California Wildfires

Waking up to Wildfires

California wildfires are on my mind in a personal and intense way at this time of year. I woke this morning, like any other morning, hoping that we were going to have grace this year with regard to wildfires. So far this wildfire season, I must say that it has been absolutely brilliant to see that any little fires have been immediately put out. This isn’t a solution to the issues of drought, global warming, and untended forests. But, in terms of PTSD, the communities of rural California need as much good news as possible. This past summer was like a dream for me: breathing fresh air is no longer something we take for granted when it’s been hard to come by in the very recent past. This month, on the anniversary of the Redwood Fires, the library released an anthology of stories from fire survivors called “Awakening to Wildfires.” And, unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened this morning, again.

Kincade Fire

I logged onto my social media networks first thing this morning as per my usual routine. I’m building an author network to promote my debut novel “Wildfire Weeds,” and I try to squeeze in shameless self-marketing here and there in stolen moments. This morning my feeds all lit up with a wildfire that had grown to 10,000 acres overnight. At 0% containment as of dawn, a lot of people are having some very visceral reactions to what seems to be a horrific Autumn tradition along the West Coast. My heart goes out to the residents of Geyserville, California and I hope that everyone found their way to safety during last night’s evacuations.

Redwood Fire

Not unlike this fire, I was abruptly awoken in the middle of the night with the urgency of a firestorm blowing directly toward my home in October 2017. It’s been two years since I had to evacuate in the back of a pick-up truck with only the clothes I was wearing. But, my heart and mind and soul are still reeling. There’s nothing as anxiety producing as wildfires. I thought that perhaps we had been spared the gravity of reckoning with a close, deadly wildfire in 2019. Certainly there were fires raging elsewhere from Alaska to the Amazon. However, California seemed to have been granted a much desired reprieve.

Wildfire Frequency

The thing that all my fear hinges on: we are not going to stop seeing wildfires anytime soon. We may be just beginning to recognize that wildfires are here to stay. Why? Well, I’m not gonna lie… I wrote about this exact topic in my debut novel, “Wildfire Weeds.” I explored it all through the course of a fiction novel that directly addressed how colonizing mindsets have set us up for disaster when it comes to fire. The truth is that we live in a place where fire is inextricably related to the ecology of this land we love. California and fire are interwoven together and have been for as long as people have been living here. For thousands of years the people indigenous to California have tended the wilds. Now, for decades, we the population of California have not been maintaining the forests, and we’re currently seeing unprecedented wildfire storms as a direct result. Unfortunately, we have a huge backlog of work to be done with regard to forest maintenance. The underbrush is like tinder during the dry, late Fall. And, the trees have not been thinned at all to allow a thriving forest ecosystem. So, we have overgrown woods where fire can easily spread from canopy to canopy and all along the fuel-filled understory.

Changes

In order to advance ourselves into the future with the certainty that we are going to be a thriving population of humans, we’re going to have to look at fire in a completely different way. We need to tend the flame by having control burns. Some tribes are getting permits to do just that right now, and in so doing are helping to move us into the future more sustainably. Government organizations are also starting to try their hand at control burns, which is an important part of tending the brush fuel load. We need to stop being in denial about the issue at hand: wildfires are not going to go away. The problem has just really begun to gain traction. We are going to have to reconsider our relationship with fire in order to survive. Two years ago, when my whole neighborhood went up in smoke in just a few hours, I already knew that wildfires were a grave threat. Now, two years later, we have not largely changed our ways. I know that bureaucratic changes take time and move slowly. But, we’re in a pinch. We don’t really have the luxury of time on this issue. Like most climate change topics, we should have been changing our game plan decades ago.

Future

So, here we stand, at the crossroads as a people. We want to continue to live on this planet. We can, ostensibly, make the changes that are required of us. For the sake of redundancy, lets spell out what that looks like from the personal to the political:

*Make sure that you have your to-go bag ready. It should have your important documents, some cash, and some breathing masks packed inside. Sign up for Nixle alerts so that you can be notified of potential threats. My own bag also happens to have a portable hand-crank radio, some energy bars, an emergency blanket, paracord, and a utility knife-tool.

*Know your possible evacuation routes. When my house burned down, the main road in and out of the property was closed because flaming trees had fallen over it. Scout out multiple ways to leave your property in a pinch. And also, consider where you might have the best chance of survival if you have to stay (because sometimes high wind and high firewalls take away your option to leave). We had a neighbor who was a blind veteran who dug himself into a nearby dry creaked and survived the firestorm in situ. Staying isn’t usually recommended, but these high wind driven fires in the middle of the night sometimes require worst case scenario thinking.

*If you live on land where you have any say in what happens on the property, begin to make your home a fire defensible space. Pine cones burn to regenerate, but human made houses do not. Clear trees and vegetation surrounding your home. This one is difficult because people love shade and trees –but people do not love melted homes that have to be taken away as hazardous waste in dump truck loads. Recognize that you need to make some hard choices and follow through with your fire defense plan. Create a sprinkler system that can keep your house wet on the outside if possible, or can be set up on a roof. Our power went out when the fire struck, so all our fire hoses were without pressure. Having a back-up generator for emergencies could mean that your home survives.

*On the political note, see where you want to be involved. Most of my community cannot fathom doing anything beyond rebuilding right now. We’re only two years out and still traumatized. If you have the energy, start making change in a way that supports you and the greater community. There are grants and other resources available to help create more fire defensible spaces. If you think your house is set, consider helping your neighbors. If your neighborhood is set, but the woods nearby are not, consider being a part of a bigger forestry project to make your region fire defensible. A lot of the options available to us are going to be on the smaller, local levels. But, if you have access to land, see if the forest service near you can instruct you on how to thoughtfully maintain the woods. In my neighborhood, we were harvesting suppressed growth fir trees for years before the fire came; this opened up the canopy to let other trees grow. And, we were able to use the harvested firs for building projects. Locally, the Forest Reciprocity Group is calling folks to action to consider how to be involved in working together for forest health.

California fires aren’t leaving

The reality is that we are not going to stop seeing California wildfires. Our fire suppression techniques have not stopped the wildfire ecology; instead, our lack of relationship with the forests surrounding us have created a real threat. We’re seeing huge wildfires because we have stopped tending the forests and stopped preparing for the inevitable. Imagine you live in a place that will continue to see fires: because you do and you will! Several species of plants have co-evolved with fire to spread seeds and generate regrowth. Unfortunately, we need to be much better prepared in order to really address the issue at hand. Control burns are a part of the solution. Thoughtful forest maintenance are a part of the solution. Creating defensible space around homes is a part of the solution. Really, the answer is to foster a connection to the environment that was the paradigm pre-settlement. There are indigenous peoples in this area that still remember the technologies that will help us survive this shift. We need to start listening and learning and applying this knowledge. And we need to do it daily.