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I've seen estimates which say that up to 90% of wildfires these days are started by humans. So who's starting all of those wildfires in British Columbia?
by southern_cross 8y ago
I've seen estimates which say that up to 90% of wildfires these days are started by humans. So who's starting all of those wildfires in British Columbia?
- notacoward 8y agoWhile likely true[1] I think that's a pretty gross diversion of the topic. However fires start, there remain issues of how quickly they spread, how damaging they become, and how hard they are to control. Those all come down to the overall condition of the land. If somebody drops a lit cigarette or fails to bank a cookfire properly, but that doesn't cause a fire of any consequence because the local plant life hasn't all turned to tinder, that doesn't even become part of the statistics. The problem is that conditions have become so bad that previously harmless human activity can now cause a massive conflagration, and we shouldn't distract from that. [1] https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluations.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluations...
- bryanlarsen 8y agoHumans put out >> 90% of wildfires before they become out of control.
- orev 8y agoIf humans had allowed the fires to burn, then there wouldn’t be so much fuel laying around in the first place, and fires that do start wouldn’t be so bad.
- Fjolsvith 8y agoJust reading into your comment, I'd say that 90% of those wildfires in British Columbia are started by humans.
- southern_cross 8y agoBears. It's bears, I'm thinking. Smokey Bear never made it across the Canadian border, as far as I can tell, so I reckon their bears just never got the message!