Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Emily Butler
Derek Mallia
December 8, 2017
anything in its path whether that is a forest, sage brush, grass land or even houses,
farming structures or businesses. Wildfires existed long before humans were on earth
but when humans did make an appearance the amount of wildfires not only increased
but also became more intense as time went on. As humans develop near these high-risk
areas they put themselves at risk and raise the risk as well with bringing in foreign
chemicals and materials such as gas lines and structures that are not normally found in
nature but can cause a fire to burn more intense. While these may be factors in wild
fires another primary source of wildfires is associated with spring and summer
temperature (Westerling, 2006) higher temperatures especially into triple digits cause
The Western United States is having one of the worst fire seasons this year with
over 100 active wildfires and over 41 of the being uncontained and there isnt much
relief in sight with the dry conditions, wind and lack of control over the blazes. An
example of this is the fires blazing through California especially through LA, as we all
know California has had terrible droughts the past few years but recently (before all of
the blazes began) they had a substantial amount of precipitation in 2016. Now as logical
human beings we would see this information and believe that theyre safe from
wildfires but that is far from the truth. When a dry region receives an abundance of
precipitation this causes vegetation to grow and thrive but when followed by a severe
drought or one of the hottest summers on record being in the triple digits daily this
With the population in the Western United States being 76 billion and climbing,
with this fast growing population housing developments are a necessity but they are
pushing their way closer to wild lands and forests more than ever. When you combine
dry lands with automobiles, recreational grills, cigarettes and structures these are prime
conditions for an accidental or even an intentional fire that can spread fast and quickly
become out of control. In 2017 in the western states over 2 million acres have been
burned by wild fires both man-made and natural (from lightning strikes and hot
temperatures) and as of September 2017 over 25,000 firefighters have responded to the
call for help fighting these blazes. These fires are not only destroying wild lands, wild life
and homes or whatever happens to be in their path of destruction they are also causing
In 2013 it was found that Wildfires burning within 50-100 miles of a city
routinely caused air quality to be 5 to 15 times worse than normal (Central, 2013) the
chemicals that are being released into the air and taken into our bodies causes eye
irritation, breathing impairment and can cause irritation to diseases already present
within the body. These fires are not only damaging to the human and wildlife around
them but it adds more chemicals to our ozone (ground level) that is pollution and not
safe for our health. The smoke from wildfires contains many dangerous chemicals such
hydrocarbons, and volatile organic compounds (Bowman, 2009) and these chemicals
can cause premature mortality especially relating to our cardiovascular and respiratory
systems. But with that being said a healthy human without preexisting conditions may
not be affected by the wildfire smoke if not exposed to it for long periods of time. The
firefighters who fight these blazes are at bigger risk than the citizens fleeing the flames,
firefighters are running into the danger and putting their health at risk and although
health officials cant put 100% of the blame on their occupation many fire fighters who
fought big blazes have had health issues throughout their lives.
As time is ticking away there have been patterns found in nature and some of
moisture with scorching hot temperatures following is the prefect recipe for a wildfire
and it is predicted with the effects of climate change that pattern will be seen more
often than we think. Since the 1980s the fire seasons in the Western States has
increased by 78 days in comparison to the previous decade and these increases were
Butler4
taking place in the Rockies of the Western states where there was an abundance of
snow from the winter and rain from the spring. But the difference between these years
was the time of year the snow was melting earlier than previous years meaning that
plants were growing earlier in the year but with the hotter temperatures were
While the trends and patterns of climate have an impact on wildfires there is
another pattern that needs to be evaluated and that is the land use within our wild life
and how that has had an effect on our wildfires and the way they are burning. After the
boom in logging in the 19th century Forest regrowth combined with an absence of
extensive fires, promoted forest structure changes and bio-mass accumulation, which
now reduce the effectiveness of fire suppression and increase the size of wildfires and
total area burned (Westerling, 2006) so because of the previous use of the wild land
the sensitivity may be heightened for fires. Another factor to take into account is the
increased frequencies of wild land use for recreation, as the season for outdoor
Butler5
activities grow because of the warm temperatures the risks of accidental fires being set
in red zones becomes more of a risk even with restrictions put in place.
These conditions that are being presented need to be taken more seriously as
we do not see the media covering these fires as much as we should with how severe
they are and destructive. This destruction is happening not only to the wild land, houses
and business that have been affected now but to our future. These fires are damaging
our ozone, our wild lands as they may take years to grow back because of the damage
that was caused to the ecosystem with the animals fleeing for their safety or even dying.
What is undeniable is that the western states in the US are in a state of crises
with the amount of fires that were and are currently burning, these fires have exceeded
over 2 billion dollars in damage in just 2017 alone and these loses are not including the
loss of life whether human or animal. These fires will continue to grow stronger as the
time goes on if we cannot find a way to stop these trends that come with climate
change, when you see the facts as clear as 2 billion dollars in damages and over 2 million
acres of land lost and these will continue to rise if nothing is done. Humans must take a
look at their carbon emissions and where theyre building in the ecosystem and how
Citations
https://www.census.gov/popclock/data_tables.php?component=growth
Central, C. (2013, October 25). Report: Wildfires & Air Pollution, A Hidden
wildfires-and-air-pollution-a-hidden-hazard-16651
K. L. (2017, September 14). Nearly 2 million acres of land are burning across the
US in one of the worst fire seasons we've ever seen. Retrieved December 3, 2017,
from http://www.businessinsider.com/wildfire-season-western-us-2017-9
Tang, Y., Zhong, S., Luo, L., Bian, X., Heilman, W. E., & Winkler, J. (2015). The
Potential Impact of Regional Climate Change on Fire Weather in the United States.
Reid, C. E., Brauer, M., Johnston, F. H., Jerrett, M., Balmes, J. R., & Elliott, C. T.
Adetona, O., Reinhardt, T. E., Domitrovich, J., Broyles, G., Adetona, A. M., Kleinman, M.
T., & ... Naeher, L. P. (2016). Review of the health effects of wildland fire smoke on
Butler7
doi:10.3109/08958378.2016.1145771
http://www.businessinsider.com/wildfire-season-western-us-2017-9 (image)