These Unheralded Workers Are Helping Prevent the Next Wildfire

• Published in: Sapiens
• Main Author: Zárate, Salvador
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Denver 15.09.2021
• Subjects: Arteries; Burns; Chaparral; Climate change; Controlled burning; Drought; Estate boundaries; Estates; Firefighters; Forest & brush fires; Geography; Grasses; Horticulture; Knowledge; Landowners; Prescribed fire; Rural areas; Shrubs; Wildfires; Workers; Southern California; United States > US; California

Coupled with dry conditions resulting from expanding regional drought caused by climate change, these volatile winds are the animating force behind wildfires in this part of the U.S. Or as Sam put it, “If the chaparral and the non-natives [plants] can be thought of as the arteries of wildfire, giving them the fuel and terrain to spread, then the winds are its pumping heart—its engine.” In fire-prone areas in densely forested parts of the western United States, authorities and landowners can sometimes rely on other methods, such as prescribed burns, to lessen the threat of wildfires. The expansion of WUI private development in the region since the 1980s has meant that manual weed abatement efforts have become increasingly important, particularly because of the abundance of low-to-the-ground oily shrubs and grasses in this populated area. Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register/Getty Images In sharp contrast to the familiar images of firefighters and aerial displays of water and Phos-Chek fire retardant being dumped onto the hills just feet away from canyon estates, weed abatement workers’ labor happens months before the broader society is reminded, viscerally, of Southern California’s flammable geography.