Eaton Fire Tredegies - Due to Wildfire or Urban Fire?

What has been happening in Altadena is an indescribable and unfathomable tragedy, thousands of times over and over. It escapes my comprehension. I struggle with seeing a sensible path forward for neighbors who have lost their homes, thousands of them, and the many more who have suffered losses. The mass burning of homes in an urban community is one of the scariest things I could ever imagine. Let’s name it what it is: it is not a Wildfire; it’s an urban firestorm.

The burning of wildlands is a Wildfire. The sights of charred wood, void of green life, the knowledge of displaced, injured, and deceased wild animals brings sadness to my heart. I have experienced several wildfires over the years, and have watched recovery in the wild, without human interference. Those experiences have given me hope and confidence that the natural areas will recover in time. I have watched the reemergence of new growth out of ashy grounds and on charred shrubs and trees. I have watched with amazement the emergence of wildflower fields, swaths of brightly colored fire followers on steep slopes, varying by season. The resilience of flora and fauna as demonstrated in their natural recovery, have given me hope and strength in the past. Knowing that the Eaton Canyon area had burned 31 years ago and watching its recovery and the rebuilding of the Nature Center, offered me the comfort that we could overcome again.

Even though I don’t live in the evacuation area and only could see the flames from afar, I am still grappling with the events and the aftermath. I believe a lot of you are too. Even the so-called experts and officials are still struggling to find adequate resources and responses to the overwhelming challenges these events have created.

Today, I feel conflicted in my confidence on past experiences. In the past, the focus of recovery worries lay on the natural area and the structures at its urban wildland interface. We worried about the loss of our community center in the form of the Nature Center at Eaton Canyon, and the rebuilding of homes lying at the edge of the wilderness or nestled too far into the canyons. Today, we worry about whole communities, tens of thousands of people affected by the Urban fire that unfolded parallel to the Wildfire as it entered fully developed residential communities.

These recent fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades are Urban fires, not Wildfires. We need to recognize this distinction if we want to find ways to prevent them. And prevent them we must! Once ignited, Urban fires in high wind events like what we suffered are close to impossible to fight, at least with our current resources. We need to find ways to make our buildings fire resistant. It is not the vegetation that is a threat; our flammable houses pose the largest threat to our safety. All vegetation removed will not prevent a fire from spreading in a violent wind event such as we just experienced. And those wind events will become more frequent and pose an increasing threat to other communities, no matter if they are near wildlands or not.

The question is not how we prevent and fight Wildfires. The question is how we prevent Urban fires from spreading in a wind event. We have the technology now to build fire-safe houses. We can also retrofit houses, making them fire safe. Technology exists – otherwise we would not be able to fly to Mars – but it is a matter of political will. We need to demand it!