Fire officials stress climate's role over forest management in preventing California blazes
CALIFORNIA, USA — As firefighters fight
flames in Los Angeles, they're also fighting misinformation as people claim these fires could have been prevented with forest management. However, experts say there's much more to minimizing fire risks than just prescribed burns.
In an effort to curb wildfires, California aims to treat a million acres of land in the state each year. Cal Fire plays a major role in these fuel reduction projects, along with other agencies.
"500,000 acres from the federal areas, and then 500,000 between Cal Fire and then all of our local response areas. And to divide it even further, Cal Fire's goal is to treat 100,000 acres every year," Acuna said.
Cal Fire is the state's fire agency, and the department met its goals for the previous fiscal year. This comes after Republican lawmakers criticized the state on Monday, saying California is not meeting its goals as fires continue to burn in Southern California.
"There was a commitment to do 500,000 acres a year in treatment. It was a partnership between the state and the federal government that the governor was proud to announce when it came out. We have gotten no where near meeting those goals," said Asm. James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
The U.S. Forest Service is part of the state's partnership and part of the Eaton Fire is burning in their jurisdiction. As of October 2024, USFS says statewide, it has done 3,500 acres of prescribed burns and more than 5,000 acres of mechanical treatments. USFS says weather has played a big factor in trying to clear fuel in Southern California.
"Southern California has not seen conditions appropriate for prescribed burning since last spring. Certainly, we are not in any kind of condition in the southern half of the state to be looking at those prescribed fires now," said Adrinne Freeman, with USFS.
ABC10 asked if anything could have been done to prevent the destructive spread of the Southern California fires.
"There's nothing. Let's just start with that. The conditions that we saw in Southern California last Tuesday were in above the 99.99th percentile of severity," Freeman said.
Environmental experts at Stanford University agree that climate plays a major role in fire risks and management.
"Even a large scale fire break probably wouldn't have been effective in keeping the wildfire out of the communities. And once the communities are burning, the spread is from home to home, and it doesn't really have anything to do with the forest management," said Chris Field, with Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment.
While fires may be difficult to prevent, fire officials and scientists say homeowners can help minimize the spread by hardening their homes and property.
So far this fiscal year, Cal Fire says it has treated just under 50,000 acres. There is also a dashboard to keep track of the
fuel reduction projects.
