PD Editorial: A growing threat for state, region

For the second time in as many weeks, a wildfire is racing across Lake County.

The Jerusalem fire burned out of control for a third day Tuesday after doubling in size overnight, challenging fatigued firefighters and reinforcing warnings that 2015 is shaping up as the worst fire season on record in California and, potentially, the West.

Cal Fire responded to 4,382 fires through Saturday, compared to 3,047 through the same date in 2014 and an average of 2,875 over the past five years. This year’s fires consumed 117,960 acres, more than double the five-year average. Historically, fire season has peaked late in the summer or early in the fall, so these figures could grow considerably.

Is it an aberration, the predictable result of a four-year drought that has reduced the moisture content of brush and trees to critical levels?

Or are this year’s fierce fires in California, Alaska and elsewhere a product of climate change and a preview of things to come?

Gov. Jerry Brown pointed to the latter when he visited Lake County last week to visit firefighters and witness damage from the Rocky fire, which burned about 70,000 acres and destroyed 43 homes in an area not far from the governor’s family ranch.

“We have a real challenge in California,” Brown told residents and first responders in Lower Lake. “Unlike the East, where climate change seems to be adding more storms, here in California and the Southwest it’s more dryness.

“And while we’ve had droughts in the past historically,” he added, “we haven’t had drought with this elevated temperature. And that means we’ve got more dryness, less moisture and more devastating fires, so more to come.”

If he’s right - and climate scientists have warned that rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns will result in more fires - the damage will be measured in lives disrupted, acres burned and tax dollars committed to firefighting.

Fortunately, California officials recognize the threat and plan accordingly. Cal Fire has spent upwards of $690 million since the drought started four years ago, including a $70 million emergency appropriation when funds ran short last September. This year, the agency expects to spend another $434 million.

Washington hasn’t shown the same foresight.

While the federal government sets aside emergency funds for hurricanes and floods, the U.S. Forest Service is expected to cover firefighting costs out of its regular budget, often by shifting money from fire prevention to fire suppression.

Does anyone think that’s a good idea?

In 1995, the agency spent about 16 percent of its annual budget on firefighting. This year, it’s going to be more than 50 percent, and the Forest Service projects that figure will reach two-thirds within 10 years. Why? Fires are burning twice as much acreage annually as 30 years ago, according to a Forest Service report that says that “may double again by midcentury.”

Just as property owners must clear defensible spaces and local communities must account for fire protection, Congress must provide the necessary tools to protect public and private land from an ever-present and potentially growing danger.