California May Be Saved From Its Next Big Wildfire Thanks To One Truly Strange Substance
As a wildfire feeds on dry grass and trees, the flames become difficult to extinguish. That's why experts are trying to snuff out any raging infernos before there's even a whiff of smoke. Researchers proposed a new method for preventing the devastation caused by uncontrolled burning, but before they can implement their unconventional plan, these wildfire whizzes must convince skeptics the idea won't light up like a furnace.
Fire is Simple
Preventing fires comes with a ton of challenges. “Fire, in some ways, is a very simple thing, as long as stuff is dry enough and there’s a spark, then that stuff will burn,” Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory said. Experts have a handful of causes they must be mindful of.
First Major Cause
Climate change is one of the largest. “This climate-change connection is straightforward: warmer temperatures dry out fuels. In areas with abundant and very dry fuels, all you need is a spark,” Park said. The state’s fire record shows that, since 1932, the 10 most expansive burns happened in the past 20 years.
Massive Complex Fires
And it looks like those numbers won't decrease any time soon. The 2020 August Complex Fire has usurped the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire for the largest wildfire ever recorded in the area. “In pretty much every single way, a perfect recipe for fire is just kind of written in California,” Dr. Williams said.
Loading the Dice
“Nature creates the perfect conditions for fire, as long as people are there to start the fires," Park said. "But then climate change, in a few different ways, seems to also load the dice toward more fire in the future.” Even with dry brush and other perfect tinder, something needs to ignite the kindling.
The Human Element
Lightning or other random acts of nature can start a wildlife, but experts realize that people are the most common cause. Downed power lines were the impetus for several fires; sparks from a car-scraping were responsible for the 2018 Carr Fire (still in the top 10 for largest wildfires).
How To Fix?
Because when Smoky Bear tells us that only we can prevent forest fires, he's not exactly wrong. All the prevention techniques in the world can only do so much when you give a careless human a match. Before their latest idea, experts tried a handful of strategies to mitigate any fire damage.
Uneven Responsibility
People or the equipment they’re operating cause 90% of wildfires in California. Some are from unpreventable accidents, but others were brought about by extremely poor decisions. The 2018 Mendocino Complex fire was started when a farmer used fire to get rid of an active wasp nest. Prevention experts were at a loss.
Toxic Mix
“California has a lot of people and a really long dry season,” Park said. “People are always creating possible sparks, and as the dry season wears on and stuff is drying out more and more, the chance that a spark comes off a person at the wrong time just goes up. And that’s putting aside arson.”
Good Intentions, Poor Consequences
Besides the large concentration of people, there’s another major factor behind the disasters: past firefighting techniques. “For the last century we fought fire, and we did pretty well at it across all of the Western United States,” Park said. The firefighters were a bit too successful, unfortunately.
Accumulating Tinder
“And every time we fought a fire successfully, that means that a bunch of stuff that would have burned didn’t burn,” Park said. “And so over the last hundred years we’ve had an accumulation of plants in a lot of areas.” All of this tinder only needed a spark to create a burn large enough to destroy swatches of land.
Burning Through Places
“And so in a lot of California now when fires start, those fires are burning through places that have a lot more plants to burn than they would have if we had been allowing fires to burn for the last hundred years,” Park said. Now, they’re using controlled burns to alleviate this growth accumulation.
Two Fire Seasons
Besides the crispy plants, the fall brings the onset of the Santa Ana winds. These gusts drag dry air into Southern California and create a “second fire season.” Wildfires blazing during the fall normally occur closer to neighborhoods and other urban areas and caused 80% of economic loss compared to “first” season fires.
Creative Solutions to Major Problems
Local governments are attempting to curb the problem by removing dried brush, but this isn’t enough. Barath Raghavan, a computer scientist at the University of Southern California and avid gardener, has a creative solution he’d like to implement. His idea stems from his love of plants.
Unlikely Connection
Barath is a part of the California Rare Fruit Growers organization and grows at least 150 edible plants on a regular basis. Part of Barath’s interest was in sustainable agriculture. His research drew him to some unexpected information that he believes could help save the state.
A Bananas Idea
With all of his research and experimentation, Barath believes banana trees could be the answer. Planting groves could serve as a firebreak. These plants are actually massive herbs and are filled with sticky sap instead of a hard wooden trunk. He invites anyone to check this out for themselves.
Go on YouTube
“If you go on YouTube and you search for banana leaves, you’ll find videos of people taking a banana leaf and putting it straight over their gas burner. The leaf will wilt, but it usually doesn’t catch on fire,” Barath said. He’s probably watched every video of this contained on the site.
Protective Banana Ring
“Eventually, once the temperature gets high enough, anything will burn because it’ll completely desiccate. But it won’t be a source of fuel, is the key thing,” Barath explained. Basically, the bananas won’t stop the fire, but their resistance would give firefighters more time to get to a fire before it spreads outside of a protective banana ring.
Embers Would Escape
“You wouldn’t completely stop [the fire] because eventually enough embers would get thrown over,” Barath said. Fires have seared through banana plants in the past, but Barath asserts a thick grove is the key to fending one off. Barath isn’t the first banana believer, either.
Appealing Banana Expert
Doug Richardson is a banana expert from L.A. who had to shift career paths when his entire farm was destroyed in a 1995 mudslide. Just four years later, Seaside Banana Gardens, who produced 50 banana varieties, was officially out of business. Luckily, his banana knowledge helped him score even after his farm was gone.
Banana Grove
Harry and Cricket Wilson hired Doug to help with their landscaping. They couldn’t get insurance because of the immense risk of wildfires and landslides. Doug decided planting 1,500 banana trees around the couple’s five-acre yard was a part of the solution — and it worked.
A Fruitful Plan
Banana trees are perennials, which means they’ll come back every season, and people with these groves will have all of bananas they could ever want. We love the idea of keeping your yard safe and getting some delicious fruit in the process. And at this point, the state needs major protection from the continued threat of fire.
California In Flames
Of the 27 wildfires ripping through California in the summer of 2020, it was the North Complex Wildfire (particularly the Bear fire) that turned Berry Creek upside down. Almost the entire town was wiped out by the fire, which left nothing but skeletal homes and ash in its wake.
Destruction in Berry Creek
When it comes to wildfires, something as seemingly inconsequential as a change in wind can cause unimaginable destruction, and that’s exactly what happened in Berry Creek. As people fled for their lives, the firefighters closed in on the flames.
Firefighters
Just because firefighters have been trained to, well, fight fires, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Containing wildfires is life-threatening work, and the sight of the flames plus the destruction left behind made them desperate for good news...
BCSO Search and Rescue
This was especially true for the BCSO Search and Rescue team. It’s their job to sift through the wreckage left behind by the fires. They never know what they’re going to find, especially on a property like the one they saw that day in Berry Creek.
What's That?
The BCSO Rescue team sifted through the charred remains of what used to be someone’s home. Surveying the dead remains of the house, they stepped over blackened furniture and crumbling walls. The last thing they expected to see was movement.
Finding the Puppy
But sure enough, wriggling under the burned furniture was a puppy! Dirty, but very much alive, the pup was covered in so much soot that he blended in with the wreckage. The rescuers scooped him up and gave him some water.
Will He Survive?
It was hard to tell from the outside whether or not the puppy was seriously injured, so they brought him to Valley Oaks Veterinary Center. All the while, they couldn’t help but think the one thing we’re all thinking: Who on earth would leave a puppy behind?
Desperate Measures
It’s a question many California-based pet owners have been asking themselves as the unimaginable suddenly becomes reality. What to do in the line of literal fire? If you’re forced to evacuate, what if you can’t fit your family and pets into your car?
The Puppy's Story
For so many pet owners, their pets are their family, so the thought of leaving them behind is almost unthinkable. But for this puppy’s family, it was a decision they had to make: With minutes to evacuate their home, their pup was nowhere to be found.
Where's the Puppy?!
According to his owners, there wasn’t much time between the evacuation order and the incoming fire. They scrambled to gather up all of their dogs, and were horrified when their puppy wasn’t among them.
Heartbreaking Decision
They had to make a heartbreaking decision: Leave now and survive, or risk everything by searching for their puppy? With orange flames on the horizon, they had no choice but to hope the little puppy’s instincts would keep him alive without them.
Animal Instincts
Thankfully, they were right to trust his animal instincts. Even as a puppy, he managed to escape the flames that destroyed the house and town around him. Not every family has been so lucky, however.
Pet Safety
With very little rain in the forecast, 27 major wildfires continued to burn in California and claimed the lives of at least 29 civilians. The number of animal fatalities (pets or otherwise) is unknown, but there are some steps you can take to keep your own pet safe.
Evacuation Supply Kit
Experts at the Ready for Wildfire organization advise pet owners to make an evacuation supply kit for the whole family, including any domestic pets. For all pets including farm animals, come up with a detailed evacuation plan in case wildfire strikes.
Safety Tips
Is your pet carrier lodged between some old boxes in the attic? Make sure all pet carriers are easily accessible in case you need to make a quick exit. Readyforwildfire.org recommends assigning one pet to each family member, which should make evacuating a little easier.
What To Pack
Experts advise filling your Pet Disaster Preparedness Kit with two weeks’ worth of food and water, any medications your pet is taking, plastic bags for waste disposal, toys and treats, blankets, collars, and paper towels.
What To Do?
Since no one can control when evacuation orders will happen, it’s important to arrange for a neighbor to take your pet for you if you’re not home in time. Of course, then there’s the ultimate question: What to do if you can’t find your pet in time?
One Important Tip
Since pets are usually more attuned to nature than we are, they may sense fire and take cover before you even realize what’s going on. That's exactly what happened to the puppy! There’s one thing you can do to make sure your pet isn’t alone.
Identification Collars
Ready for Wildfire recommends that all pets have identification collars so they can be traced back to you. After our rescued puppy was examined by veterinarians, his rescuers came up with the perfect nickname for him.
Little Trooper
They decided to call him Trooper! By surviving a wildfire, Trooper has certainly lived up to his nickname. Thankfully, his time at the vet made it clear how the scary circumstances he was rescued under haven’t been too damaging for him.
Flicker of Hope
Miraculously, Trooper only suffered minor burns from the fire, and will most likely make a full recovery. This is not only good news for his family, who will be reunited with him soon, but for the rescuers, too. They were in the same position just two years prior.
Camp Fire
In November of 2018, the most destructive wildfire in California history ripped through the Golden State, decimating everything in its path. The blaze, known as the Camp Fire, destroyed 153,336 acres of land and caused between $7.5-$10 billion dollars in damages.
Deadly
The Camp Fire was also the deadliest in the state's history and the sixth-deadliest U.S. wildfire overall. After scouring the rubble of the almost 19,000 buildings and structures consumed by the fire, authorities reported a staggering 86 casualties.
No Longer Paradise
Of the communities ravaged by the blaze, however, none were more affected than the town of Paradise. All 27,000 residents were evacuated from their homes as the fire proceeded to destroy 95 percent of all buildings in the community.
Sounds Familiar?
During the mad dash to escape the flames, the citizens of Paradise had little time to gather their possessions. Yet while the choice made by many to leave behind clothes, furniture, and even cars was surely a difficult one, there were others forced to sacrifice far more than just their valuables...
Andrea Gaylord
For Andrea Gaylord, the decision to abandon the home that had been in her family for ten generations was one of the hardest she'd ever made. But even as she watched as the century-old home went up in flames, something else made her heart ache more.
Madison and Miguel
As the Camp Fire made its way through Paradise, Andrea's guard dogs, Madison and Miguel, had taken off and vanished without a trace. Though she and her husband had searched tirelessly for their beloved pets, the encroaching blaze forced the couple to flee, leaving the fate of the dogs unknown.
Howling in the Wind
Andrea and her husband fled to a nearby shelter, where, alongside hundreds of other evacuees, they waited for the fire to be extinguished. All the while, thoughts of Madison and Miguel never left her mind.
Unsafe
Finally, after 17 days of non-stop firefighting, the raging Camp Fire blaze was contained. Like her fellow Paradise residents, Andrea was eager to return home, hoping somehow her dogs had survived. But when she and her husband attempted to leave the shelter, they were told that Paradise was still too unsafe to return to.
K9 Paw Print Rescue
That's when she contacted Shayla Sullivan of K9 Paw Print Rescue, who had actively been rescuing lost pets from areas affected by the Camp Fire. After learning of the situation, Shayla vowed to do whatever she could to reunite Andrea with Madison and Miguel.
Citrus Heights Has a Great Chilis
However, as soon as Shayla began her search, she received word of a dog matching Madison's and Miguel's descriptions wandering through the small city of Citrus Heights near Sacramento. The city was 85 miles south of Paradise.
Mr. Miguel!
Shayla drove down there, and when she arrived, she was stunned to find the dog described to her was, in fact, Miguel! Unbelievably, the dog had traveled from Andrea's home in Paradise and had been picked up by another local rescue organization.
Two Tickets to Paradise
Andrea was overjoyed when she heard the news about Miguel, but Shayla wasn't satisfied with finding just one of the two pooches. And so, loading up her car once more, Shayla headed for Paradise.
Burned
The roads were barely navigable as Shayla made her way through the once-vibrant town, a graveyard of charred homes and vehicles peering out at her from beneath the ashes of burnt treetops. Forget dogs for a second: with so much destruction, was it possible anything could've survived out here?
By Her Home
Upon reaching Andrea's burned-down property, however, Shayla got her answer. As she surveyed the scorched earth, Shayla noticed movement in the pile of rubble that was once the hundred-year-old home. She approached, her heart beating wildly...
Madison
It was Madison! Apparently, the faithful guard dog had returned after the fire had been extinguished and was now sitting watch of his former home! But even with the dog alive and well, there was still one challenge that Shayla would have to face.
Running Away
Being that Madison was no lover of strangers, the wary dog immediately took off when Shayla approached him (some guard dog!). Shayla knew, if she wasn't able to catch Madison, the dog would surely perish from a lack of food and water. Shayla needed a plan.
Pooch Plotting
So after leaving some fresh water and a bowl of food out for Madison, Shayla returned to Andrea to share the good news and relay her difficulty in catching him. The pair was stumped over the predicament but devised the perfect method for luring the protective pup back home.
Clothes!
Using an article of Andrea's clothing, Shayla used the smell to calm Madison and draw her back to the property. And when the guard dog returned, he found his owners and brother waiting there for him!
Wheat Thins
The tearful reunion was marked by excited licks and yelps from Madison, who was then fed a hefty bag of his favorite treat — Wheat Thins. Even in the face of catastrophe, Madison stayed loyal to his family and protected the home at all costs.
Love and Loyalty
Animal loyalty combined with their intuition is one of the strongest forces on Earth. And those natural instincts are exactly what is needed in a pressing situation.
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