{"id":10259,"date":"2017-10-25T02:13:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T02:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10259"},"modified":"2017-10-27T06:18:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T06:18:27","slug":"dont-blame-california-wildfires-on-a-perfect-storm-of-weather-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/dont-blame-california-wildfires-on-a-perfect-storm-of-weather-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t blame California wildfires on a ‘perfect storm’ of weather events"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gregory L Simon<\/a>, University of Colorado Denver<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Late evening on Oct. 8, a series of fires ignited in Northern California\u2019s famous Wine Country region. The fires would produce the most damaging wildfire event in California\u2019s history. Forty two people died and over 8,000 structures were destroyed<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As the fire threatened new neighborhoods, media reports filled airwaves and front pages across the nation, with most coverage conveying a mix of compassion, grief, anxiety and disbelief. And as usual, diverse groups began trying to explain the severity of this most recent wildfire disaster by referencing a unique confluence of environmental factors, such as high temperatures, strong winds, and lots of vegetation available as fuel.<\/p>\n

But having researched the intersection of urban development and fire in the western U.S., including the 1991 Oakland Fire<\/a>, I\u2019ve come to see how flawed this way of looking at fires is. Calling wildires a result of a \u201cperfect storm\u201d is highly simplistic and arguably dishonest. It ignores the long and complex social-ecological fuse that actually leads to costly and injurious wildfire disasters. <\/p>\n

The narrative of unruly natures<\/h2>\n

A news article<\/a> from CNN published on Oct. 11, roughly three days after the Wine Country fires first ignited, nicely captures the widely accepted explanation circulated within media outlets. <\/p>\n

The article described four factors that could explain the size and destruction of this wildfire. First, strong and dry easterly winds whipped across the landscape just as the fire ignited. Second, three of the largest fires began as residents were headed to bed, thus delaying emergency responses. Third, an accumulation of dead vegetation around homes from protracted drought conditions and mountain pine beetle infestations resulted in landscapes that were particularly susceptible to ignition from flying embers. And fourth, the fire erupted during a low humidity time of year, and after many months without rainfall. According to this CNN article, these four dynamics converged to created \u201ca perfect storm of factors\u201d that fanned the wildfires and contributed to their size, magnitude and ferocity. <\/p>\n

\n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n