Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
We hear a lot in the news about wildfires these days – and it seems like there are more and more of them. Are there? And why?
We had Marin Warshay and Luci Jones from our Possibly Team look into this. Welcome, Marin and Luci!
Marin Warshay: Hi, Megan!
Luci Jones: Hello!
Megan Hall: So why do wildfires happen?
Marin Warshay: Well, wildfires are actually a natural process and help some forests thrive.
Luci Jones: Over time, forests accumulate debris – leaves, branches, dead trees. In dry regions, this stuff inevitably burns, sparked by lightning.
Marin Warshay: In some western forests, the natural fire cycle means the average place may even burn every ten years or so.
Megan Hall: Gotcha, so fire is a natural process in some forests. But is climate change making these fires worse?
Marin Warshay: To get an inside look, we talked to David Peterson:
David Peterson: I am a professor of forest Biology at the University of Washington and the forestry school.
Luci Jones: David says climate change is altering the nature of forest fires in the west.
David Peterson: The primary effect that climate change will have and is having is to lengthen the time during the year when fires can potentially burn. We might be looking at the spring, early summer, and then the late summer into the fall.
Marin Warshay: This is because climate change causes higher temperatures, more droughts, and higher winds.
Luci Jones: But, according to David, the way we approach fire management is also affecting wildfires.
David Peterson: …primarily the fuel loading that we see in a lot of our forests, particularly in western North America. … we’ve been building up fuels for 50 to 100 years in some of the forests that would normally have burned every 10 to 15 years.
Megan Hall: Wait, what is fuel loading?
Marin Warshay: The “fuel” is that forest debris we were talking about before. The stuff you’d use to start a campfire!
Luci Jones: The U.S. Forest Service used to extinguish every fire they could. That policy ended more than 40 years ago, but all that debris is still around in many places, making it easier for fires to start and keep growing.
Megan Hall: That makes sense! But are the wildfires we’re experiencing today really worse than ones in the past?
Luci Jones: Well, we’re better at extinguishing fires, which means there are less of them.
Marin Warshay: Fewer fires means there’s more time for all of that fuel David was talking about to build up, so when fires do happen, they tend to be more intense.
David Peterson: we’ve been building up fuels for 50 to 100 years in some of the forests that would normally have burned every 10 to 15 years.
Megan Hall: So what can we do?
Luci Jones: The goal isn’t never having fires. They’re a natural phenomenon.
Marin Warshay: But building outside of fire-prone areas is a step in the right direction.
Luci Jones: Then it comes down to proper fire management like prescribed burns and using wood sustainably.
Marin Warshay: The real solution is addressing climate change and the forces behind these out of control wildfire seasons. The warmer it gets, the worse the fires are going to be.
Megan Hall: Good to know. Thanks, Marin and Luci!
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Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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