California Wildfires have become the talk of the nation over the past few weeks. Of course, coverage could not be complete without presidential insight. President Trump made headlines when he placed blame for the fires destruction on gross mismanagement. This statement stirred up a rather large controversy. Both citizens and news analysts were quick to refute Trump’s argument, emphasizing that firefighters and community members have made every effort possible to control the start and spreading of the fires.
Defendants of firefighters were not the only ones to approach Trump’s statement; environmental experts also made it quite clear to the public that the fires had extremely little to do with management or prevention methods. Climate change and a environment faced with drought are the main influencers of the fire.
Others environmental specialists have taken time to educate the public with providing a grant the public a better understanding of the fact that these lands are not forests but rather a myriad of shrubs. Therefore,mitigation and prevention of the fires cannot even be considered a part of forest management.
The intensity of the fire spread can be traced back to the high wind speeds up to 60 mph which made it nearly impossible for firefighters to take control of its growth. As of now, there are two main fires being tracked. As of Monday, November 12th, more than 13,200 miles have been burned.
These fires are not unlike others in the past. Southern California has been a victim\of wildfires as long as recorded. However, the occurrence of the fires has grown closer together in recent years because of climbing temperatures. This past summer, California had the second highest temperatures in the state’s history.
Not only was Trump’s tweet (shown below) scientifically incorrect, it was offensive to those who are putting their lives at risk to gain control of catastrophe. More importantly, his statement was rather hypocritical in the sense that it is promoting better management but in reality, the best management we can put forth is action against climate change; something Trump refuses to acknowledge.
Wow, I can not believe this man “runs” the country. Great blog!
There’s a Vice Motherboard article going around that discusses people like Kim Kardashian hiring private firefighters to protect their property. Other “elites” are doing the same thing, or have in the past. There’s an entire industry, which raises serious economic and environmental questions about risk communication, availability of resources like firefighters, etc. Check it out:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xpne3/rich-people-pay-for-private-firefighters-while-the-rest-of-us-burn
Did you see the story of the guy who kept going back towards the fire to help other people. This ended in his truck being destroyed. Toyota agreed to replace the truck for these good deeds.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2018/11/14/when-hell-moved-california-nurse-drove-through-fire-save-lives/?utm_term=.275d4a8e36d1
Wow, that’s really intense. There’s so many stories about people affected, who is stepping up, who is making the problem worse, etc. Good on Toyota, too.