Wildfires in California

A deep dive on fires in California and what we can do

It's no secret if you live in California, that wildfires are very clearly an issue we have here. Every year when we roll around to Summer (especially late Summer) fires begin to starting flaring up everywhere. Part of it is natural, but there are so many causes and reasons for how bad they get, and humanity needs to help fix them.


This  video  (by  Vox ) explains exactly what I had just mentioned regarding fires statewide. Whatever I was going to say, this video says it better.

Why is California always on fire?

So you may be wondering what it looks like on a map. Right below this paragraph is a map that shows California Fire Perimeters within the last 7 years - the darker the red, the more recent it is - and it's frightening how much of California is actually highlighted.

California Fire Perimeters Within the last 7 years - Darker the red, the more recent it is


Now, that map can be useful to show us just how large the fires are. But, there's more important information that we need to see, for what's causing them to grow so large, how we can stop them, or potentially their reasons for ignition in the first place.

And you know what makes fires even worse? It's the effects they have on our air. Check this out:

Wildfire smoke is undoing a bunch of progress towards air quality improvements and in California, specifically, we estimate that the trends in air quality have reversed, because of wildfire smoke.

Marissa Childs, Environmental Scientist

Wildfires are reversing air quality improvements in California, Stanford experts say


Alright, now we have seen the causes of fires, how large they are, and their effect on the planet. But what do I have to show for proof?

I've actually experienced a fire pretty up close before.

Lilac Fire - Wikipedia

This right here (in the link above) is the Lilac Fire. During this time I was only in 5th grade but the moment truly scared me into remembering pretty clearly. To clarify, it wasn't traumatizing, but it showed me the dangers of living in California. I had only lived here for around 2-3 years at this point, but it showed me how serious this glaring issue really is.

I don't have any pictures of it since I don't think I had a phone at the time, but the sky was covered in smoke and the sun was red at my elementary school. At the middle school my brother was at, one of the buildings actually got damaged by the fire. It was scary.


Of course, there are some things we can't change. Regardless of what you and I may do, the climate is still going to be dry and trees are going to die. But, we as a community can still take action.

So, what are my flaming hot ideas? (Sorry, that was forced)

  • If you see one, report it instantly. Fires burning near you that are left unattended might be due to the fact that someone hasn't called the local fire department. It's best to be the one who takes action, instead of sitting around thinking that someone else has done it already.
  • Don't be careless, be responsible. It is super frustrating to me how many fires are caused by negligence, and honestly, stupidity. I don't want to come off aggressive, but is it really that hard to just dispose of cigarette buds responsibly? Don't mess around with flammable chemicals, put out campfires when you are done, etc.
  • Use fireworks in safe areas. When using fireworks as a small group or when setting up a big firework show, the area surrounding it is very important. There is a reason these things are not allowed in some areas; make sure you use them in a wide space, with no flammable materials.
  • Keep yourself and your neighbors safe. Make sure you know where your fire extinguisher is, and make sure you use all safety precautions possible when cooking. Being responsible for a big fire would be a horrible way to go, wouldn't it?
  • Do your part in letting people know. For social people, this is a great way to contribute. Letting people know how important these things can be is the same if not more important than doing it yourself.

On a larger scale, there are more impactful ways to make a change. These can be much harder for people to accomplish even as a large community, but hopefully progress will be made eventually.

  • We need to stop climate change. This one is a bit obvious, but it really is important. The hotter the earth gets, the worst fires get. The problem with climate change is that people in power don't seem to care. How did something that's clearly happening and needs to be addressed get denied by politicians? Why isn't our government actively making rapid changes for this kind of stuff?
  • Shrubs need to be disposed of. I don't see this everywhere, but the places I do see it prove to be effective. Removing shrubs and smaller dead trees within forests can dramatically lower the spread and danger of a fire in that area. It's probably pretty hard to do though, and that's why it is not as common as it should be.
  • Spend more on research. More research piling into forest fire protection and safe guards could make fire safety much easier and much more reliable. The government needs to look into these even more than they already do, instead of spending it on some dumb stuff sometimes. That's a whole different story for a different time, though.
  • Make dead trees part of the market. There is a heavily underrated market out there in terms of reusing dead trees. Think about how much furniture we could make, how much paper we could make, the list goes on. This goes hand-in-hand with my 2nd point in this list as well.
  • Fund mitigation. We need to make it easier to get out of these situations when the time is dire. The government should look into funding groups of people, especially those that have been subject to gentrification or other forms of environmental racism, in order to help them survive disasters such as fires.

And also, what are some other things we can do that aren't directly related to fires? Well, we can help by saving water and electricity, which can make us have less of an impact on the environment! I mean think about it, water isn't unlimited, and so we should try our best to use as little as possible.

This right here is my slideshow on steps we can do to conserve water, which is embedded into this site so you can go through the slides. I'll explain each section down below.

My Water Conservation Action Plan

  • We can try our best to use faucets minimally. Of course you are going to need to use them every day, but you can try to optimize how you do that. For example, When washing your hands, turning off the sink when you are using soap can save loads of water. You could also turn off your faucet when you brush your teeth if you don't already. I elaborate this on slides 3-5 on the slideshow linked above.
  • Be efficient with machines. By machines, I mean stuff like your showers, dishwashers, laundry machines/dryers, and toilets. There's a lot you can do to optimize each one of these, and you can find on slides 6-12.
  • Check for leaks. Leaks could be really hurting not just your wallet, but also the environment. However, it may be hard to detect one, but there's ways you can check. I talk about this in slides 11-12.
  • Make environmentally friendly choices. There's many things we do that seems efficient, but sometimes we can make a choice to save not only money, but most importantly, water. For example, do you use sprinklers to water your lawn? Do you take baths to wash yourself? Do you wash your cars at home? All 3 of these can be replaced to be more water efficient and environmentally friendly, and I explain this in slides 13-16

So yeah, these are the ways we can prevent fires and their effects, which we've seen are a huge, huge problem within California.

Thank you!

So, what are my flaming hot ideas? (Sorry, that was forced)

Thank you!