Withstanding Wildfires Demands Co-Existence, Not Control

Withstanding wildfires demands that humans learn to co-exist with these extreme events, not control them, according to new research.

Rather than using techniques like thinning and prescribed burns to control these unpredictable fires, Smokey the Bear may have been right with his "prevention" motto. Researchers from the University of California (UC), Berkeley compare their suggestions to how we tackle other natural phenomena like earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.

"We don't try to 'fight' earthquakes - we anticipate them in the way we plan communities, build buildings and prepare for emergencies. We don't think that way about fire, but our review indicates that we should," lead author Max Moritz said in a statement.

You might think that managing the severity of wildfires while allowing them to play their natural role in certain ecosystems is a sensible approach, but in actuality, researchers say, it will make humans more vulnerable to catastrophic losses.

In the study, published in the journal Nature, scientists looked at wildfires from several angles, taking into account differences in public response, how they behave in various ecosystems, and the critical interface zones between communities and natural landscapes. It may seem obvious, but they found that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem.

For example, fuel reduction may be an appropriate response for California's dry conifer forests, but the same cannot be said for other parts of the world, like Australia and the Mediterranean Basin.

So how do we better deal with ravaging wildfires? Well, the researchers recommend first off that humans practice better land-use planning and regulations. This includes zoning guidelines that restrict development in the most fire-prone areas, updating building codes, and developing better maps of fire hazards, ecosystem services and climate change effects. Currently, California's fire hazard severity zone map, for example, does not account for wind patterns, which greatly influence the severity of a fire and lead to loss of homes and lives. The recommended changes would hopefully change that.

In addition, the UC Berkeley team stresses that wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems and can have a positive long-term influence on the landscape, despite their label as "disasters." In fact, they can stimulate and promote vegetation growth and diversity as well as provide habitat for many wildlife species.

"A different view of wildfire is urgently needed," said Moritz. "We must accept wildfire as a crucial and inevitable natural process on many landscapes.

The numbers, sizes and intensities of fires vary greatly, and if we don't learn to co-exist with these erratic events in the long term, we will likely perish.