Actually the Fort McMurray Fire in 2016 is part of my explanation of why these current west coast fires are burning out of control in California, Oregon, and Washington but are not occurring in Canada.
Washington, Oregon and BC Canada have the same damn weather. If you have ever lived in any of these areas you would know that.
It goes far beyond raking... it is about proper Forest Management. The bottom line is that Canada does forest management well and the U.S. states of California, Oregon, and Washington do a terrible job of forest management. First let's provide some background.... For a lengthy period of time Canada has had a federal level all-encompassing Forest Management plan based on proper principles for eliminating uncontrolled forest fires, balancing forest growth & human recreation, and continual monitoring. Canada has created some of the best modeling tools for managing forests as part of this effort as well as a long term blue print for the next decade plus a comprehensive plan. Some more information about the effort in Canada can be found at: Canada Fire Management https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural...-disturban/forest-fires/fire-management/13157 Blueprint for wildland fire science in Canada (2019-2029) https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural...-wildland-fire-science-canada-2019-2029/21614 CANADIAN WILDLAND FIRE STRATEGY:A VISION FOR AN INNOVATIVE AND INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MANAGING THE RISKS https://www.ccmf.org/pdf/Vision_E_web.pdf The Fort McMurray Fire in 2016 triggered Canada to accelerate its forest management plan, accelerate modeling, and further improve its prevention strategy. These changes took Canada from being very good in forest management to being a world leader. California serves as an excellent example of how to completely fail at forest management. Oregon and Washington have the same problems. Let's take a look at California below... The forest management problems in California can only be blamed on the state. For decades they rejected federal guidance and even refused to sign a forest management agreement until 2020. Documents published in California recently by the state government are the best documentation of their complete failures. These documents include: Community Wildfire Prevention & Mitigation Report prepared by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Feb 2019) https://assets.documentcloud.org/do...re-2019-Community-Wildfire-Prevention-and.pdf Improving California’s Forest and Watershed Management (California Legislative Analyst's Office) April 2018 https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3798 Fire on the Mountain: Rethinking Forest Management in the Sierra Nevada https://lhc.ca.gov/report/fire-mountain-rethinking-forest-management-sierra-nevada Reading these documents above provide a damning indictment of forest management in California showing that the fires can only be blamed on their poor forest management. Some of the key problems in the California management of forests include: The rejection of performing of clearing brush and controlled burns. This was driven by the green activist movement who viewed these acts as destroying nature. Sadly politicians supported these green activists. Not funding Forest Management - effectively the state failed to fund forest management even at a minimal level. Limits on timber harvesting which would have reduced the combustible material. This includes the absurd environmental permitting requirements in the state. Failure to have a forest management strategy beyond fire suppression as a reaction. In support of the above let's just take a look at one quote from the state government reports: “As noted above, forest management practices and policies over the past several decades have (1) imposed limitations on timber harvesting, (2) emphasized fire suppression, and (3) instituted a number of environmental permitting requirements. These practices and policies have combined to constrain the amount of trees and other growth removed from the forest. This has significantly increased the density of trees in forests across the state, and particularly the prevalence of smaller trees and brush" Forbes also published an article that critically outlined the forest management failures in California. Wildfires Caused By Bad Environmental Policy Are Causing California Forests To Be Net CO2 Emitters https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckd...-forests-to-be-net-co2-emitters/#6204bf425e30 Only recently in 2020 California has signed a forest management strategy with the federal government and agreed to thin millions of acres of forest. California Signs Shared Stewardship Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service to Manage Forests https://www.sierrawave.net/62324-2/ To little, too late... California fires: State, feds agree to thin millions of acres of forests https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08...s-agree-to-thin-millions-of-acres-of-forests/ The local press in California has also been critical over-time. Article outlines some history... Fighting fire with fire: Should California burn its forests to protect against catastrophe? https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article230481684.html Sadly another impact of California's failed forest management strategy is the forced bankruptcy of their power provider PG&E from lawsuits related to 2018 forest fires. In the opinion of many observers the fault of the forest fires is not PG&E. California put regulations in place making it very difficult to clear vegetation & limbs near low tension power lines. California also never cleared brush under high tension power lines and would not allow PG&E to do so. At some point a power line will fall to the ground in a storm or spark - this is just part of normal electrical grid operations. Fires only occur when there is uncleared combustible vegetation in the vicinity of the power line. To hold PG&E responsible to the point of bankruptcy for the actions of the state of California is absurd in my opinion, and is an example of what is wrong with government in the state of California.
Yes its miraculous that the fire occurrences stop dead at the Canadian border, a man-made geographic demarcation. Apparently the lightning storms lacked the correct paperwork to make the border crossing and were turned back.
Well if the cause of the fires in California, Oregon, and Washington is not forest management then we can only assume that either: Climate Change stops at the Canadian border Arsonists stop at the Canadian border. So which is it? Of course.... you are ignoring all the California state government documents which state their poor forest management practices led to the devastating fires in recent years and will lead to move devastating fires in future years.
What it is you guys being just idiots mostly. https://nationalpost.com/news/as-mu...ldfire-season-due-to-rain-and-covid-lockdowns As much of U.S. burns, western Canada has quieter-than-usual wildfire season due to rain and COVID lockdowns Sep 11, 2020 • Last Updated 2 days ago • While the fire season hasn't been as bad north of the U.S.-Canada border this year, that doesn't mean Canadians have not felt the effects In Alberta, 614 wildfires have burned 1,450 hectares; last year by this time, 950 fires burned 850,000 hectares. In British Columbia, 610 fires have burned around 13,000 hectares. In 2018, when 2,117 wildfires raged across the province, more than 1.3 million hectares burned. In California alone, there are some seven dozen fires burning, with a record-breaking 2.2 million acres burned. That’s 2,000 per cent higher than the roughly 118,000 acres that burned by this time last year, according to a tweet from the state’s fire service earlier this week. And California’s not alone in battling out-of-control wildfires. There are fires raging across Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Utah that have damaged homes and left millions of people breathing in a smoky haze. “Why are they getting it and we are not? It’s because of the weather they’re getting,” explains Mike Flannigan, a professor with the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta. “The warmer it gets, the longer the fire season,” Flannigan explained. Although weather is a major factor in wildfires, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact in 2020. In Alberta, for example, the busiest time for fires is May, with many started by humans. But fire bans in Alberta and B.C., and off-highway vehicle bans in Alberta during the COVID lockdowns, helped to reduce the human element. “Emergency and social resources at the provincial and municipal levels are already taxed by the COVID-19 response, we don’t need the added burden of a human-caused wildfire this year,” Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, said in April when the bans were announced. Melissa Story, a fire information officer in Alberta, said they “can’t directly say that the pandemic had a direct impact” on fire season, but “COVID-19 probably had an impact on the recreational and industrial uses of the forest, especially in the spring.” Flannigan was more conclusive. “Absolutely, it had an impact,” he said. “There were fewer people out and about working or recreating in the woods, so the number of caused fires was way down this year… Forest closures, quad bans, they work, they really work,” he said. Generally, there are several factors that go into fire season, and they explain in large part why the U.S. is having a record-setting fire season and Canada is not. Fuel is the first factor in a fire, explained Flannigan. How dry is it? How much is there to burn? Second is ignition. That’s people, as well as natural sources such as lightning. Human-caused fires are decreasing, explained Flannigan. That leaves lightning as an increasing cause. Warming weather causes more lightning, which in turn, causes more fires. Warming also prevents the atmosphere from sucking moisture out of the land, which doesn’t help the fire situation. And big fires can also cause lightning storms. A third and important factor is weather. Hot, dry, windy conditions are a deadly combination for the biggest fires, according to Flannigan. In the western United States, it has been hot and windy, and there has also been unusual lightning activity in places such as California. In British Columbia and Alberta, a lot of rain has reduced much of the wildfire risk this season. Karley Desrosiers, a fire information officer with the B.C. fire service, pointed to wet weather that soaked deep into the ground — the precipitation “really helped mitigate the number of fires.” Flannigan explained this has to do with the jet stream air currents that led to dry weather in the western United States and Siberia, and a soggier summer in western Canada. While the fire season hasn’t been as bad north of the U.S.-Canada border this year, that doesn’t mean Canadians have not felt the effects. Residents of Penticton, B.C., were under evacuation alerts in August, and some residents of Squamish, B.C. also had to evacuate in April. “I expect more fire in the future, but not every year’s going to be a bad fire year. Some years are going to be horrific, but some years are going to be quiet as all get out,” said Flannigan.