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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

Western Wildfires

Wildfires have become and increasing issue throughout past years. There have been

trends and patterns that make people more knowledgeable about the past increases. In many

Western-states there has been an overabundance of increases due to many different determining

factors. Some of those being inhibitors being foliage type, and the timing of snowmelt. Different

things like these make these states more susceptible to wildfires. Throughout this there will be

talk of increases, why these increases are taking place, what can possibly be done to help and a

few other topics to help understand why this increase has taken place and how it effects the earth.

The beginning of the fire increase made headway when the industrial revolution began.

When the industrial revolution began there was also a major increase in the worlds populations.

This was also a start of things that were heavily affecting the environment. The substances many

factories were emitting was the beginning of a toxic life for the Earths atmosphere. This is

where air pollution became a very large thing and it had many different effects on the

environment from acid rain to harmful gasses in the environment. This was the beginning of the

climate change that now effects where and why many wildfires start.

The mid 1980s is where the increase of many wildfires began to take place, especially in

the Western-states. From the year of 1970 to 1986, a short 16 years, there was an increase of

wildfires by four times the earlier average amount. With the four times increase the average

season length also gained seventy-eight days. A main cause for this longer length was due to

earlier ignition. (roughly half) The number of days between discovery and control also more than

tripled. From 1970-1986 the average number of days that went by were seven and a half.

Document for the years of 1987-2003 that number had jumped to thirty-seven. This was one of

the largest increases that has been seen.

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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

The frequency of a wildfire can mostly be correlated with different elevations. It has

shown that wildfire frequency can be condensed into smaller areas based on their elevation. It

was found that different elevations can have a higher wildfire frequency than another. From

1680-2590 m. elevation have greater increases in frequency. However the highest wildfire

frequency occurs at an elevation of 2130 m. This makes it so the Northern Rockies had a sixty

percent increase of large fires. The remaining increase of only eighteen percent was in the Sierra

Nevada, Southern Cascades, Coast ranges of Northern California, and Southern Oregon.

The length of fire season has different things that effect it but one of the highest

correlations seen is the timing of snowmelt. When there is an earlier snowmelt it results in an

earlier and longer dry season. This gives way to more opportunity for more large fires to be

ignited. If the spring snowmelt timing is earlier there is a large increase in wildfire frequency

and the length of the season is also changed. During early snowmelt years there were higher

percentages of wildfires and area burned. Fifty-six percent of wildfires, and seventy-two percent

of area burned occurred in earlier years of snowmelt. These percentages dropped to eleven

percent (wildfires) and four percent (area burned) during the years that had later snowmelt.

The Western-states are more vulnerable to frequent fires than other states. The northern

Rockies and California have the highest vulnerability out of all the Western-states. They have

had a seventy-five percent increase in frequency since the middle of the 1980s. Part of the

reason for the western increase is due to climate change. The highest recorded increase from the

years of 1987-2003 was .83 degrees Celsius. It was the warmest on record since 1895. This

climate change causes a warmer spring which leads to a longer summer. The consequence of this

is a longer fire season. With the strongest increase being seen in mid-elevation forests.
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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

There are a lot of different factors that the human race contributes to wildfires. They are

not only a major part of the reasons for the climate change going on around the world, but are

also blamed for starting ninety percent of forest fires that occur. That directly links them to be

the main cause for most of the fires that have been seen recently. Actions such as not putting out

fires out completely and leaving them unattended, tossing things without regards (cigarettes), and

in some cases intentional acts such as arson. There are things that can be avoided if some people

cared. The majority of wildfires should not be caused by humans. They bring the inhibitors for

growth but are also the main cause for ignition.

The remaining ten percent at fault for ignition is nature. Things such as lightning strikes

and lava. To know how nature can spark these wildfires, some information on lightning needs to

be known. The two types of lightning are cold and hot. Cold lightning is a return stroke that has

an intense electrical current but has a short duration. Hot lightning has low voltage currents but

have a longer duration. Most wildfires are typically started by long-lasting hot lightning bolts

that are longer than usual.

There are not just detrimental effects of fire. There are benefits that it has for the

environment. These are most effective with prescribed burning, it helps control pests and insects.

This is something that can be a positive side of the Brianhead fire, it was overrun by bark beetles

and now most of them will be wiped out from that area. It assists the removal of non-native

species, that are attempting to compete with the natives for key nutrients. These invasive species

are harmful to the native species and are cause for declining populations. The ashes of fires also

provide nutrients for trees and other surrounding vegetation. They can help inhibit the growth of

species residing on the floor of the forest by allowing more sunlight. They also encourage the

growth of many fire dependent species. Burned forestry can also provide homes for some small
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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

mammals and provide new areas for birds to nest. The trees also will release nutrients into the

soil that will inhibit growth of surrounding flora.

While there are positive sides to fires there are also negative. Wildfires are generally not

controlled. Most of the effects listed above come from a prescribed forest fire. While there are

traits from the above list that could carry to positive effects most are negative. One of the biggest

concerns of wildfires is that they are uncontrollable. It is also more difficult because of the length

of discovery and control. What was once just barely over a week is now the span of a month and

a week. They can also lead to soil erosion. When there are less trees in need of water from the

soil it prevents it from eroding. Wildfires also possess the ability to wipe out a species that is rare

to a particular environment. It can wipe out a species that had not been discovered yet, or can

eliminate species that were only located in that environment.

One trend that pushes potential wildfires is the increasing climate. With climate change

comes earlier snowmelt, which as discussed earlier leads to a longer fire season. This change is

something that has been steadily growing, which has caused a steady increase in the fire season.

With the increasing length, intensity, and frequency it leads to the raised expenses. The majority

of the forest service money is being used to suppress these fires not leaving spending for things

like new facilities in the national forests across the country. Major fires have used a lot of money

to suppress fires. Oakland fire, CA of 1991 added up to three billion dollars of insured losses.

The wildfire budget of 2.1 billion dollars is broken down into seven main spending categories.

One percent is spent on rehabilitation, and restoration. Another one percent is spent on a joint

fire science program. Two percent is spent on forest health and management. Three percent is

spent on state and volunteer fire assistance. Sixteen percent on hazardous fuels. Thirty-one
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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

percent on preparedness. And almost half of all expenses is spent on wildfire suppression at

forty-six percent. (as of 2011)

There have been efforts to decrease fire severity and emissions. A study was done by

M.D. Hurteau to find a way to reduce wildfire emissions. In this study, it was found that fuel

treatments reduced wildfire emissions by fifty-seven percent. The total carbon loss during this

study showed that fuel treated areas had more, and untreated areas had less. This study shows

that fuel treated environments would show a reduced severity in wildfires compared to those that

are untreated. Without this, high density forests are at higher risk for a large wildfire due to

season length, and severity.

There are quite a few different things that effect wildfires. From the climbing climate

change effecting snowmelt, to nature. Although the effects of wildfires can be both positive and

negative, the positive can be controlled in a prescribed forest fire. There will be benefits that

come out of those more than benefits from wildfires. Since the 1980s there has been increases in

wildfires, not just the number but also the total area burned. Recent wildfires have increased in

size and length, they are harder to control and use more time, money, and resources from the

forest service. There are many detrimental effects of forest fires, and the primary cause of them

could be eradicated if there were punishments for those who are known to ignite the fire.
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Western Wildfires: Madison Masock

Work cited

Western Wildfire Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved August 03, 2017, from

http://www.climatecentral.org/western-wildfire-trends

W. (2014, September 03). Pros and Cons of Forest Fires. Retrieved August 03, 2017,

from http://healthresearchfunding.org/pros-cons-forest-fires/

Fires. (n.d.). Retrieved August 03, 2017, from http://ecowest.org/fires/

Wildland Fire: Wildfire Causes | U.S. National Park Service. (n.d.). Retrieved August 03,

2017, from https://www.nps.gov/fire/wildland-fire/learning-center/fire-in-depth/wildfire-

causes.cfm