Rex Fowler
Staff Writer
2020 has officially gotten even worse. Wildfires
have plagued the West Coast since August and according to Cal Fire, there have
been over 4 million acres burned in just California. This is more than double
the acreage burned in 2018. Most Americans are blaming the surge in fires
because of dry conditions due to global warming. The New York Times
claims that over 20 people have lost their lives, and dozens are still missing.
These fires have devastated many communities on the West Coast. So far,
Firefighters have only managed to contain around 50 percent of the fires.
Firefighters are working non stop to try to contain these fires and to protect
communities.
Firefighters use various proven
methods in an attempt to stop these blazing wildfires. Some of the best-trained
firefighters called “smokejumpers” will jump out of airplanes and land on the
edge of the fire. This is one of the most dangerous firefighting jobs because
they jump into some of the most isolated locations and have to camp near the
fire for days on end. The most effective way to stop the fire on the ground is
to do controlled burns or to dig a fireline. Firefighters use controlled burns
to burn all of the brush in front of the fire so that when the fire gets there,
it has nothing to catch on to. They also dig trenches called firelines to stop
the fire from moving on the ground. The most effective way to stop the fire
would be to use aerial firefighting. This method uses aircraft to dump a large
quantity of water or fire retardant, on or before a fire.
Fires still burn as firefighters
struggle to control them. Wildfires are hard to put out because they are very
unpredictable and have an unlimited amount of fuel that they can burn.
Hopefully, as winter nears these fires will start to die out and communities
will start to re-build.
