Sure Every Fire Prone Community example essay topic

The Sacramento Bee in an editorial: 'As predictable as Indian summers and the Santa Ana winds, the wildfires sweeping across the south state remind us of California's fragility, its frightening vulnerability... The risk of such fires can never be eliminated, but it can be reduced. The California legislature has passed strict laws already that require fire-retardant roofs in fire-prone areas. More could be done. If smaller fires had been allowed to burn earlier this summer when weather conditions were less dangerous, the dry brush that fed this week's fires might have been eliminated.

Local communities require homeowners to clear brush, but such brush-clearing rules are not always strictly enforced. When dry weather and high winds arrive in October, the consequences of neglect can be devastating. ' ' The Christian Science Monitor in an editorial: 'Southern California's wildfires don't need to be so wild. And so many lives and houses need not be lost every few years when that arid land of hillside mansions faces a combustible mix of dry chaparral, raging winds and summer drought.

The trick is to make sure every fire-prone community has strict regulation and enforcement of landscaping and house design. Roofs must be flame-resistant, for instance, and fuel-like underbrush pruned regularly... On a similar fire-prone front, Congress is weighing President Bush's 'Healthy Forests Initiative' that would thin more than 20 million acres of national forests. The House has passed the bill, and the Senate should do the same, setting an example for Southern California. ' ' The New York Sun in an editorial: 'It is difficult for most of us New Yorkers even to imagine the kind of conflagration that is rampaging on the coast... The fires are a human tragedy and a tragedy of nature, compounded by reports earlier this year that said captured al-Qaeda members told interrogators that some terrorists had discussed the possibility of setting wildfires in America.

' ' The Austin American-Statesman in an editorial: 'Fatal fires in a New England bar, a Chicago office building and in Southern California are reminders that communities cannot be too cautious with fire. Fire prevention, protection and suppression should be as proficient as possible because lives are at risk. ' ' The San Diego Union-Tribune in an editorial: 'Rapid housing development, decades of fire-suppression practices, the introduction of non-native plants such as the highly combustible eucalyptus tree and the proliferation of flammable shake roofs have all contributed tinder to what may be the worse natural calamity in San Diego's history... In the weeks ahead, San Diego must assess whether it was properly prepared for this predictable explosion of nature's fury... Recognizing the magnitude of this disaster, it's hard to imagine ever being truly prepared for it. ' ' David Carr, National Forests project leader, Southern Environmental Law Center, in a column for the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press: 'Last year, the White House unveiled its 'Healthy Forests' initiative as a response to the catastrophic fires that have besieged the national forests out West...

By name, the proposal sounds like mom and apple pie, but in fact it will do little to protect the communities most at risk. Moreover, it advances the administration's agenda of offering up the nation's natural heritage to the highest bidders, and it restricts the public's right to defend its national forests. ' ' The Denver Post in an editorial: 'The idea of large numbers of people huddling in a field, praying that an oncoming wildfire will pass over them, is horrific. Yet it's a real possibility, given the poor emergency exits from many foothills and mountain subdivisions. As Coloradans watch the California wildfires on their television screens, they should think: There, but for the grace of God, go we. ' 'What people are saying about wildfires in California.