Dj Vu All Over Again

As the baseball season draws to a close with the World Series, it seems appropriate to place the events of August in the context of baseball. In the view of one of baseball's greatest players, Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees, the world is “déjà vu all over again,” and that seems especially appropriate to describe the natural disasters that hit the United States in August.

First, Hurricane Charlie made landfall in Florida, killing 22 and causing billions of dollars in damage. Charlie created that landfall in an area known not-so-affectionately as “Hurricane Alley.” Gee, do you think it got that name for a reason? And we're shocked and dismayed when another hurricane comes ashore in that very area?

Then the Bear Fire started in Northern California, burning down more than 80 residences. Fortunately, no one was killed. The Bear Fire occurred in an area of northern California where another major fire, the 1999 Jones Fire, destroyed about 174 homes. Again, folks are upset because homes were lost from a wildfire in a known fire environment.

A few years ago, a newspaper writer in the Denver area coined the “Stupid Zone” to describe areas where people build homes in spite of the obvious natural hazards. Hurricane Alley and the wildland-urban interface seem to meet his criteria pretty well. But this is America, and everybody should be free to do whatever they want, right? It's guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

I strongly support the concept of individual freedom except when it costs me, and other taxpayers, unreasonable amounts of our tax dollars to indulge the foolishness of those who chose to build and live in those areas like Hurricane Alley and the interface. More importantly, I can't support that choice when those folks expect me and my fellow firefighters to place ourselves in unnecessary risk to save the property that they did not take the basic precautions to protect from wildfire.

The Jones Fire occurred just five years ago. What have the homeowners in the area done since then to make their homes firesafe? Obviously not enough based on this year's losses. Did the local county commissioners change the building codes to require non-flammable construction? Did the local fire district require defensible space around the existing homes or conduct a yearly inspection of these homes? Most importantly, did the individual homeowners redeem their responsibilities to do the basic things that are widely known to make a difference when wildfires inevitably occur?

I'm afraid that these are not the last homes that will burn down from wildfires in 2004. My only hope is that all of the folks involved in wildfire/bushfire suppression have the training, experience and wisdom to back off and let structures burn to the ground when it may put firefighters at unacceptable risk. We didn't choose to live in the “Stupid Zone,” and we don't need to bring Berra's words back to life.

International Assn. of Wildland Fire
4025 Fair Ridge Drive
Fairfax, Va. 22033
ph: 785-423-1818
fax: 785-542-3511
iawf@iawfonline.org

Send them to: Wildfire Magazine
330 N. Wabash Ave.
Suite 2300
Chicago, Ill. 60611

Attn: Lisa Allegretti
lallegretti@primediabusiness.com