I learned very early on in life the destructive force of wildfires while growing up in Southern California. It seemed like every year from mid-summer until the middle of autumn, warning signs were posted in the foothills above where I lived, alerting people to fire danger. Some days the signs would read “high,” other days “very high,” and when the dreaded hot Santa Anna winds hit, the signs would immediately be bumped up to “extreme” danger.
It didn’t take much for a fire to start and engulf the entire mountainside, burning down homes its wake. Besides the threat of arson, there was always the potential for negligence, like someone tossing a cigarette butt from a car window; campers leaving without entirely extinguishing their campfire; a spark caused by a chainsaw or other motorized devise; or something as simple as a broken glass bottle which could potentially act as a magnifying glass and start a fire.
After I left Southern California, I wasn’t exposed to any real threat from wildfires until I moved to Lebanon on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean years later. Lebanon is situated roughly the same latitude as Southern California but at the other end of the world. So I was not entirely surprise to find similar flora, fauna and the same risk of wildfires.
Wildfires are not limited to either Southern California or Lebanon, but rather wherever dense undergrowth and dry conditions are found. What many people don’t understand is that fire is actually good for a forest. A fire will go through and burn all the undergrowth, leaving the ash to rejuvenate the soil so that the new growth can come back stronger than before. Fire is a part of the forests ecosystem, much like the sun, rain and other natural occurrences.
Unfortunately, the more we as humans move away from cities and populations centers and branch out looking to build homes in the wilderness, we wind up in direct conflict with nature. In the past when forest fires occurred, they would inevitably burn themselves out. However, today when a fire starts, there is a big rush to contain the blaze before it spreads to where people are living. By stopping the fire we are weakening the forest, preventing new growth and making the flora susceptible to disease and destructive insects.
Recently I moved to Minnesota and naturally became captivated by the beauty of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), located in the very north of the state. I made my first trip to the BWCA in the summer of 2010 and then went again the following two summers. The first thing I noticed during my first canoe trip, after the stunning landscape, was the amount of dead wood that was lying everywhere and preventing new growth from emerging. I was told that most of the dead trees were the result of a massive windstorm that hit the area in 1999. Immediately I concluded what the BWCA needed most was a wildfire to clean out all the dead debris.
A year later, in August 2011, while I was on another canoe trip, a lightening strike near Pagami Creek triggered what would become one of the biggest forest fires in Minnesota’s history. For the first few days we saw smoke on the horizon, but didn’t think much of it. Only later, did the fire spread with the aid dry conditions fueled on by strong winds. By October, long after the summer tourist season had ended, the fire was still burning and had charred over100,000 acres.
In the beginning, the Department of National Recourses (DNR) was willing to just let the fire burn itself out. Unfortunately, the fire, being unpredictable, took a “wrong turn” and started to head in the direction of Ely, a popular tourist town. At that point fire fighters were called in to intervene.
This past summer I canoed through parts of the BWCA that had been affected by last year’s Pagami Creek fire. Even though we tried to avoid the burned areas, it was almost impossible. At first glance it was quite shocking to see all the devastation. Large tracks of land had been literally burned clean and the trees that remained standing were mostly dead. What was interesting, though, was to walk over the scorched earth and marvel at all the new growth coming up around charred trees.
As long as we insist on building and developing in areas that are forested, there will always be the threat of wildfires. In order to have healthy forests we have to accommodate the occasional fire, even if it is a controlled blaze set to deliberately clear out the underbrush. The longer a dense forested area remains untouched by fire, the more dangerous it becomes.
Our duty is to find a sustainable balance whereby we can live in harmony with nature so natural phenomena such as wildfires can take their due course. It’s time to be more considerate to our wilderness and think before we build.