3 ms·

This is true, but even where it's not, the biggest issue in doing controlled burns is simply funding. Controlled burns aren't just "light it up". You may need

by bsder 3y ago

This is true, but even where it's not, the biggest issue in doing controlled burns is simply funding. Controlled burns aren't just "light it up". You may need to create a firebreak. You may need to cull some trees as too many areas have lots of spindly, unhealthy trees that are going to make a controlled burn much harder to control. etc. All of this costs manpower which translates to money.

joe_the_user 3y ago
Controlled burns cost money, no doubt. But just an example, California's fire suppression complex is very well funded. California has a fleet of 747s and other huge aircraft, just for example. My guess is there's no funding where there's no people and where there are people, there's funding but the people's arrangement prevents controlled burns.
- 650REDHAIR 3y ago
  I thought CA contracted out most of the aviation and one of the big companies sold their fire fighting 747 and it was converted to a cargo plane. Cal fire operates some small craft I think.
- bsder 3y ago
  > California's fire suppression complex is very well funded Perhaps very well funded for putting out an existing fire at a specific spot. Controlled burns for prevention need to occur over VAST areas--it's an O(1) vs O(n^2) scaling problem.
onecommentman 3y ago
What everybody (homeowners, forestry types, loggers, environmentalists, etc.) can agree to is prescribed burn practices should be improved. At the time, the story told about the Cerro Grande fire was an inexperienced Forestry agent started a prescribed burn in the heart of the Spring wind season, leading to an inevitable wildfire that no local NM understanding local conditions would have approved. Probably the most expensive fire in NM history. The story told of the Hermits Peak fire is another outsider Forestry agent tried to squeeze a prescribed burn into a very narrow “safe” time slot to stay “on schedule”. To no one’s surprise, the fire didn’t care much about the narrow slot of safety and the largest wildfire in NM history resulted. I think giving a State powers to selective delay any specific prescribed fire within their borders (State, Fed, tribal) would have prevented both destructive NM fires. Local wisdom counts for something and at least the Feds don’t come off looking like idiots when things get out hand. Maybe the Feds and the State together would look like idiots, but not just those outsider Feds.

by bsder 3y ago

joe_the_user 3y ago

Controlled burns cost money, no doubt. But just an example, California's fire suppression complex is very well funded. California has a fleet of 747s and other huge aircraft, just for example. My guess is there's no funding where there's no people and where there are people, there's funding but the people's arrangement prevents controlled burns.

650REDHAIR 3y ago
I thought CA contracted out most of the aviation and one of the big companies sold their fire fighting 747 and it was converted to a cargo plane. Cal fire operates some small craft I think.
bsder 3y ago
> California's fire suppression complex is very well funded Perhaps very well funded for putting out an existing fire at a specific spot. Controlled burns for prevention need to occur over VAST areas--it's an O(1) vs O(n^2) scaling problem.

onecommentman 3y ago

What everybody (homeowners, forestry types, loggers, environmentalists, etc.) can agree to is prescribed burn practices should be improved. At the time, the story told about the Cerro Grande fire was an inexperienced Forestry agent started a prescribed burn in the heart of the Spring wind season, leading to an inevitable wildfire that no local NM understanding local conditions would have approved. Probably the most expensive fire in NM history. The story told of the Hermits Peak fire is another outsider Forestry agent tried to squeeze a prescribed burn into a very narrow “safe” time slot to stay “on schedule”. To no one’s surprise, the fire didn’t care much about the narrow slot of safety and the largest wildfire in NM history resulted. I think giving a State powers to selective delay any specific prescribed fire within their borders (State, Fed, tribal) would have prevented both destructive NM fires. Local wisdom counts for something and at least the Feds don’t come off looking like idiots when things get out hand. Maybe the Feds and the State together would look like idiots, but not just those outsider Feds.