Going into 2025 and for much of 2024, we saw many wildfires and some left millions of acres destroyed, but what caused the fires to get this big in the first place?
Recent studies have shown that the aggressive firefighting tactics used to suppress fires before they can start have inadvertently led to more severe fires. Before humans were able to quickly put out fires, any fire that happened would lead to most of the flammable material in the forest burning, which means the next fire has less material and therefore makes a smaller fire. Quickly putting out fires before they start allows the material to build up, such as dead trees, leaves, and grass, and over 5-10 years, this material has built up enough such that the next fire would burn through exponentially more, making unstoppable fires such as the one seen in California.
In past years, fires were set to clean the landscapes, but the practice was outlawed in California in the 1850s, leading to the buildup. So, what is the solution? Unfortunately, the only long-term solution for the people living in California is to let it burn and start again. Implementing prescribed burns and letting some forest fires burn would help prevent build-up in the long term, preventing these unstoppable fires from reoccurring.
Sources:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2024/rmrs_2024_kreider_m001.pdf
