Problem

The devastating Rim Fire threatened Yosemite in August.  Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

This year has been a bloody one for firefighters on the front lines against wildfires. With climate change intensifying fires, it may be time to change the way we fight them.

time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 4, 2013

We usually measure wildfires in acres burnt or the number of homes destroyed. But there’s a human toll to fires as well. So far this year 32 people have lost their lives fighting fires, the highest number in nearly 20 years—and the fire season isn’t done yet. More than half of those deaths occurred in a single incident, when all but one of a 20-man firefighting crew were killed during the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona in June.

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Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct

eastbayexpress.com - by Robert Gammon - August 23, 2013

The massive Rim Fire is closing in on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park and is threatening the main water supply for the City of San Francisco and numerous other Bay Area communities. As of this morning, the fast-moving blaze was about 2.5 miles from Hetch Hetchy, according to a map created by the US Forest Service. If the enormous fire reaches the tinder-dry forests surrounding the reservoir, it could pollute the freshwater with huge amounts of ash. That’s bad news for San Franciscans and other communities that depend on Hetch Hetchy because the reservoir is not equipped with a water-filtration system.

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thinkprogress.org - by Joe Romm - June 30, 2013

(SEE LINKS BELOW FOR 2004 STUDY, 2005 STUDY, AND 2013 CRYOSAT ARTICLE)

Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“).

It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a brutal, record-breaking drought. Is this just an amazing coincidence — or were the scientists right and what would that mean for the future? I ask the authors.

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submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - February 18, 2013

Mounting scientific evidence indicates climate change will lead to more frequent and intense extreme weather that affects larger areas and lasts longer. We can reduce the risk of weather-related disasters, however, with a variety of measures. Experts say that a good strategy should include a variety of actions such as communicating risk and transferring it through vehicles such as insurance, taking a multi-hazard management approach, linking local and global management, and taking an iterative approach as opposed to starting with a master plan.

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