This article is three years old, but is relevant annually until the end of fire season.
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” That old margarine commercial was lame back in the 1970s, but the quote is so true. Inadvertent interference with the natural process of wildfires has unfortunately increased the combustibility of the flora of forests and wildlands throughout California. No one really meant to interfere with the process. It is just what happens when we need to protect our homes and properties from fire.
The longer the vegetation is deprived of fire, the more overgrown and combustible it becomes. If deprived of fire long enough, many plants start to succumb to insect infestation and disease, and they become more combustible as they deteriorate and die. To make matters worse, so many of the exotic (non-native) plants that have been introduced into California are just as combustible, and some are even more combustible than native flora!
Combustibility is certainly no accident on their part. It…
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I can’t like the fire posts, they scare the shit out of me. After spending several years in Northern California fires are one of my greatest fears. I still get nightmares every once in a while starting to look for my packed bags in the hallway, before realising I’m actually safe. Good thing the fire season there’s almost over for this time…
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Fire is natural here. It is scary, but I would not relocate because of it. I can not afford to live in the Santa Clara Valley, away from the combustible forests, and even if I could, I am not certain that I would. That region is so culturally inept nowadays.
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I understand your point of view. California is unique in many ways.
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