4 ms·

The biggest problem has been reducing the ladder fuel (underbrush etc). The fuels dept is notoriously understaffed and underfunded for national forest service.

The biggest problem has been reducing the ladder fuel (underbrush etc). The fuels dept is notoriously understaffed and underfunded for national forest service. On top of his, it's difficult to convince locals to deal with lots of controlled burns in winter and spring. Logging practices have gotten better, especially with dispersed thinning, but my gut is hat climate change is the real culprit. Also, lodge pole pine is becoming more dominant in the PNW, and we're losing more fire resistant (and dependent) trees like ponderosa. Lodge pole grows like a weed and burns like hay. Couple this with an antiquated federal service entirely dependent on chain of command that fights every year to preserve operations and their career posts and you get one of the most wasteful inefficient services in U.S. Govt. Source: I was a forest firefighter and left after being fed up w the bureaucracy. So take my cynicism w a grain of salt.

hackuser 11y ago
> my gut is hat climate change is the real culprit. Whether or not this particular incident is caused by it, climate change is and will create massive costs for society, from forest fires, to coastal cities flooding, to water and food shortages, to all the associated mitigations and social consequences (wars, starvation, migrations, etc.). Who should pay for all of it? These are massive externalities dumped on the public by the fossil fuel industry and, to be fair, by the very many users of fossil fuel, including me. However, I didn't conduct a propaganda campaign that has turned a problem into this catastrophe. Regarding this particular situation: I'm not sure a particular fire can be directly linked to climate change. Climate change will make some places wetter, some drier, some warmer, some cooler. The average temperature globally is increasing, but that's an average over a huge area (also, does someone happen to know about humidity and rainfall?).
- SandersAK 11y ago
  Def agree that it's more complicated but PNWhas record dryness and heat last five years. An the level tho you're right and it warrants more inspection than my cursory gut check.

hackuser 11y ago

> my gut is hat climate change is the real culprit. Whether or not this particular incident is caused by it, climate change is and will create massive costs for society, from forest fires, to coastal cities flooding, to water and food shortages, to all the associated mitigations and social consequences (wars, starvation, migrations, etc.). Who should pay for all of it? These are massive externalities dumped on the public by the fossil fuel industry and, to be fair, by the very many users of fossil fuel, including me. However, I didn't conduct a propaganda campaign that has turned a problem into this catastrophe. Regarding this particular situation: I'm not sure a particular fire can be directly linked to climate change. Climate change will make some places wetter, some drier, some warmer, some cooler. The average temperature globally is increasing, but that's an average over a huge area (also, does someone happen to know about humidity and rainfall?).

SandersAK 11y ago
Def agree that it's more complicated but PNWhas record dryness and heat last five years. An the level tho you're right and it warrants more inspection than my cursory gut check.