Berkeley, California - the town I was raised in - has always been defined by fire.
The 1923 fire took out seven square miles and over 600 homes north of the campus… so you don’t see any structures older than that in the hills where I grew up.
Dry conditions and 40 mph winds, combined with poor firebreaks and the presence of transplanted eucalyptus trees were the cause.
The smell of Eucalyptus is the smell of my childhood.
The redwoods were all cleared from the hills in the 19th century, and the fast-growing Australian eucalyptus were chosen to take their place. It turns out that young gum trees made lousy lumber, but excellent torches. While redwoods are fire resistant and actually benefit from brush fires, eucalyptus trees release flammable gas, when heated, igniting into fireballs and shooting sparks once they catch fire. They are only now being taken out.
I can personally remember the fire of 1970 driven by the same conditions. It was most likely caused by hippies camping in Tilden Park... you could here the conga drum from my house in the morning and evening.
And of course the Oakland and Berkeley hills fire of 1991 destroyed over 3,000 homes and killed 25 people, including some of my neighbors. This is the scene from my apartment complex -- the fire started in a box canyon behind it and raced out of control in the high and hot late October winds.
<clip>
We now name fires the way others name hurricanes. I have friends who had homes in the path of the Caldor fire… and the Dixie fire...and ones who lost his place in the mudslide that followed the Thomas fire in Santa Barbara.
Here he is on Ellen describing the experience.
<clip>
In the Bay Area , more than 20% of days in 2020 were of at least a moderate health concern due fire related bad air quality, where the air looks more like Beijing than Berkeley. We plan vacations, day trips, and telecommuting to find clean air and avoid the “stay inside” advice of the Public Health Officials...and meteorologists!
<clip>
We arrange our exercise schedules for when it is healthy rather than harmful to be active. And we have days without power when the local power company needs to shut down transmission lines due to high winds.
Fire is an ongoing feature of California.
But research from UC Berkeley indicates that it has always been that way. That’s our dirty little secret.
“The idea that US wildfire area of approximately two million hectares annually is extreme is certainly a 20th or 21st century perspective. Skies were likely smoky much of the summer and fall in California during the prehistoric period.”
Scott L. Stephens *, Robert E. Martin, Nicholas E. Clinton 2007
While weather is a key factor in fire severity, we need to stop shrugging our shoulders and just blaming climate change.
We also need to confront the reality that what is driven by climate change is going to get worse before it gets better, no matter how much we pledge to do by 2030 or 2050.
California’s ethos is one of extraction - of water, of trees, of metals, and of oil. One which builds skyscrapers and stadiums and nuclear power plants near earthquake faults, and plants crops in the desert. While California preserves and is known for its natural wonders, we really don’t know how to manage humans and nature *together.*
Over three million acres caught fire in California in 2020. And over three million again in 2021. Whether it is a climate change problem, a forest management problem, or a people problem, we need to recognize that fire is a part of our natural landscape, and develop ways to accommodate rather than constantly fight it.
