Impact.
Property damage.
The 2020 wildfire season in California has caused:
$4.2
billion in direct property damage
1.5x
more than 2019
DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company via AP
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Fire Loss in the United States During 2020
nfpa.org
↗
Bad Air Days.
The west coast has four times more bad air days (AQI > 50) than it used to.
45
bad air days annually in Oakland
4x
more bad air days
than 10 years ago
Oakland now has 45 bad air days annually (2016-2020) versus 10 in (2009-2013)
kcrw.com
↗
Carbon.
Wildfires emit an estimated:
~8.1B
tonnes of CO₂e/y
23%
of global emissions
Wildfire Emission Estimates for 2020
essd.copernicus.org
↗
Root cause
01
Not enough good fire
100 years of active fire suppression has caused our forests to become dense and fuel-laden.
1934 - Forests of old had regular fire on a frequent interval, which made them less dense.
2010 - Today's forests have little good fire, which makes them extremely dense and fuel laden.
02
Climate change
Climate change has accelerated the forest drying, and made our fire seasons longer.
Solution.
01
Mechanical thinning
Return the forest to natural levels of density.
Forest management at work in the El Dorado National Forest.
02
Prescribed burns
Reduce the fuel in the forest and improve forest health.
Fuel treatment works.
The Bootleg Fire burned Fremont-Winema National Forest in August, but areas where the U.S. Forest Service and the Klamath Tribes had conducted thinning and prescribed burns were less damaged than adjacent sites.
