Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
By Helen Gloege ’23
Unlike hurricane season, there is no defined start and endpoint to wildfire season. In California, “wildfire season typically begins in July and runs through the first fall rainfall, peaking in Sept. and Oct.,” as explained in The Tufts Daily. Yet with increasing global temperatures, drought and other factors, wildfires now happen year-round in the U.S. The Forest Service coined this as a “fire year.” The shift from a wildfire season to the “fire year” is apparent from the recent Colorado Fire in California on Jan. 22, 2022 and the Marshall Fire in Colorado that started on Dec. 30, 2021. The Washington Post reported the Colorado Fire began in Palo Colorado Canyon and eventually burned around 1,050 acres of land. The Marshall Fire spread through 6,000 acres of the suburban Boulder County towns of Superior and Louisville, “destroying 1,084 homes and seven businesses and displacing over 30,000 residents,” according to the Daily Camera. Both fires occurred during times that are uncommon for wildfires in either state, as stated by KGW 8.
California’s wildfire was named for its point of origin — Palo Colorado Canyon, a rural area in Monterey County — according to The Washington Post. Tufts Daily reported that the fire itself “pales in comparison to other fires in recent years,” but is a cause for concern, nonetheless. The article points to heavy rainfall in California at the end of 2021 as particularly worrying, as it shows that the rain wasn’t enough to prevent wildfires. According to the National Weather Service Bay Area branch’s Twitter account, “recent rains and cold winter weather isn’t helping to keep fires from developing.” Therefore, conditions of the wildfire are exacerbated by the inconsistent rain patterns in California and the long-term drought from which the state suffers. NBC reported that agencies were able to respond to the fire quickly with over “250 firefighters from multiple agencies and volunteer groups, aided by water-dropping aircraft” that allowed them to contain the fire faster.
The fire spread at a faster rate due to assistance from strong winds. The Washington Post quoted assistant fire chief George Nunez as saying that the fire “moved surprisingly fast for a fire around this time of year.” There were strong winds across the San Francisco Bay Area at the time that “[caused] outages to at least 18,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers in the region” with “a peak gust 90 mph … recorded,” as reported by NBC. Similarly, the Marshall Fire was fueled by strong winds. “Wind speeds were reported as high as 115 miles per hour,” the Daily Camera stated. 9 News reported that the combination of high winds, dry grass and homes’ close proximity to one another caused the fire to spread rapidly and more houses to be lost.
It is unclear what the origin of the Marshall Fire was and its cause is still under investigation, as reported by 9 News. One popular theory is that the fire was caused by an underground coal mine fire. The area where the fire occurred is the site of “one of the oldest coal mining operations in the western United States,” according to CBS Denver. They also reported that there are “38 active underground mine fires in Colorado,” with two of the mines located near the initial site of the fire. CBS Denver pointed to the possibility that the windstorm may have caused the underground coal mine fires to reach the soil surface, causing the wildfire. As reported by 9 News, underground mine fires are difficult to control as the fires are self-sustaining. According to Jurgen Brune, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, “there’s not much you can do from the outside to stop these fires.” The Colorado Sun reported that in addition to the mines’ unpredictability, the mine fires “can break through to the surface without warning.” In 2005, the Marshall mines caused a “brush fire that was sparked by a ‘hot vent’ from the mine,” as reported by 9 News.
There are other possibilities for how the fire started, including nearby powerline outages and a trash fire. 9 News quoted wildfire investigator Brenda Rice as saying, “We have to look at all the possible ignition sources,” adding that there will likely be a long-term investigation.
In the aftermath of fires comes rebuilding and additional aftereffects. According to The Denver Post, after a fire, buildings must be cleared before rebuilding can start. They also reported that the cost of cleanup will be over $100 million, which includes “1,118 destroyed structures, 353 damaged buildings and 1,741 trees.” The rebuilding process may allow for changes to regulations and rules in the area’s landscaping and design in order to prevent or slow down a possible future fire, as described by The Denver Post. According to Colorado Public Radio, the homes that the Marshall fire burnt down were built without a wildfire building code. Additionally, Boulder County, where the fire took place, has now adopted wildfire building codes that include fire-resistant siding and roofing . However, there is no statewide wildfire building code in Colorado, while other states that are prone to wildfires already have building codes in place.
Insurance for fire-risk locations is also changing for some customers, according to the Wall Street Journal. American International Group Inc. and Chubb Ltd. are reportedly ending coverage for many customers in California. AIG is offering an alternative policy for homeowners that “would cost three to five times what AIG’s clients now pay, with less-generous coverage,” according to the Wall Street Journal article. The source also reported that the policy changes are more likely to impact the ability of the “biggest and most-expensive homes” to find replacement insurance coverage.
We are beginning to see changes in wildfire patterns cause “fire years” and more damage. The compounding factors of drought, warm temperatures and wind have caused these fires.