Mega-Fires have nothing to do with climate change!
By: Jerry Brazie
Tags: Climate Crisis, Forest Fires, Common Sense, Environment, Corruption

Photo by Evan Wise on Unsplash

Here is a controversial take: The mega-fires have nothing to do with climate change, but it is a relatively recent problem going back only about 100 years. I am not saying climate change doesn’t exist; I’m saying it’s a separate argument. Climate change has nothing to do with the fires as far as I’m concerned, regardless of what “do whatever I can to gain more power,” politicians and bureaucrats try to tell us.

The problem goes back 100 years when we started fighting fires rather than letting nature take her course and let them burn out naturally. Putting out forest fires, especially ones in the middle of nowhere, makes the problem worse, not better. It does not allow nature to thin out the forests and burn the very underbrush that helps fuel these mega-fires.

It goes back to the 60s when we stamped out logging based on opinion and overreaction rather than fact — destroying local economies and historic towns along the way. The lack of logging, even though we have more trees now than we did 150 years ago, has resulted in too many trees in too small an area, stockpiling fuel for fires at an unprecedented level.

It goes back when we allowed local and state officials, leaders who are some of the dumbest people in society, to abdicated their responsibilities to the Feds for their political gain. These idiots blindly followed federal DEQ and EPA mandates that hurt the very constituency who voted them into office.

It goes back to allowing 500–1000 trees to grow per acre rather than the healthy 50–100. With this crowding, many trees are not healthy from a lack of sun and water, making them vulnerable to destructive beetles and disease, and perfect fuel for giant fires. It also allows invasive plant species to grow, species that not only grow faster and higher but also burn better.

It goes back to when we became obsessed with “our side vs. their side” rather than fighting for a collective side. Letting politicians dictate ridiculous building regulations that contributed not only to the cost of fighting fires but even worse, to the cost of living.

It goes back to us letting utility monopolies take hold in individual states, eliminating all competition. The result is electric utilities that are guaranteed a specific return, regardless of the product they deliver. Why worry about keeping up equipment if you never have to compete, hurting the very people who suffer from the terrible service and subsequent blackouts, brownouts, and fires. Even better, the utilities charge them more for the privilege of being underserved. Additionally, without another option to turn to for relief, the opposite of competition happens as there is no urgency for cutting edge maintenance.

It started when we stopped maintaining the forests, letting undergrowth and dead trees (i.e., fuel) proliferate. We stopped “sweeping” the woods. Backbreaking work that is not glamorous, and goes unseen. The public does not see work like this, and therefore it is of no use to politicians and their agendas. Do you know what it is suitable for doing? HELPING SMALL FIRES FROM BECOMING GIANT ONES!

It started when, under the guise of environmental concerns, we severely cut back on controlled burns. In California, a private landowner can get a permit for such a burn, but then get permission from the very communist sounding “California Environmental Protection Committee,” or CalEPA. These are the idiots that decide small, 10k acre controlled burns are an environmental hazard, and rarely allow them. They then sit back with the rest of us and look out our windows at smoke so thick it blocked out the sun for a week.

It started when logging roads fell into disrepair, not allowing fire crews to reach the fires that needed fighting. Without logging, the roads that would otherwise be accessed to intercept the fires are overgrown and unavailable.

It started when onerous building regulations forced developers to build houses in the middle of the forest, while forestry regulations stopped them from thinning the trees and brush. Look up the “wildland-urban interface,” it shows the number of houses California has built that are pressing up against remote, high fire-risk wilderness. Through last year the number totaled 4.5 million.

It started when Oregon shipped off 60% of its air fleet to fight a dead-end war in Afghanistan rather than keeping them here if needed to fight fires that were guaranteed to need fighting. Whatever genius approved moving the aircraft should be fired immediately, but I won’t hold my breath; it’s government.

It started when we elected, generation after generation, politicians at every level of government that are/were incapable of leadership regarding sensible environmental policy.

Why do these fires, for the most part, only happen on the West Coast? Why don’t we ask one of a dozen well-forested states what they do to mitigate their mega-fires, and then copy what they do! Why does this only happen on the west coast of the US? Maybe other states don’t have forests? It must be that the west coast is the only area on the continent with forests. That’ has to be what it is.

It started when we try to plant ten trees for every one we cut. The result has been that a single fire burns almost 100,000 trees for every single tree logged on public lands. The Oregonian reported a decade ago that “we remove less than 50 mature trees per acre, but that same acre is re-planted with 435 trees. Those are the fuel for today’s fires. Too many trees and none of them thriving in their competition for water, sky, and nutrients; that fuel-choked stunted forest waits for fire because there is nothing else we can do as regulatory forces tie the managers’ hands.”

It started when we let environmental groups make decisions based on bad science and ideology. Don’t blame Trump. If you want to blame anyone, blame Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, and all other presidents going back 100 years. However, these are not the real culprits who should take the blame. The fault for all this lies at the feet of local and statewide politicians. They, for decades, ignored this, looked the other way, or did/do not care about their constituency, putting the environment blindly over people. It’s easy to blame climate change, amass more power over the plebs, and repeat the next year. We are all dumb enough to let it continue unabated — environmental tough love, worth it as you watch your house burn down.

California has a budget of $2 billion to mitigate and fight forest fires, Oregon appears to have $50 million budgeted, (Oregon’s budget is a little harder to pin down.) Whatever the number, it is all spent fighting fires, leaving no money for mitigation — fires created by politicians. The world is upside down on how to deal with this problem.

Blame the governor’s, the county administrators, the mayors, and the bureaucrats. They, the people closest to the real people affected by the fires, did/do nothing. They are the bad guys.

It started when deep-seated tribalism and partisanship began to affect the most basics decisions in our country. It took hold under Clinton, was put on steroids under Bush and Obama, and has exploded under Trump. In this environment, nothing changes, and the problems continue unabated.

These are just a few of the real issues, and none of them have to do with climate change. We are 100 years behind in dealing with the problem, and it will only worsen the longer we wait. Here are a few ideas we need to implement immediately. After all, we are only 100 years behind:

Supervised logging, using the proceeds to “sweep” the undergrowth.

Stop planting trees at current levels.

Change building and residential rules regarding where and how high we can build, following Texas and Tennessee’s example.

Allow more controlled burns.

Get rid of utility monopolies.

Let as many naturally occurring fires burn, the way nature intended.

For all of us living on the west coast, I know this is wishful thinking, but a man can dream. Nothing will change; the fires will continue to destroy year after year.

After all, orange man bad, liberals are the devil, no one is held accountable, and we all continue to tribe up while letting Rome burn and not paying attention to the people who caused it.

Exactly how the politicians want it.