Giant Sequoias Yield Longest Fire History From Tree Rings

This cross-section of a giant sequoia tree shows some of the tree-rings and fire scars. The numbers indicate the year that a particular ring was laid down by the tree. (Credit: Tom Swetnam.)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 21, 2010) — A 3,000-year record from 52 of the world's oldest trees shows that California's western Sierra Nevada was droughty and often fiery from 800 to 1300, according to new research.

Scientists reconstructed the 3,000-year history of fire by dating fire scars on ancient giant sequoia trees, Sequoiadendron giganteum, in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. Individual giant sequoias can live more than 3,000 years.

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Giant Redwood Trees Endured Frequent Fires Centuries Ago

A prescribed burn was conducted in July 2001 in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. The giant redwoods endured frequent fires from the yeas 800 to 1300. Human activity reduced fires in recent decades but now scientists have reintroduced fire to the ecosystem. Credit: Tony C. Caprio

From Live Science:

Ancient trees pack a record of ancient events. And now scientists have used 52 of the world's oldest trees — giant sequoia redwoods in California's western Sierra Nevada — to show that the region was plagued by drought and fire from the year 800 through the year 1300.

Scientists reconstructed a 3,000-year history of fire by dating fire scars on the inland sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park. Individual giant sequoias can live more than 3,000 years.

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Effects of Forest Fire On Carbon Emissions, Climate Impacts Often Overestimated

This stand replacement fire on Cache Mountain burned in the central Oregon Cascade Range in 2002, killing nearly all the overstory trees. By 2007 other non-tree vegetation began to grow back, however, somewhat offsetting the carbon releases from dead wood decomposition. (Credit: Photo by Garrett Meigs, Oregon State University)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Feb. 1, 2010) — A recent study at Oregon State University indicates that some past approaches to calculating the impacts of forest fires have grossly overestimated the number of live trees that burn up and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result.

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NASA Predator Scans California Burn Areas

From U.S. News And World Report/AP:

LOS ANGELES—An unmanned NASA Predator aircraft equipped with an infrared imaging sensor has flown over large areas burned by two California wildfires to help the Forest Service assess damage, the administration said Tuesday.

Operating from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, the Predator flew over the 250 square miles burned by this summer's Station Fire in Angeles National Forest and the 57-square-mile area scorched by the 2008 Piute Fire in Sequoia National Forest and other federal land in Kern County.

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The Legacy Of America’s Largest Forest Fire

The forest fire of 1910 ripped through the town of Wallace, Idaho leaving it in complete shambles. Library of Congress

From The Smithsonian:

A 1910 wildfire that raged across three Western states helped advance the nation’s conservation efforts

Here now came the fire down from the Bitterroot Mountains and showered embers and forest shrapnel onto the town that was supposed to be protected by all those men with faraway accents and empty stomachs. For days, people had watched it from their gabled houses, from front porches and ash-covered streets, and there was some safety in the distance, some fascination even—See there, way up on the ridgeline, just candles flickering in the trees. But now it was on them, an element transformed from Out There to Here, and just as suddenly in their hair, on front lawns, snuffing out the life of a drunk on a hotel mattress, torching a veranda. The sky had been dark for some time on this Saturday in August of 1910, the town covered in a warm fog so opaque that the lights were turned on at three o’clock in the afternoon. People took stock of what to take, what to leave behind. A woman buried her sewing machine out back in a shallow grave. A pressman dug a hole for his trunk of family possessions, but before he could finish the fire caught him on the face, the arms, the neck.

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More Rubbish From 60 Minutes Tonight. “The Age Of Megafires”

From Watts Up With That:

Right on cue, CBS news 60 minutes is expected link the recent California fires to “global warming”. Never mind that the fire was caused by arson, or that the area hadn’t burned in 40-60 years, leading up to a collection of dry dead underbrush which is part of the natural fire cycle. Never mind that La Nina made for a dry couple of years exacerbating the problem. Never mind that we get fires in California about this time every year. No, its the “Age of Megafires”:

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FAQ: The Science And History Of Wildfires

From Live Science:

The Station Fire, the largest of eight wildfires roaring through parts of California, began on Aug. 26 and has since burned more than 140,000 acres of land within the Angeles National Forest and near the surrounding foothill communities of La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Acton, Soledad Canyon, Pasadena and Glendale.

Here's what's behind this fire and others, and how this fire season stacks up to history:

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As Wildfire Threatens L.A., Satellites And Supertankers Hover

Smoke Monster: Smokey won't like this. NASA

From Popular Science:

Los Angelenos have recently watched billowing clouds from a nearby wildfire hover overhead, in scenes reminiscent of "Volcano." NASA's Terra satellite took the opportunity to snap a photo of the smoke monster on the night of August 30. Red outlines in the photo indicate wildfire hotspots.

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“We’ve Lost Two People In My Family Because You Dickheads Won’t Cut Trees Down…”

After suffering court action that cost the family $100,000, Liam Sheahan believes clearing trees saved his home and his family. Photo: Paul Rovere

From Watts Up With That?:

I’m no stranger to wildland fires. Longtime readers may recall that my own home had the threat of wildfires here in Chico, California this past summer, as did many Butte County residents who not only were threatened, but lost homes.

The recent fires in Australia and the loss of life and property were apparently compounded by a draconian policy that prevented people who lived in the fire threat zones from cutting trees and brush near their properties. We witnessed something equally tragic in Lake Tahoe fire in 2007, owing to similar eco driven government stupidity forcing heavy handed policies there. Residents couldn’t get permits to cut down brush and trees, the result was a firestorm of catastrophic proportions.

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