Dozens of fires broke out in Georgia and western North Carolina, both of which were hit hard by Hurricane Helen. According to Virginia Iglesias, falling trees can promote fire spread in the short and long term in some areas, and he studied the impact of climate change at the University of Colorado Boulder on the social environmental system.
“After the hurricane, there are a lot of dead trees on the ground, which allows the sun to reach the ground,” Iglesias said. “So the biomass is easier to dry, and if there is a little fire, it promotes fire. That’s short-term. Another result of these fires is that they represent access issues for firefighters. So there are a lot of logs blocking the road.”
This happened last week in Polk County, North Carolina Blue Ridge Public Broadcast Report. These fallen trees can be a fire after the hurricane, especially in the southeast, where dry pine needles are prone to burn.
For example, in 2018, Hurricane Michael occupied about 1.3 million acres of long-leaf pine habitat in Panhandle, Florida. Then dry and refuel 33,000 acres were burned in 2022.
Some firefighters also worry that extra sunlight on the landscape may trigger the growth of plants such as azaleas and mountain laurel trees in southern Appalachian Island, and if they catch fire, they will burn.
“Now, we’ve got sunshine in these areas, and there’s no sunshine in these areas,” Gary C. Wood, a retired North Carolina Forest Service employee. Tell the post and the courier. “So, from a growth perspective, these things can really be increased, and from a fire perspective, that will have potential impact.”
Fight with fire
While extensive research has clearly shown that climate change is exacerbating strong and intense fires in the west, scientists are still emitting direct climate connections of Southeast lightning. But some studies do show that warming is building conditions for wildfires to flourish throughout the region.
“Droughts are expected to become more intense and more frequent in the southeast and many other regions due to climate change,” Iglesias said. 2024 Research.
To address this, forest managers in the area often ignite planned fires that contain fires called prescription burns, which helps remove dry plants before fueling the greater hell. However, there are some obstacles to this strategy. Of the 751 million acres of woodland in the United States, more than 50% are privately owned and these owners decide how to manage their land. This means government agencies must obtain permission from homeowners before cleaning down fallen trees after a storm or allowing burns to be prescribed on their land. Some groups are driving more and more to help North Carolina homeowners embrace this firefighting strategy, Grist Report.
Another obstacle is that climate change can reduce the number of days land managers can practice prescribed burning in the southeast. 2024 Research. Vegetation must be dry enough to ignite and burn, but temperatures and winds should be moderately low to prevent fires from getting out of control – as global temperatures rise, the conditions become increasingly difficult to predict. Like wildfires, prescribed burns can also release air pollution, which can negatively affect air quality. My colleague Lee Hedgepeth Covered this issuecurrently happening in Birmingham, Alabama.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has Invest in funding and recruitment freezes on programs that support Wildland Freefighting Experts say most of the country has not been prepared for wildfires in recent weeks.
