“A source of light in dark times”
This week's fire news—also available on substack (I like their fonts better).
Just one thing:
“The warnings were not vivid”
You ever read a textbook and basically underline all of it? That’s how I felt about?The Daily episode on Canada’s fires, even though I’ve been immersing myself in all things fire & climate for the past year. I was just saying, “Yes!!” & then looking up the?climate newsletter?from David Wallace-Wells that inspired the episode. His newsletter in turn led me to?a podcast from The Financial Times?with an interview of their Chief Features writer Henry Mance, who dove into reporting on fire at such a level that?he went to fire camp in Poland, learning first hand how firefighters from the US (Hotshots) to Germany (mostly volunteers) think about solving the wildfire problem.
“International solidarity is a source of light in dark times.”?—?Henry Mance
When?nature?is changing so quickly
Both Wallace-Wells and Mance are putting stories together in ways I’d hadn’t yet, pointing out “the paradox of climate adaptation, in which the disruption of the ?? natural world seems to require further interventions,” but that we seem less and less able to?control?fire?because its behavior is changing and our old tools (prescribed burns, fighting fire at night, fire breaks) aren’t working so well anymore. For me these stories felt a little bit like when you know something seems bad and then your doctor confirms it.
Remember how George Whitesides said, ‘Fire is a prism?through which we can see the future of humanity’s relationship with natural systems’??More than ever this is a call to arms, and we can find reasons for both despair and great hope as we suit up.
“The speed at which wildfires have become part of our reality has caught many people by surprise. We were warned that wildfires would increase under climate change. But the warnings were not vivid.” —?Henry Mance
This week :
Firefighting: Fatalities, “PG&E scraps tree trimming” and women in fire
Tragic helicopter crash?left three crew members dead in Riverside County, CA, the first Cal Fire deaths for the 2023 fire season.?Preliminary report on the cause expected?in the next two weeks. In?Oregon a 21 year old firefighter lost his life?in an on-duty auto crash. As?Chief Kate Dargan Marquis?said on LinkedIn this week, “Words don’t work well for these moments…”
“This terrible tragedy is a reminder of the dangers our courageous firefighters face daily while working to keep our communities safe. We owe them our deepest respect and gratitude and will always honor their bravery and sacrifices.” — California’s Governor Newsom
Firefighting as a career
“Like many fire services in North America, the BC wildfire service is facing struggles with firefighter retention and resources stretched thin. This year saw the lowest number of new recruit applicants in close to a decade, and some crews have seen turnover approaching 50%. Hundreds of firefighters from the US, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and Brazil have been called in to help.“ —Jesse Winter
While firefighters are often treated (and paid ??) like basic manual laborers, wildland firefighting requires a high degree of specialized knowledge ?? and athleticism ?? to prepare for a very hazardous job. This story in The Guardian covers?how Canada is trying to deal with their hiring, training & retention problem, including increasing pay, prioritizing knowledge sharing between old and new generation firefighters and making athletic therapists, physical therapists, massage & mental health support available in fire camps. More on that from an American perspective?on this episode of The Hotshot Wakeup.
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Red flag warnings
PG&E has ended its tree trimming?program, citing ineffectiveness and cost, and instead plans to enact shutoffs during red flag warning days—this compelling coverage of?what exactly that means for someone who depends on electricity to stay alive?has changed my sense of urgency on this topic?forever. The Hill also covers how?the utility’s plan to underground wires or rely on power shutoffs disproportionately affects lower income areas?(ht Ephraim Nowak ).?Meanwhile Fire Chief Dave Winnacker, who safeguards a staunchly Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) region, Moraga-Orinda California, calls for?creating a mosaic of treated landscape?(using all the tools at our disposal, from grazing to prescribed burns and home hardening) to keep WUI neighborhoods safe. (ht Anukool Lakhina ?)
Women in fire
This?all-woman firefighting team?took second place in the Quebec Aboriginal Firefighters Competition, and is well on their way to inspiring more women to join, and in Renton, Washington?this all-female fire crew responded to a Cessna crash?at an airport (both airplane occupants survived).?
Firetech: Why we do it, controlling weather & fire drones
We who are knuckling down to build technology that can assist fire agencies are motivated by statistics like this one:
“Wildfires release more than 8 billion tons of CO2 annually. Reducing wildfires by just 10% would decrease CO2 emissions equal to the?carbon released?by 174 million cars. And every acre of forest saved results in 375 tons of CO2 sequestered in trees.”?—Debbie Compton, Owning the Weather, USA Today
Weather gods
Firetechnologists are taking a variety of approaches, as in the case of?Team Wildfire who is building jet engines to turn the front line of a wildfire back against itself. “‘When a movie director tells me they need a hurricane, I build synthetic hurricanes for them. So I wondered why we couldn't take the tech we use in movies, and adapt it for firefighting, by building a hurricane on wheels,’ [Steve] Wolf says.”?Data Blanket is also?building fleets of drones to help firefighters assess fires. “As one fire chief told CEO?Omer Bar-Yohay, ‘You just made my firefighters 400-feet tall.’” (ht Lauren Burns )
Catching fire from space
I spotted this?overview video from NASA Goddard on what they’re doing regarding fire, how monitoring helps & why it matters. It’s worth noting that NASA is not the only agency monitoring fire from space (see for example?planet,?Spire/OroraTech,?Google?(← ?? great deep explanation of challenges & opportunities of monitoring wildfire from space). In Europe,?Copernicus?is doing some?fantastic science using satellite data?to calculate not only?where fires are?but?what they are emitting.?
What’s burning?
Portugal, Italy, Cyprus,?so much of the US?(though?some states are just anticipating, not experiencing, high fire activity), in Arizona there’s some?lightning starts that are being allowed to burn naturally, and of course?Canada?where?a flower that thrives in burn scars from previous years reminds people in British Columbia that the landscape, though scarred, will recover.?
Until next week (read that Financial Times piece! Or at least?listen to The Daily),
Andrea
“What’s it like to work at a wildfire?” says Amelie Reichel, a German volunteer whose day job is in IT. “It’s hot. You have to hike a lot with probably 20kg on your back, work 10-hour shifts, sleep max six hours. You are exposed to smoke, fire and ash all the time, your eyes start burning, trees suddenly fall down around you, it’s noisy, you take naps on the forest floor in between. On the other hand, you get to feel this crazy team spirit.” —?FT