‘Most wildfires started by people’

George Rebane

In a recent exchange with Union publisher Don Rogers I lamented that since most wildfires are started by people, there was not enough coverage or interest in the attribution of such great disasters in our state.  Wildfires were implicitly treated in the press as if they were some kind of natural phenomena, acts of God if you will.  Don agreed, and we began to see more stories in our newspaper covering details of how our regional wildfires were started by suspected arsonists or identified careless (stupid?) humans ranging from campers to homeless indigents in the woods.

As part of this exchange I wrote a letter to The Union which was finally published today (1oct21) with an interesting editorial insert at its conclusion in the print edition – the online version is here.  My letter reads –

The genesis of our wildfires. Here’s a topic everyone is afraid of discussing. Almost all of our wildfires are man-made — they are started by indigents, crazies, and people with a political agenda. The fires started by accidents and natural causes are well-known, few and far in between. However, our politicians, liberal activists, and media of all hues treat Western wildfires as if they were “acts of God,” and therefore their genesis need not be questioned, let alone examined, any further.

Given the number of annual wildfires, notice how rare is there any subsequent mention of arson investigations or what these may have discovered. It seems that the “vulnerable underprivileged” have a natural right to start fires and then be left alone.

And it is not a stretch to imagine the damage anti-American terrorists can do in a free country by simply setting wildfires with easily fabricated, time-delayed pyrotechnic devices. But from what the public sees, our authorities neither suspect nor pursue such errant behavior — the fires just magically flare up and cause totally acceptable devastation.

… and followed by this editorial coda.

Editor’s note: Studies of wildfire causes show a range of 85% to 95% are a result of human activity, with 20% to 25% of those deliberately set.

I may be accused of some hyperbole to make the point of how easy it is for bad people to set devastating fires in our wildlands that destroy, kill, and deplete scarce resources.  But to me the editor’s note is a bit too dismissive, if not inaccurate, of not only the history of fire starters but also the portent of purposely caused destruction meant to impact both the mode and quality of life in the less populated regions of our country.  My main thesis is that wildfire arson is still both under-reported and therefore under-acknowledged by the public and even law enforcement.

Here are two documents that speak to this assertion.  The first is a study – Wildland Arson: A Research Assessment - by the US Forest Service that concludes – “Wildland arson makes up the majority of fire starts in some parts of the United States and is the second leading cause of fires on Eastern United States Federal forests. … Beginning with initial studies by Donoghue and Main (1985) through studies by the authors reported here, it seems clear that law enforcement deployment and other efforts to apprehend and incarcerate arsonists work to reduce wildland arson in the long run in high-arson locations in the United States.”

Another report from FEMA’s US Fire Administration (here) recounts various aspects of arson wildfires including arsonists’ motives and the significant but relatively few court cases that result from the apprehension of suspected arsonists.

Comments

[The Estonian Fox]

George, perhaps the better argument, in light of the times, is that arsonists cause an insurmountable, premature release of the carbon content of the trees that are burned. Hence contributing to the man-made global warming that EVERYONE KNOWS will result in the rapid demise of us all.

Probably makes more sense to the majority of Cali residents.

[George Rebane]

Efox 510pm - You have compelling point there.

[Walt]

Way back when I was a volunteer fire fighter in my neck of the woods, there was an arsonist within our own ranks.(but wasn't within OUR dept.)
A dude at another dept. was the evil doer. His tool of choice
were highway flairs.

He was eventually caught and prosecuted. Back then 80% of arson fires were done by firefighters.( or so it was told)

[scenes]

lol. George stirred up something of an ant nest on the Union I see. I had to answer ten questions to see the article (I always answer the first choice) so it must have been important. Side note: newspaper websites are practically unreadable nowadays. I'm not sure that building an economy on surveillance advertising is such a great idea.

I basically assume that fires are started by lightning and occasionally by PG&E if they are in BFE. If closer to town, it's a person. It they don't have details on the person (ie. it was some fool burning yard waste) it was a homeless person. Since the homeless are treated with kid gloves, those stories are always always buried.

I personally expect that the town killin' fire in this area will spring from a homeless camp, it's just common sense. It's a pity that politics always overcomes reason. I guess if it isn't the homeless, it'll be fire shooting up one of the holy watersheds that you can't clear. Simply blame Trump and Global Warming and everything will be fine.

[MikeL]

The fact that most wildfires are man-made or perhaps women-made as is the case in the fawn fire in Redding will be quickly forgotten. It is easier to feed the BS of anthropogenic global warming, er I mean climate change as the cause of all wildfires to the brainwashed kiddies.