Understanding The Impact Of Forest Fires With Peter Lowes

Foresttech

Massive wildfires in California and other areas of the western United States are becoming commonplace in various news outlets this time of year. While occasional fires are part of the natural order of things, the facts tell a troubling story. Due to human error, the fire season has tripled in length from 46 days annually to 154 and costs citizens more than $2 billion a year to combat and clean up after.

Peter Lowes is an entrepreneur and environmental advocate. In 2019, he founded a non-profit called TEA Together, short for Teaching Environmental Awareness. Its mission is to increase environmental education across the nation through funding post-secondary scholarships for tomorrow’s environmental stewards and advocating for general public education. For Peter, the race to combat climate change involves everyone from preschoolers to seniors. For that reason, Peter regularly engages with these topics to spread awareness about ecology and environmentalism.

As a resident of Bend, Oregon, Peter Lowes is no stranger to forest fires. Several fires are currently burning between his city and Portland just to the northwest. According to the Oregon Department of Forestry, more than 81% of 852 fires in the state were caused by humans this year alone.[1] Oregon is of course not unique. Most fires are caused by improperly controlled burns, unattended campfires, smoldering cigarette butts, and other human carelessness. Unfortunately, this carelessness leads to huge environmental impact.

 The Environmental Impact

“There are some seriously harmful effects of forest fires,” Lowes explains. “One of which is storm water runoff.” After a significant fire, the ground becomes unable to absorb water the same way it once did. Instead of water soaking into the ground, it flows across the surface into rivers and waterways, taking along with it a myriad of chemicals, ashes, and metals produced by the burn. This debris then pollutes water sources, spreading the damage of the fire to other ecosystems. It also costs more to filter water for human consumption and strains existing filtration systems.

A big reason why the ground can no longer absorb the water from rains after a fire is the lack of vegetation. Major forest fires often destroy smaller trees and most of the underbrush. They dry out the soil and leave behind a pesky layer of unabsorbant ash. Some older trees can survive forest fires as long as the flames don’t reach the canopy; however, damage from the flames along the trunks and branches leave them susceptible to disease, fungus, and insects. “Trees offer shelter and homes for animals, provide shade for sun-sensitive vegetation, and help purify the air,” says Lowes. “After a forest fire, the trees that survive promote other forms of life.”

As forest fires burn, they release significant amounts of smoke into the air. If the fire reaches towns or buildings, the risk to air quality is intensified. Many homes built before the 1970s contain asbestos. Once that asbestos is disturbed, deadly disease-causing particles are released into the air and swept across miles by the wind. Ash, heavy metal particles, and other irritants are serious health hazards particularly for those with pre-existing conditions such as asthma. Sadly, the smoke from raging forest fires can travel impressive distances. Currently, fires burning in the United States are the root cause of record air quality warnings as far north as Alberta and British Columbia in Canada.

“Besides the devastating loss of lives, towns, and homes, forest fires continue to threaten miles upon miles of fragile ecosystems,” Lowes explains with urgency. According to Chapter 8 of the 2017 Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I, extreme weather caused by climate change has resulted in improved conditions for the commencement of wildfires. In fact, between 1984 and 2015, climate change has caused twice as much fuel (ie. dried out vegetation and a lack of moisture) to be available over a wider area.[2] Therefore, extreme weather such as hotter and drier summers are directly linked to increased numbers of forest fires, which cause air, ground, and water pollution.

Of course, there are some benefits to naturally occurring forest fires. For example, some types of vegetation such as fireweed actually require disturbances like fire in order to grow. Low grade fires can also eliminate dried underbrush, preventing more serious fires in the future. “Forest fires can clear out diseased plants, invading insects, and promote the growth of grasslands, which are essential for grazing animals,” explains Lowes. “When this occurs naturally by way of lightning strikes, it can sometimes be a new lease on life for the area.”

Forest fires become a problem when they burn out of control, spread too far, and begin to threaten more life than they can restore. They can create pollution, destroy ecosystems, and cost billions of dollars to clean up. Regrettably, humans are more often than not the spark of this destruction through carelessness. Pollution caused by human industry has also caused climate change, which results in more extreme weather. In places where forest fires rage, that means longer, drier, hotter summers that create more fuel for flames, enabling fires to burn hotter, larger, and spread farther. As custodians of the planet, Peter Lowes calls on everyone to get informed about their role in the destruction and make the necessary changes to protect our forests from human-caused fires.

Popular on True Activist