Impacts of 2003 Firestorm in Northern California

Impacts of 2003 Firestorm in Northern California

Introduction

Wildfires are uninhibited naturally occurring fires in the wild lands, commonly observed in western USA, and more particularly on the urban interface of California. The firestorm that occurred on October 21 and lasted till November 4, 2003 in Southern California, also referred to as Cedar fire, was the second largest and one of the most catastrophic wildfire in the history of U.S. (Churchill, 2003).

Discussion

How it began

A hunter, Sergio Martinez, ignited chaparral, an extremely flammable shrub (which was dry and in abundance) on October 25. 2003. The winds of Santa Ana were strong (40 mile-per-hour) and accounted for the dry weather conditions in lakeside and San Diego County. The humidity was very low interpreted in single digits, and the temperature was as high (above 90°F). The conditions facilitating the wildfires were present in elevated levels, turning the fire into a massive firestorm (Nix, 2003).

Impacts of 2003 firestorm

The firestorm in 2003, burnt around fourteen major urban interface wild lands in five countries; namely Los Angeles, San Diego, Ventura, riverside and San Bernardino. The 14 fires burnt a total estimated area of 750,043 acres, including 3710 homes and 24 people were deceased (with one out of area firefighter) and 200 people were injured (Churchill, 2003). Frequency of wildfires in California

The frequency of the wildfires occurring in the state of California is difficult to interpret as its occurrence is dependent on factors such as global warming. According to one annual report in 2010, there were 13 large fires in the western United States in the beginning of August, out of which 6 were in California (along with one in Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho, two in Washington and Montana). By mid august, the number of wildfires dropped to 12, which included one in California, and by the end of August, the wildfire activity picked up considerably, with one in California (National Climatic data centre, 2010). However, on a broader spectrum it is 50 wildfires occur on average in California. With accelerating global warming, the frequency is presumed to be more as 55 % more wildfires can be expected.

Past and present mitigation tactics

The past mitigation tactics employed prior to 2003 wildfire included the investment of millions of dollars. For example, the Piuma incident (1985) burned approximately 5,160 acres, and Wright incident (1970) burned 27, 925 acres of land, ...