Global Warming And Forest Fires

Forest Fire

Back to Philosophy in college.  If thing A causes thing B and we KNOW that thing A is true, then it follows that thing B must be true.

A=Global Warming
B=More Forest Fires

Doesn’t look good for Bambi and friends in our local forests:

<i>Forest experts generally agree that as climate change makes the world warmer and drier, wildfires will break out more often.</i>

But what if I told you that B=False:

Year Fires Acres Burned
2006         56,645.00          3,662,192.00
2007         45,907.00          1,842,596.00
2008         35,820.00          2,109,164.00
2009         47,466.00          1,891,224.00
2010         29,527.00          1,445,846.00
2011         35,722.00          4,728,327.00
2012         27,176.00          1,876,169.00
2013         21,729.00          1,351,576.00
2014         25,978.00              886,021.00
2015         27,590.00          2,048,899.00
2016         25,006.00          2,096,408.00

There is no increase in forest fires in the US.  The numbers above are Year to Date through 6/28.

2016 ranks 9th in the last 11 years in the number of fires and ranks 4th in acres burned – and it’s slowing down.

So, either Global Warming doesn’t cause more forest fires OR there is no Global Warming.

7 responses to “Global Warming And Forest Fires

  1. Hi Pino,

    A California fire chief was saying that the fire seasons have grown longer since he can remember, so if true I think that helps to prove A that Global Warming exists.

    Also saw a Vice episode on HBO where a scientist in Greenland was saying that soot from the forest fires settles on the ice there and darkens it, causing it to melt 6x faster. Warming’s a bitch?

    Either way, my beliefs are:
    A) Global Warming exists
    B) Our impact on it (plus or minus) is minimal
    C) We should still be making strong efforts to reduce all pollution, but
    D) We should be starting with China and India, not leaving them to last
    E) Environmentalists avoid real math and therefore reality 🙂

    • A California fire chief was saying that the fire seasons have grown longer since he can remember, so if true I think that helps to prove A that Global Warming exists.

      If true, we should be seeing more fires.

      Either way, my beliefs are:

      A. Agreed
      B. Agreed
      C. CO2 is not pollution
      D. Given A, B and C – Meh
      E. This is generally true of all liberals

  2. Hey look, scientists looked further back and used actual analysis, instead of a list of two variables over 11 years, and found the opposite. But surely you know better. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/313/5789/940.full

  3. Have to disagree with you on D. When a city’s pollution is so bad you have to wear a mask to get around it, that’s pretty bad.

  4. I have been a firefighter for 17 years, granted, I am not a wildland firefighter but I do read a lot of trade publications. I can tell you though that if all things were equal, we would probably see more wildland fires than in the past. However, just like in urban structure fires, all things are not equal. We are building more roads and reservoirs which act as natural fire breaks, and we are taking steps to reduce the fuel loads, and even using chemical treatments to reduce fire risks.

    https://www.nps.gov/fire/wildland-fire/learning-center/fire-in-depth/hazardous-fuel-reduction.cfm

    Just like city fire codes are reducing the number and severity of structure fires, we are taking steps to reduce the number and severity of wildland fires.

  5. Thanks for all that you do, Al.

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