Let's Stop the California Fires

Forest fires are a concern in particularly dry regions. Ignition has ranged from a random spark

from an old power line, littered cigarettes, and a gender reveal party. In 2019, there have been 50,477 wildfires reported and 4.4 million acres of burnt throughout the wildfires. In California alone, there has been 5,316 wildfires and 1.352 million acres burned. California is 4.3% of the US area, but it has10% of the total wildfires and 30.7% of the total area burned.

This year, wildfires have been covered by the media much more than last year. This is due to 237 named wildfires that exist this year. 3,627,010 total acres have been burnt this year alone, and 7,928 total incidents of wildfires have been in California. The wildfires have occurred all the time, but why did we just find out that nearly 4% of California’s surface has been on fire? This extreme wildfire season all started on September 5th . A family was hosting a gender reveal party with a pyrotechnic device. The pyrotechnic device malfunctioned and caught on fire. This incident caused 20,000 acres to burn out of the 3,627,010 acres burnt this year. There are currently 41 major wildfires ongoing in California from as far back as March. How do we prevent the number of wildfires as much as possible? Simple. Just follow these guidelines and up to 90% of the current wildfires can be prevented.

The Red Cross has provided the public with a list of precautions that can help reduce the

numbers of wildfires: report unattended fires, throw away cigarettes only in designated areas, do not use pyrotechnics near flammable areas, and to use caution when handling flammable liquids.

What about the other 10%? Wildfires are natural in that dead matter accumulates and the dry debris is flammable. It is stated that around 10-20% of the lightnings in the world have the potential to start a wildfire, and there behind 100,000 lightnings every day, that equates to 10,000-20,000 lightnings that can start wildfires. With human precaution, the annual average can be as low as 500,000 acres burned.

Each and every one of us are responsible for taking care of Mother Nature. Following fire

precautions and educating others will greatly reduce the scorched scars across our beautiful state. Perhaps next year, the collective efforts of each community will set a record low in contrast to this year’s record high.