Reform is needed as wildfires rage and funds dry

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As wildfires engulf California, killing nearly 15 people and gutting more than 2,000 structures, a debate is raging over the Trump administration's call to reduce the firefighting budget by 300 million US dollars.

It also plans another 50 million US dollar cut for next year’s wildfire prevention budget. On the contrary, researchers claim that there is substantial evidence that shows a better investment in wildfire control yields long-term results.

"Pacific-Atlantic Ocean influence on wildfires in northeast China (1774 to 2010)," the first multi-century research on China's wildfires, points out that firefighting efforts were nationalized after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with increased funding and manpower directed to total fire exclusion in forested regions of the country.

Police officers and firefighters try to cease a forest fire in Honghuaerji Forest Park in Hulun Buir, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 20, 2016. /Xinhua/Ji Songtao

“These efforts appear to have been mostly effective, with many fewer fire scars recorded in trees after 1947,” researchers mention in the study.

The massive firefighting efforts in the forest regions stamped out fires for nearly three decades. “Only three regional wildfires were recorded after 1947: in 1974, 1977, and 1987,” the study says. The 1987 wildfire was a devastating one. "The Black Dragon Fire" engulfed nearly 73,000 square km on both sides of the Heilongjiang River.

“This was arguably the largest single wildfire in recorded history and caused the deaths of over 200 people in China with an additional 56,000 displaced,” the study claims. After 1987, last year’s wildfire in northeastern China with four large wildfires is considered a major incident. China deputed more than 4,000 personnel to snuff out the fire.

China’s largest natural forest areas, spreading over 45 million hectares, are concentrated in the Daxing’an Mountains and Xiaoxing’an Mountains in Heilongjiang Province and Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province. The region accounts for nearly 37 percent of the total forest area in the country.

Another study, "Future impacts of climate change on forest fire danger in northeastern China," warns that the fire regime will be changed because of climate change. Fire management needs to be adjusted regarding budget, personnel, technology, equipment, early warning and monitoring systems if it is to successfully adapt, it suggests.

America’s Conundrum

A view of the remains of the buildings at Stornetta Dairy that were destroyed by the Atlas Fire on October 10, 2017 in Napa, California. Fifteen people have died in wildfires that have burned tens of thousands of acres and destroyed over 2,000 homes and businesses in several Northen California counties. /Ezra Shaw/Getty Images/AFP

Hillary Clinton during her visit to California on Monday pointed out that climate change has exacerbated the spread of wildfires in the state. She hinted at more funding and action towards controlling the wildfires that have become an annual phenomenon.

The US Forest Service that manages 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands is already struggling with increasing cases of wildfires and fund allocation.

The forest services used 16 percent of the budget in 1995 to snuff out wildfires. Within two decades its expenditure to control wildfires tripled, and it spent 52 percent of its money in 2015 to stamp out fires. It is projected that by 2025, it will spend nearly 67 percent of its funds to control wildfires.

The scale of wildfires in California is staggering, last year around 7,484 fires burned a 3,123-square km area and this year 6,986 fires have already burned 2,286 square kilometers. Spreading fire and drying funds are slowly triggering panic waves.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a written reply to Reuters said Congress should treat major wildfires like other large-scale disasters that are covered by emergency funds.