A Small Power Tool The Cause Of Recent California Wildfires?

In articles carried by CNN and local California news sources, it appears fire officials are now citing a power tool being used in order to clear out brush from a local trail as the cause of the recent wildfire in Santa Barbara which eventually resulted in the destruction of over 9,000 acres and more than 50,000 local residents evacuated from their homes.

It was reported that the fires have been over 50% contained, and some area residents now returning to their homes.

This area of the country has had at least four wildfires in the recent past, and this last one occurred at the height of what is known in California as the "wildfire season."

As another Western state former resident familiar with the climatic conditions which have occurred there during the last ten years of the drought, I would clearly question that a power tool most likely was responsible for the blaze, and if so due to the destruction which occurred, appears quite possibly that whoever was attempting to cut back some of the growth quite possibly waited too long.

It does appear a rather flimsy excuse, since a great many of these fires now are occurring due to both spontaneous combustion, and evening lightening storms which occur quite frequently in low humidity situations when rain filled clouds meet the dry desert winds which occur in this part of the country.

Due to the photographs of the fire and area, blaming a a weed wacker, or hedge trimmer as responsible seems stretching it, since the density and overgrowth of those forested acres is what resulted in the eventual devastation which occurred, and were clearly part and parcel of the overall cause, along with the natural weather conditions of the area and desert winds.

If the groundwater tables were also sufficient, the trees also would not have been so dry and parched as to ignite so readily. Dry wood also creates larger and harder to extinguish flames and fires which was definitely the case here, from all reports.

And due to low groundwater tables due to the drought, dried, brittle wood burns much faster and at much higher temperatures than trees that are sufficiently nourished.

My father's degrees were in forestry, wood technology and chemistry, and worked with the lumber industry for many years, and fought the environmentalists and tree huggers attempting to explain this simple fact of nature back in the 70's and provided technical data and his research to many of the lobbyists for the forestry industry back then.

They won due to the Sierra Clubs massive corporate donations and many others, and got much legislation passed supposedly "protecting" our national and state forests, and now we are seeing the unfortunate results of those actions and their errant beliefs year after year. Those animals now are also homeless.

If such an unlikely scenario that a weed wacker is involved, maybe what was needed was bigger and better equipment such as those used by the forestry industry, and/or more small, controlled burns first in order to prevent such future occurrences. Now that acreage will be unsuitable for new tree growth for literally years to come.

Or perhaps exchanging some of that timber for the services of the forestry industry in culling back a great deal of that overgrowth, making room for natural new tree growth in the process, or planting also some new saplings in order to keep the soil also vibrant and sustainable if need be.

But that won't come now for many years for those 9,000 acres, until it recovers from the soil depletion and damages to the ground itself now also due to ash levels.

The total property losses have yet to be estimated, but the amount of humans and now animals displaced and emotional toll may take years to cure, not to mention rebuild those forests one again.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/10/western.wildfires/