Fire Season 🚒
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Season 2: Episode 13 Description
In today’s episode: 🔥 Learn what fire season means in California and hear the history behind controlled burns. 🚒 What is it like to be in the path of a wildfire? Correspondent Ryan Nerz speaks with a California resident who lost her home. 🗞️ In the news: 🌋 Volcano activity and students saving salmon. 😮 And test your firefighting knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
https://www.thathelps.com/ways-to-help-people-affected-by-california-wildfires/
Links
⭐ See the picture of the General Sherman Tree. https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/sherman.htm
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:02
We've talked about hurricane season and you may have heard of tornado season. But, did you know that California has a fire season?
Sound Bit 0:10
For right now out of control wildfires are raging across California. And you can see how much smoke is out there. The scale of these fires is almost unimaginable unless you're there.
Bethany Van Delft 0:20
And what does that mean? And how does it impact the people who live there? Today we'll find out more about California's wildfires. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's September 30th. And this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:34
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:41
People who live in California often wake up to something called a Red Flag Warning this time of year. That means, "watch out." Hot weather and dry conditions create an increased chance of fire danger. Okay, that's bad. Red Flag warnings are one of the many terms that Californians and others across the western United States have become familiar with over the past few years. That's because it's wildfire season, the time period from summer into the fall when dry and hot conditions lead to large wildfires. Wildfires are not a new thing in California, they're a natural part of the environmental cycle. Fires play an important part in the cycle clearing out the ground and creating a fresh start with some plants. In fact, up until the US government outlawed the practice in 1850, Native American tribes used controlled fires to open up pastures and provide nutrients for animals and crops. In the last two years, California has had two of the worst fire seasons ever recorded. Climate change has led to hotter, drier summers, which dry out the lands in vegetation that, combined with less rain in the state, means forests throughout the West are more likely to burn. And when a fire starts, from natural causes or not, the dry conditions increase the fire strength and the speed at which it spreads. And, California isn't the only state to battle blazes. Oregon's bootleg fire in July was so big it created its own weather, and its smoke traveled across the country into the Northeast. To fight all these fires, brave firefighters spray water, dig trenches and remove underbrush and dead trees. They also use controlled burns, which are planned fires set by fire professionals to clear out high-risk areas. Sound familiar? Because it is, it's the same tactic the Native American communities used hundreds of years ago, the US government banned the practice back then because they didn't understand its importance. The good news. Now the US Forest Service is partnering with some of the tribes to work together on ways to limit the destruction of each wildfire season. But as long as climate change continues, Californians will have a new season, fire season to contend with. Yikes. It's hard to imagine what it's like to be in the path of a growing wildfire. Correspondent Ryan Nerz is here to share one California resident's story.
Ryan Nerz 3:29
It seems like every summer, we hear the same headlines.
Sound Bit 3:33
Tonight, a growing threat as the giant Dixie fire carves a destructive path. Now the largest single wildfire in California history.
Ryan Nerz 3:42
It’s wildfire season in California again. And once again, this season's biggest fire is the state's biggest ever, but it's easy to forget that behind these flashy breaking news headlines are people. So we decided to talk to one of those people, someone whose life has been impacted by the Dixie fire.
Mary Davidge 4:05
My name is Mary Davidge and I live in the Bay Area in California, the South Bay.
Ryan Nerz 4:11
Mary Davidge is a mother of two who recently retired from the tech industry. Her family has owned a property in a remote part of Plumas County near the Lassen National Forest for a very, very long time.
Mary Davidge 4:25
My family has had a cabin north of Lake Almanor for over 100 years. So when we heard about the fire, I was concerned of course, because one of my sisters lived somewhat near there, but I didn't ever imagine that it would actually get all the way around Lake Almanor.
Ryan Nerz 4:48
As the Dixie fire roared towards them. Mary was doing what her family had done each summer for nearly a century. Spending time at the cabin, with family.
Mary Davidge 4:58
We were up there with Our oldest son, who was visiting us from New Hampshire. We knew that this was not a normal kind of fire because it was growing so rapidly. The skies were becoming very dark, we couldn't even see the beautiful view of Mount Lassen.
Ryan Nerz 5:15
Mary and her family could see the writing on the wall, there was only one road out from their property, and the chances of getting stuck there were increasing by the day.
Mary Davidge 5:25
we felt like we should get out of here. Not only is the smoke so bad, but that fire is growing very, very quickly. So we then left, we still even when we left I thought, I'll come back to this cabin. You know, it'll be okay.
Ryan Nerz 5:41
Mary tracked the fire from a distance. There were weather maps and blogs. But this being 2021, the best info came from live meetings on Facebook.
Mary Davidge 5:51
Calfire had a meeting every night to tell us about what was going on on the fire, how they were approaching it, how they were fighting the fire, where they thought it was going to go, what the weather conditions might be.
Ryan Nerz 6:07
Calfire is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the largest Fire Department in California, and the third-largest in the United States.
Mary Davidge 6:16
The fire kept coming toward us and then they'd stop it, it would come toward our cabin, and then they would stop it. So, we were hopeful.
Ryan Nerz 6:24
But finally, a neighbor shared a photo that a reporter had taken. The family's cabins were gone.
Mary Davidge 6:31
I would say maybe there were only say 50-60 cabins in there. I think more than half of them were destroyed.
Ryan Nerz 6:41
Volunteers from a sheriff's department took Mary to tour their property. She was overwhelmed.
Mary Davidge 6:47
It's really hard to describe. I think we all learned about the wonder and the beauty of nature. The trees, the meadow that was in front of our cabins. And then this incredible view of Mount Lassen was really a treasure. So there was a nature-part, but then there was also the family history part, the memory of our families.
Ryan Nerz 7:10
But as if to help preserve those family memories, one precious object miraculously survived the fire.
Mary Davidge 7:18
A few years ago, when my mother passed away, my nephew had made this beautiful steel metal plaque in memory of her. He drove up and a fireman had taken an owl off of the cabin, and it was sitting right there.
Ryan Nerz 7:33
Mary knows how lucky they've been compared to others. The Dixie fire has burned nearly 1 million acres and destroyed 1,300 buildings. It decimated the entire town of Greenville. And sadly, this destruction is part of a much larger trend.
Mary Davidge 7:50
Well, one thing that I've noticed in my lifetime is that the fires have just become much bigger and much hotter. Which, you know, we know is due to changes in our climate.
Ryan Nerz 8:04
Indeed, it seems that we're watching the effects of climate change happen in real-time. California fires burned more than 4 million acres in 2020, doubling the previous annual record of 2 million acres from just two years before. This shocked climate scientists who had predicted that such a massive jump in wildfire damage wouldn't occur for another 30 years or more. There are no easy answers to California's wildfire problem. After over two months of burning, the Dixie fire is still only 75% contained. We won't be able to stop the threat of wildfires anytime soon. But whatever progress we can make, it'll take a group effort.
Mary Davidge 8:48
All of us need to figure out what we can do in our areas for climate change because there's the local regional issue. And, then there's a much broader issue, I believe, of climate change that we each and every one of us need to figure out how we can help to address that over the next 10 years.
Bethany Van Delft 9:07
Thanks, Ryan. There are many great organizations that are helping families impacted by wildfires. If you want to get involved, check out our show notes for links and lots of suggestions of how you can get involved. Now let's see what else is happening.
Bethany Van Delft 9:31
Last week, the residents of Spain's Canary Islands were reminded of the dangers of living near an active volcano. More than 6,000 people on the island of La Palma had to evacuate their homes when the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted, sending up lava and ash. This is the volcano's first major eruption since 1971. The lava from the volcano has unfortunately destroyed hundreds of homes in its path. This is terrible. During the recent inspiration for a mission that took tourists into space, an alarm went off. Oh my goodness, we imagined that it was a pretty scary moment for the crew. But luckily, the issue turned out to be with the spacecraft's toilet, that's right, the toilet. We're glad the problem was resolved because even in space when you gotta go, you gotta go. Students at Casa Grande High School in Northern California are caring for 1,000's of coho salmon that were rescued from nearby Lake Sonoma. Droughts have caused water levels at Lake Sonoma to drop and because of climate change, the water in the lake got so warm that the salmon were getting sick. Fortunately, Casa Grande High School has its own hatchery. A facility where eggs can be hatched under artificial conditions. For now, the rescued salmon will stay there until it's safe for them to return to the lake. Nice job Casa Grande. Way to go. Lucky you, it's time for.
Various Voices 11:08
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 11:11
Trivia on The Ten. Firefighters in California Sequoia National Park are battling the K&P complex fire, a fire that's gotten dangerously close to the giant sequoia trees that have lived in the park for centuries. What did they do to protect the General Sherman tree? One of the world's largest trees. Was it a) setting up a water spray to keep it wet? b) wrapped in aluminum foil or c) paint it with a flame-resistant gel.
Bethany Van Delft 11:48
Did you get it? The answer is B. To keep General Sherman safe, firefighters wrapped the tree and a special aluminum foil fiberglass blanket. The blankets are designed to protect against heat wrapped around the most vulnerable parts of the tree. The mass of Sequoia is 275 feet tall and more than 36 feet wide at its base. Wow. Sequoias range from a few 100 years old to 3,000 years old. Good thing we have some high-tech protection for these magnificent trees. I'd give one a hug, but my arms aren't long enough. Time's up. That's the end of the time for today. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a corporate section of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeart Radio. The Ten News creative team is thankful for firefighters and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Now go hug a tree. A smaller tree, like maybe a one-foot-around tree. Hug any tree, trees are awesome.
