5 ms·

U.S. Wildfire Causes 1980-2016

35 points by thebent 9y ago

stephengillie 9y ago
This is a huge amount of data, and an interesting way to visualize. An incredible number of these appear to be started by lightning. A set of filtering tools would be nice - to sort by year and type.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  Before humans, lightning was THE primary way to start fire on Earth.
superbatfish 9y ago
This is a very cool visualization. Weirdly, though, the visually apparent proportion of natural vs. human causes seems to change depending on my zoom level. Plotting this much data presents several challenges. I recently discovered a good guide on the subject of "Plotting Pitfalls" from the Bokeh project: https://bokeh.github.io/datashader-docs/user_guide/1_Plotting_Pitfalls.html https://bokeh.github.io/datashader-docs/user_guide/1_Plottin... I think this visualization suffers a bit from "overplotting".
bo1024 9y ago
This is very interesting but I think there is a bigger context too. My understanding (though I'm not an expert) is that wildfires are a normal, regular, naturally-occurring phenomenon. When humans artificially prevent forest fires from taking their natural course, this causes dead wood to continue building up significantly more, which causes the fires to be much more destructive when they do happen. So if these fires are essentially inevitable, maybe there should be less emphasis on the thing that happened to kick it off and more on preventing the conditions for it to become huge and destructive.
- woliveirajr 9y ago
  This. There are studies supporting this conclusion [0]: "Without adequate prevention measures, forest debris can build up, fueling a bigger, more devastating fire the next time around." And this [1]: "This leaves authorities with a difficult problem. After decades of successful wildfire suppression, we can now expect fires to be far worse when they finally happen." [0] http://news.mit.edu/2013/forest-fire-management-1120 http://news.mit.edu/2013/forest-fire-management-1120 [1] http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-raging-wildfires-burn http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-ra...
  - nerdponx 9y ago
    Some articles worth reading if you're interested in this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14318646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14318646 https://priceonomics.com/does-using-airplanes-to-put-out-forest-fires/ https://priceonomics.com/does-using-airplanes-to-put-out-for...
- overcast 9y ago
  You are correct, they are essential to the health of forests. The massive 1988 fire in Yellowstone, was a direct result of humans intervening. https://blog.suny.edu/2013/08/ask-an-expert-why-are-wildfires-good/ https://blog.suny.edu/2013/08/ask-an-expert-why-are-wildfire...
- cwbrandsma 9y ago
  Where I live (Southern Idaho) it isn't just forest burning, but also the desert wild lands. The burning is now worse because of invasive species of grass (cheat grass). So now the cheat grass is pushing out the native grasses and sage brush because the seeds tolerate burning better, and the grass grows quickly....much faster than the native plants. To make it worse again, the cheat grass dies out in summer faster creating a greater burn hazard. I jokingly say my area has 5 seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Smoke, and Fall.
  - dmckeon 9y ago
    Rain, Green, Brown, and Fire, in much of California.
junkscience2017 9y ago
almost all of the land in the Western US that has been encouraged to overgrow is held by a government. the fires on the coast will be nothing compared to the soon-inevitable mega-fire that will reset the Federal land holdings in the Sierra range if more of the Sierra range had been allocated for productive use, we probably would not be in this situation. the Federal government is an absentee landlord
- mattsidesinger 9y ago
  Where I live in Colorado, we see active preventive measures on pubic, government owned lands as opposed to very little mitigation on large swaths of private lands.
  - junkscience2017 9y ago
    In the Sierra range the government is now funding a very expensive clear-cutting campaign to try to rid the forest of the 60 million estimated dead trees that have created a perpetual autumn-like landscape of golden trees. If the forests been subjected to well-regulated and sustainable harvesting, not only would the trees have been cut down as needed, but the state of California would have collected tax receipts. Instead, clear cutting is now a cost to government.
  - swasheck 9y ago
    I also live in Colorado and I've really noticed active preventive measures after the Hayman Fire. I'm not sure why the private lands are so unmitigated. Do you have any thoughts. Also ... "public."
- jonnycoder 9y ago
  I would say I don't know why you are downvoted but I do know why. Environmentalists overwhelm the Forest Service to the point where they don't even salvage log mega fires anymore due to a guarantee of being sued (and if they do it's safety salvage along roads). They also prevent timber sales of trees over a certain diameter, etc, etc. There is no balance anymore to timber sales or industry use, or they have become non existant on the west coast. Environmentalists & government have largely created unintended consequences in the last 50 years leading to mega fires that scorch the ground underneath the forest. What good is protecting an endangered owl if they eventually get scorched to death? (See Canyon Creek complex in Malhuer, King Fire in El Dorado, etc, etc the list never ends). The national forest is called "Land of Many Uses" for a reason. Despite what you hear, we can successfully log, cattle graze, hike, jeep, hunt and camp in our forests with balance.

35 points by thebent 9y ago

This is a huge amount of data, and an interesting way to visualize. An incredible number of these appear to be started by lightning. A set of filtering tools would be nice - to sort by year and type.

craftyguy 9y ago
Before humans, lightning was THE primary way to start fire on Earth.

superbatfish 9y ago

This is a very cool visualization. Weirdly, though, the visually apparent proportion of natural vs. human causes seems to change depending on my zoom level. Plotting this much data presents several challenges. I recently discovered a good guide on the subject of "Plotting Pitfalls" from the Bokeh project: https://bokeh.github.io/datashader-docs/user_guide/1_Plotting_Pitfalls.html https://bokeh.github.io/datashader-docs/user_guide/1_Plottin... I think this visualization suffers a bit from "overplotting".

bo1024 9y ago

This is very interesting but I think there is a bigger context too. My understanding (though I'm not an expert) is that wildfires are a normal, regular, naturally-occurring phenomenon. When humans artificially prevent forest fires from taking their natural course, this causes dead wood to continue building up significantly more, which causes the fires to be much more destructive when they do happen. So if these fires are essentially inevitable, maybe there should be less emphasis on the thing that happened to kick it off and more on preventing the conditions for it to become huge and destructive.

woliveirajr 9y ago
This. There are studies supporting this conclusion [0]: "Without adequate prevention measures, forest debris can build up, fueling a bigger, more devastating fire the next time around." And this [1]: "This leaves authorities with a difficult problem. After decades of successful wildfire suppression, we can now expect fires to be far worse when they finally happen." [0] http://news.mit.edu/2013/forest-fire-management-1120 http://news.mit.edu/2013/forest-fire-management-1120 [1] http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-raging-wildfires-burn http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160722-why-we-should-let-ra...
- nerdponx 9y ago
  Some articles worth reading if you're interested in this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14318646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14318646 https://priceonomics.com/does-using-airplanes-to-put-out-forest-fires/ https://priceonomics.com/does-using-airplanes-to-put-out-for...
overcast 9y ago
You are correct, they are essential to the health of forests. The massive 1988 fire in Yellowstone, was a direct result of humans intervening. https://blog.suny.edu/2013/08/ask-an-expert-why-are-wildfires-good/ https://blog.suny.edu/2013/08/ask-an-expert-why-are-wildfire...
cwbrandsma 9y ago
Where I live (Southern Idaho) it isn't just forest burning, but also the desert wild lands. The burning is now worse because of invasive species of grass (cheat grass). So now the cheat grass is pushing out the native grasses and sage brush because the seeds tolerate burning better, and the grass grows quickly....much faster than the native plants. To make it worse again, the cheat grass dies out in summer faster creating a greater burn hazard. I jokingly say my area has 5 seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Smoke, and Fall.
- dmckeon 9y ago
  Rain, Green, Brown, and Fire, in much of California.

junkscience2017 9y ago

almost all of the land in the Western US that has been encouraged to overgrow is held by a government. the fires on the coast will be nothing compared to the soon-inevitable mega-fire that will reset the Federal land holdings in the Sierra range if more of the Sierra range had been allocated for productive use, we probably would not be in this situation. the Federal government is an absentee landlord

mattsidesinger 9y ago
Where I live in Colorado, we see active preventive measures on pubic, government owned lands as opposed to very little mitigation on large swaths of private lands.
- junkscience2017 9y ago
  In the Sierra range the government is now funding a very expensive clear-cutting campaign to try to rid the forest of the 60 million estimated dead trees that have created a perpetual autumn-like landscape of golden trees. If the forests been subjected to well-regulated and sustainable harvesting, not only would the trees have been cut down as needed, but the state of California would have collected tax receipts. Instead, clear cutting is now a cost to government.
- swasheck 9y ago
  I also live in Colorado and I've really noticed active preventive measures after the Hayman Fire. I'm not sure why the private lands are so unmitigated. Do you have any thoughts. Also ... "public."
jonnycoder 9y ago
I would say I don't know why you are downvoted but I do know why. Environmentalists overwhelm the Forest Service to the point where they don't even salvage log mega fires anymore due to a guarantee of being sued (and if they do it's safety salvage along roads). They also prevent timber sales of trees over a certain diameter, etc, etc. There is no balance anymore to timber sales or industry use, or they have become non existant on the west coast. Environmentalists & government have largely created unintended consequences in the last 50 years leading to mega fires that scorch the ground underneath the forest. What good is protecting an endangered owl if they eventually get scorched to death? (See Canyon Creek complex in Malhuer, King Fire in El Dorado, etc, etc the list never ends). The national forest is called "Land of Many Uses" for a reason. Despite what you hear, we can successfully log, cattle graze, hike, jeep, hunt and camp in our forests with balance.