On today's Your Call we’ll talk about fire. The recent mega-fire that claimed the lives of 19 elite firefighters in Prescott, Arizona brought this question up painfully for all of us who live in dry fire-prone states, including California. How well are we managing our forests and wild lands to prevent these large fires? Could methods like ‘controlled burning’ help? Join the conversation and call in with your questions on the next Your Call, with Rose Aguilar, and you.
Guests:
Scott Stephens, associate professor of Fire Sciences at UC Berkeley
Rich Fairbanks, veteran firefighter, forest service worker, and fire management expert
Resources:
Center for Forestry at UC Berkeley
Center for Fire Research and Outreach
NPR: How the Smokey Bear effect led to raging wildfires
NPR series: Mega-fires: The new normal in the Southwest
UC Berkeley News Center: Q&A: Campus environmental manager Tom Klatt talks about hillside tree-removal plan
Ready Set Go Marin: Marin County Fire preparation recommendations
UCSC: Bats and Fire
Nature.com: Forest Fires: Burn out
UC Berkeley News Center: Let it burn: Prescribed fires pose little danger to forest ecology, study says
Redding.com: Experts disagree on methods for preventing catastrophic forest fires
Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology
Council of Western State Foresters: The Flame Act of 2009
"Fire: Nature and Culture" by Stephen Pyne
Fire Effects Information System: look up any tree or bush, read how it responds to fire and its place in the local fire ecology