It's a very sad day when wildfires burn houses. So far, I haven't heard of anyone dying in the Caldor Fire. We should be glad about that. However, nearly 245 houses and other structures have burned. It's a dangerous and destructive fire.
The Caldor Fire started near Grizzly Flat, southeast of Placerville, and it is slowly moving northeast toward Tahoe. The smoke is affecting Tahoe and making life difficult for people a long way from the flames.
No fire authority is saying that Tahoe is currently in danger from this fire, although all forest areas are always at some risk.
This isn't just happening in California. In Minnesota, where we are originally from, the northern two-thirds of the state have fire restrictions very much like Northern California, and there are several fires burning in that state. Ten years ago, Northern Minnesota had the Pagami Creek Fire at the Boundary Waters near the Canadian border. That fire burned 100,000 acres, which is more than the current total for the Caldor Fire.
Fire has always been present in the forest. In fact, it's considered an essential part of the forest ecosystem. Many species of plants require fire to open seed pods and pine cones and clear the forest floor to let in sunlight and take out choking underbrush. Many species of animals require those plants that require fire.
When white men began fire suppression in the late 19th century, they put out both human-caused and lightning-caused fires. When I was a kid, "Smoky Bear" was often featured on Saturday-morning cartoon stations. He always warned us, "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires."
I grew up learning a clear message: Forest fires were all bad. All evil. They destroyed life. They always needed to be put out.
Thus began the slow buildup of forest fuel that now chokes the forest and practically explodes when a fire is started. (For what it's worth, I wrote my second book about this very problem. TAHOE BLOWUP, which is visible on the left side of this blog.)
Adding to the problem of fuel buildup is the increasing number of houses built in the forest. Unfortunately, when the forest burns, which it always has and always will, some houses will burn as well.
A range of evidence suggests that prior to fire suppression, the Tahoe forest was open enough that one could gallop a horse through the forest. Now, any hiker can tell you that Tahoe's forests are often so dense you would have a hard time walking through them if not for maintained hiking trails.
Takeaways?
There are no easy answers.
Many fire experts say we need to let forests burn to some extent in order to begin to restore the natural processes in the forest. Where fires would be too damaging to people, we need to clear out excess wood and brush. And that has to take priority over environmental concerns about soil compression and other damage from logging. (A reality check is this simple observation: Protecting the soil from catastrophic burning that turns the soil to ash, which washes away into streams and lakes is more important than protecting the soil from compression and other physical damage.)
And once an area has been cleared of excess fuel, we need to encourage regular low-intensity burns to maintain that low-fuel state.
For ten thousand years or more, the Miwok and other native tribes regularly burned the land, mimicking small lightning-caused fires. They knew that, in addition to producing a healthier forest, regular fires produced greater fire safety. We could benefit by learning from their example.
