Fire. Camera. Action.

PART V- DISASTER

Too hot to touch

Flames are always hungry, although they're not always this cute. Source: Tumblr

So why is there all this focus on forest fire? Why does this blog even give it a whole section? While fire seasons and conditions are monitor-able actual wildfires are unpredictable. These destructive (and sometimes fatal) events scare us yet we can't look away; the media latches on to fire stories. As the Southwest burns more often, the media attention may help bring wider attention to the drying at hand which in turn could bring more attention to the urban problems or the agricultural problems. Let's get into the reality of fires in the Southwest.

Fires are increasing in the Southwest. Throughout the Western U.S. 73% of early springs 1970-2003 occurred post-1986. In addition, 56% of wildfires and 72% of burnt land occurred during early spring years (Westerling et al. 2006). Westerling et al. (2011) run a model to suggest that California will see an increase in burning from 36-74% and over 100% in the North. The region is burning; check out these two maps below. In the first one what pops out at you? SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (and this isn't because of all those endless houses and lights)! And in the second see how much of Arizona and New Mexico have a high frequency of fire!

Major fires and their intensity 2001-2012 (oddly enough in units of nuclear power which is about 1,000 megawats per plant). Source: Live Science 2012

Fire frequency everywhere. Fire history in Arizona and New Mexico. Source: The Nature Conservancy

With all this burning it's no doubt the media is constantly showing these fires. The Black Forest Fire burned in Colorado in 2013. It destroyed nearly 500 homes, killed 2 and the damages are estimated at nearly $100 million (Huffingtonpost 10/07/2013). It is Colorado's most destructive fire, which happened to take the title from the Waldo Canyon fire the year before! People care about other people and images like the video below really grabbed the U.S.'s attention:

The increasing media presence around this result of Southwest drying coincides with the fact that media is used to inform us about disasters. As more fires happen, more media will be used to inform the public about them! The media is one of the main bridges between the disaster scientists and the public (Rattien 1990). While Rattien argues that we focus on post-disaster relief, he acknowledges its huge potential for disaster mitigation, something I hope can happen for the Southwest. Social media has an ever bigger ability to inform us during all stages of a disaster instantly and in our palm of our hands through our devices (Houston et al. 2015). We can now live tweet disasters to make sure people evacuate and everyone is safe!

You may have noticed me talking about fires in various states and that's because it's an underlying problem across the Southwest. However, the fires may bring in more media and more awareness thus facilitating more action to counter the 'thirstification'. Is it always darkest (with smoke) just before the dawn?