in fire prevention/suppression resources.
- Revise aid and historical contract provisions to ensure a “closest resource” concept is utilized across federal, state and local jurisdictions. (Note: The “closest resource” concept is the practice of dropping jurisdictional lines when responding to wildfires or other emergencies.)
- Commission a person or oversight body to monitor forward progress of these actions and report back to local, state and federal legislative bodies.
Attention, elected officials
Wildfire is a fact of life in the West and many other areas around the nation. People can learn to live in WUI areas, but it requires a commitment from those living there and from all levels of government. People can successfully build fire-adapted communities that employ defensible space, strict building codes, emergency access and emergency preparedness. This information and resources are widely available, but often unused or not employed.
At some point, government and the public must recognize the fact that there are simply not enough fire engines to place one at every house during a wildfire. And, even if there were, firefighters, helicopters and airtankers can only do so much to save a community that hasn’t done the things it needs to do to protect itself against a firestorm.
Our elected officials are in complete control to address the components that can significantly reduce the wildfire problem, but like all topics affected by special interests, they are influenced in making hard decisions and retaining a voting majority. Elected officials can control how we manage our landscapes, where people build, what fire/building codes to use, creation of enforced defensible space programs, etc., but have to make tough decisions. They can also mandate the insurance industry to regulate similar practices and enforce how people maintain their properties, so those wanting to live in harm‘s way are the same people who bear associated costs. Instead of making these tough decisions, elected officials often wait until wildfires occur and demand firefighters and aircraft put the fire out. They know that sexy media displays of flames and firefighters will help get legislative suppression funds as history repeats itself time and time again.
The question becomes: Will our elected officials do what is needed to address the wildfire issues or will we have another repeat situation? Legislators continue to commission "Blue Ribbon" reports after devastating incidents, yet little gets done with the recommendations. One can simply look at these after-action reports from across the nation, year-after-year, and see the same basic recommendations at the local, state and federal levels. They say insanity is doing something over and over again, and expecting different results. This is insanity! It is time for different results before another life is taken or structure is destroyed.
We have analyzed the wildland fire problem enough and identified actions in the National Wildland Cohesive Fire Strategy. The wildfire problem was not created by only one level of government, but will take all three levels of government (local, state, federal) coupled with non-governmental entities and the public working in unison to fully implement the resolve. The wildland fire problem cannot be completely eliminated as Mother Nature cannot be fully controlled, but our elected officials can be true leaders, take hard positions, make tough decisions and truly make a difference, or we can wait until the next wildfire to see if the problem takes care of itself. If we take action, there can be a “new normal” paradigm, otherwise continue to expect these large devastating wildfires and the true cost of wildfires to greatly escalate.
