1/ This makes no sense and fundamentally misunderstands how authorities fight wildfires. So here’s a quick explainer from our fire expert, @esagara …
2/ On the water point: Throwing water at the problem works when you’re talking about something like a house fire. But that’s not how wildfires are fought.
3/ Wildfires are too big for that. Also, environmental factors such as weather play a much larger role in wildfires. Wind, heat and a lack of humidity make fighting them more difficult.
4/ So yes, water may be used to put out spot fires or areas that are strategically important for fire containment ...
5/ … But what you will see more often is aircraft dropping orange slurry ahead of the flames rather than on them. It coats dry vegetation, making it more resistant to approaching fire.
Like this:
Like this:
6/ Also: Crews will encircle wildfires with containment lines – strips of land that are cleared of flammable stuff. Roadways, rivers and other natural fire breaks can also be used as containment line. These lines are meant to stop the fire from spreading farther.
7/ So again: Fighting wildfires is less about spraying water and more about removing fuel from the equation. Sometimes that means a controlled burn: sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl… (via @sfchronicle)
8/ On the tree-clearing point: Most experts agree thinning vegetation before fires start is a good preventative measure.
9/ But keep in mind that the U.S. Forest Service alone has some 58 million acres of land that are at high risk of destructive fire. That figure is much higher once you start adding in other federal land holdings as well as state, local and private lands.
10/ These forest thinning projects are expensive and at times controversial. Many projects require collaboration between a wide variety of local, state and federal groups. They can get bogged down as disputes between different groups arise.
11/ But setting that aside, there is still the factor of cost. Thinning Forest Service land alone costs more than $300 million every year.
12/ In recent years, more than half the U.S. Forest Service’s budget was spent on putting out wildfires. The agency has diverted money from other programs, including wildfire prevention programs such as thinning, to pay that toll.
fs.fed.us/sites/default/…
fs.fed.us/sites/default/…
13/ And speaking of 💵💵💵, the Trump administration wants to slash federal funding for wildfire science, at a time when forest and brush fires are getting bigger, happening year-round and becoming increasingly erratic.
Our story on this from last week: revealnews.org/article/as-wil…
Our story on this from last week: revealnews.org/article/as-wil…
14/ Finally, on this point about diversion …
15/ No one seems to know what you’re talking about there, @realdonaldtrump.
nytimes.com/2018/08/06/cli…
nytimes.com/2018/08/06/cli…
16/ But to be clear: California is definitely not drowning in excess fresh water. In places like East Porterville, in 2016 more than 500 residents relied on above-ground tanks for water because so many wells have run dry.
revealnews.org/article/water-…
revealnews.org/article/water-…
17/ And California itself is literally sinking because humans have pulled way too much water out of underground aquifers.
revealnews.org/article/califo…
revealnews.org/article/califo…
18/ So those are the facts. We’ll email you more facts, and our next big story, if you sign up for our newsletter here: revealnews.org/newsletter
