The homes versus forest quandary

Way back in 1961, a fire named Harlow destroyed 42,000 acres in little over a couple of days. Around 200 houses and two human lives were lost. The town of Nipinnawasee was destroyed. The fire burned through the area where I lived then (destroying my entire three-foot-high collection of comic books dating back to the early 1940s!) and also where I live now. It cleared a lot of land of its brush and small trees. Since that time, there hasn’t been any fire here. That’s 47 years! The natural cycle of fires in this part of California is every eight to ten years. Fortunately, the land around here has been heavily grazed by cattle and horses, keeping it relatively open and clear. In olden times that task was done by native elk and deer, with a little help from the native humans.

If that same fire occurred today and covered the same area, the number of houses lost would be in the thousands.

In 1961 wildfires were fought with the emphasis on saving the forest, not the houses. So fires could be contained relatively quickly. Now the emphasis is on saving homes, which requires diversion from the fire as a whole. In the case of the Telegraph fire now burning north of here literally hundreds of firefighters are standing near houses waiting for the oncoming flames, not concentrating on the spreading front of the fire.

Something is really wrong here. Sure, people’s houses are important, and I certainly wouldn’t shoo any willing firefighters away from the old homestead here, but there has to be a better way.

On June 20, I flew over parts of the local area and was really shocked at the density of houses in these hills. The pilot told me that “this is nothing—you should see Yosemite Lakes Park!” So many of the houses were right next to ornamental brush and ornamental trees that would practically explode if they caught fire. That’s the whole reason for living in the wilds—the gorgeous scenery and lush forest.

The island of Bermuda is located in hurricane territory. All the buildings there are built of concrete and can withstand 150-mile-an-hour winds. You are not allowed to build anything that a hurricane can destroy; it’s the law.

Should we do the same here? Fireproof houses?

I don’t know if we can have our cake and eat it too. For one thing, our “cake” could end up way overcooked.