re: Wildfires in Louisiana

quote:

---

Arson Confirmed as the Cause of Louisiana’s Largest-Ever Wildfire in History

---

quote:

---

State officials announced yesterday that the devastating wildfire that ravaged over 33,000 acres in Louisiana — the largest in the state’s history — was caused by arson.

---

quote:

---

The Pacific Northwest: Year Over Year Wildfire Numbers Are a Sight to See.
And the season isn't done yet.

THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP
SEP 4, 2023 (Original article link in my bio)
#wafire #orfire #Wildfire #Washington #Oregon
Earlier this year, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center and Forest Service gave us numbers on wildfires and corresponding causes and acres for the year to date.

We saw a pretty decent uptick in acres burned from human-caused starts and well below-average numbers in terms of lighting-caused acres burned. They encouraged the public to be more fire aware due to nearly a 150% increase in human starts in July and part of August.

Multiple fires are still under investigation in Washington and Oregon on wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and taken lives.

Today, the updated numbers are in, and it’s shocking, to say the least.

Year to date, as of September 2nd, there have been 2,704 human-caused or undetermined caused fires that burned 242,265 acres in Washington and Oregon. In the same period, 583 lightning-caused fires totaling 65,355 acres burned.

Those numbers stood out to me, so I thought I’d compare them to last year’s totals and the 10-year averages.

The table below gives us those numbers.

For ALL of last year, there were 2,294 human-caused fires in the PNW. With months remaining in the fire season up there, we have surpassed last year’s total by roughly 18%, on track to far exceed the average. Further, last year’s total for human-caused acres burned was 163,581 acres. We have nearly doubled that this year… durning a slow season at that.

But what about the lightning starts?

Last year, there were more than double the lightning fires than this year so far. Total acres burned in the previous year from lightning starts was 700% higher than this year.

The contrast between acres burned from lightning versus human-caused fires year over year is startling.

With this year’s total acres burned sitting at 307,000, the PNW is on track for a historically low yearly total. Only 2019 had less when you combined both Washington and Oregon’s 10-year average totals.


Human-caused fires and undetermined starts comprise 74% of the total acres burned in the PNW.

It’s clear that people in Oregon and Washington are starting more fires. Like, a lot more. What we don’t know is if the citizens have become more reckless and flat-out dumber when it comes to fire awareness or if more people are starting fires maliciously.

Maybe it’s both.

It sure seems like a growing problem, especially when the most destructive fires this year have been determined to be human-caused or are still under investigation. I will revisit the year-end totals again when the numbers are in.

It’s been a slow fire season regarding total acres burned—potentially the slowest since 1998. However, human-caused and undetermined caused fires are on the rise. I could only imagine how different the landscape would look if the fuels around the Nation were more receptive to fire this year.

Yikes.

THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP - Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. It allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all the content we provide. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, entered into our giveaways, recipes, and more.

---

quote:

---

Most of these big wildfires are being started purposely to push the climate change narrative and have been for a long time

---