Clare Frank: 'While many of the current fires in Canada were caused by lightning that landed on dry forests, here in the States, lightning is rarely the culprit. An astonishing 80 percent are caused by human carelessness.'
In the American West, evidence of fire foolishness is all around us. Nearly two years ago, the Caldor fire was allegedly started by a father and son who appear to have gone out shooting in a dry forest during California’s peak fire season, while smoke from the massive Dixie fire still hung heavy in the air. The Caldor fire scorched nearly 222,000 acres, destroyed 1,005 structures, injured multiple people and sent my husband and me packing ahead of the evacuation order.
Those were the one-offs. Then there are the more common careless activities like when dirt bikers remove spark arresters for more power, homeowners try to smoke out wasp nests and revelers take fireworks into parched hills on red-flag fire days. The list is too long. But it all comes down to one thing: disregard for dangerous fire conditions that are clearly becoming more frequent from climate change.
We don’t have to just shrug this nonsense off. We can charge people who start fires with reckless arson. It’s one of the few tools government officials have to address Americans’ abominable disregard for fire risk. The father and son involved in the Caldor fire have been charged with reckless arson, and their preliminary hearing begins in August.
That’s because messing around with sparks in natural areas may just be riskier than it’s ever been in our lifetimes. Many states have experienced a significant increase in the number of hot, dry, windy days that present the most danger. Our wildlands are turning into a minefield, but we don’t care where we step.
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