Enlight21

Author: | Category: Environment | Date: 11-29-2019

By Tina Zeng, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Youth Columnist

Wildfires,  Human Triggers, and Climate Change

Fires are a natural part of the cycle of California forests; they help clean the forest floor and  renew the soil with nutrients. In fact, through the grand sweep of time, forest ecosystems have proven to be able to withstand fire. Currently, however, ninety percent of fires are not natural as they are caused by humans: Roughly, of the 7,500 wildfires started in 2018, 1.8 million acres burned, and 22,700 structures were destroyed—forests are burning more and longer than in the past. Why? Well, a lot of factors, but mostly it is due to climate change and fire triggers caused by humans.

As we all know, climate change is heating up the earth. With this heat comes less moisture in the air—the less atmospheric moisture, the easier it is for sparks or embers from a power line or campfire to start burning. The combination of less moisture in the air caused by warmer temperatures  means dryer vegetation, which significantly increases the length of the fire season when the forest is most vulnerable. Ten years ago, the fire season was eighty days shorter than it is now. In fact, currently, a yearlong fire season is becoming increasingly likely.   Also, with climate change, nights are no longer as cold as they once were. As nights become warmer, fires are more likely to burn throughout the night and intensify.  In the past, with cooler nighttime temperatures, fires diminished at night and the overall intensity and duration of fires were much more subdued.  

Fire Prevention, PG & E, and What Should be Done

It is clear to all experts that wildfires cannot be reduced to the levels of decades ago, given the backdrop of our warming planet and reduced moisture in the air.  But one major category of human-caused triggers can be significantly reduced—fires caused by downed power lines and other malfunctioning of transmission equipment. In fact, it has been determined that 17 of the 21 major wildfires in 2017 in Northern California were caused by malfunctioning of  PG & E’s power lines, poles, and other equipment.

Despite its role in causing wildfires, PG & E’s response to fire prevention has been completely ineffective.  Rather than upgrading inadequate infrastructure, the company has  been  continuing a tree and vegetation removal program. It is vital to note that tree-thinning will not reduce the impact of wildfires. 

An example that proves this point is the 2018 Camp Fire—also known as the fire that decimated  Paradise, CA.  It was the most lethal and destructive wildfire in California  history.  It was not triggered  by the massive burning of trees or grass but instead, experts now all agree that it was most likely caused by a downed PG & E transmission wire or malfunctioning PG & E equipment, just like in many of the deadliest fires in California in recent years.  That the fire was NOT caused by burning trees that spread rapidly from tree to tree is borne out by the fact that the trees surrounding many burnt houses were still green at the top despite the entire neighborhood being in ruins. Clearly, the trees were not the root cause of the rapid spread of the fire. Flying embers—many generated by materials from burnt houses—blown by strong winds traveled rapidly through the air, spreading the fire by igniting everything in their path.   In fact, “fuel breaks” (areas with very little vegetation used to curb fires) were completely useless against the strong winds in Paradise, winds  that blew sparks and embers onward and into houses instead of tree-thinning, PG & E should be upgrading its infrastructure. In fact, half of the most destructive Californian fires are caused by power lines. Imagine this: sagging power lines slap against each other and create sparks; the sparks fly down and begin burning. Or this: a tree falls on a distribution line, causing sparks and igniting a fire. 

There are, however, many ways to eliminate or mitigate this risk: the most expensive but most effective is undergrounding. This method would eliminate power lines altogether! After all, many fire accidents would be impossible without lines to start them. Another approach is protecting the power lines through insulation. Another company, the SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric), completely protected all their power lines through insulating them. Even if two wires hit each other, the insulation would not allow any sparks to fly. Currently, however, PG&E has not taken any of these measures on a large enough scale to make a difference—many lines are completely exposed wires, ready to spark at any time. 

A third approach is to bring the power closer to home, a practice often referred to as “distributive power.”  If cities had their own energy generation infrastructures, power would not have to travel far; this would decrease the need for many lines. No matter what strategy is employed, something must be done, because in the current situation, we’re practically begging for more fires to burn up our communities and forest. 

Preventing Wildfire Damage to Homes

So what can be done to prevent houses from bursting into flame? To start, we should stop building houses in fire-prone areas and retrofit those that are already there. There are seven areas that are  most important when fireproofing a house: roofs, vents, doors, fences, exterior siding, windows, and decks. The key is to keep any sparks outside of the house because if let in, everything will begin to ignite. Roofs should be fireproof, not wooden or made with flammable material, either in the shingles or between shingles. They should also be carefully maintained to clear away all combustible materials. Otherwise, the roof could burn up and allow lots of sparks and fire into the house. Also, vents need to be thick enough to block out sparks. Doors should not be solid wood and pet doors should be magnetic or have auto-locks.  Plastic should be avoided as it will melt and allow sparks to fly in. Only low-growing vegetation should be grown underneath windows or they will cause the window to burn and let the fire into the house. Also, skylights could be easily burned through to let fire in. Wooden decks are common in the Bay Area, but ideally, they should not be attached to the house and should not have vegetation surrounding it. To learn more about how to fireproof a house, reach out to your local fire marshal.

Summary

Cutting down trees and forests will not stop wildfires. To reduce the likelihood of wildfires and to minimize the damage, we must pressure utilities like PG & E to fireproof their transmission lines and upgrade their infrastructure, protect our homes, and begin building local power generation facilities.  Finally, most important of all, we must fight climate change and ensure that California will not become increasingly hotter and drier until our forests are in extreme danger year-round—or worse, there may be no forest left at all. 
 

Environment