We’ve all heard and many have seen that California is burning now. This interactive video, which I can’t seem to isolate from its enclosing article, shows smoke stretching both east across the continent and west across the ocean. The video is the second graphic in the article.

We are experiencing some poor air quality in Santa Cruz, though less than in SF. Only a few folks here are wearing masks.

I’m reading the late Hans Rosling’s Factfulness, and between it and the news, I’ve been thinking a lot about why we have forest fires. If you are familiar with Rosling’s work, perhaps from TED talks, you will know he would assert the causes are complex and systemic.

My first thought: Well, it hasn’t rained since April. Which is true where I live.

Other possible causes include prevention of natural burning in forests, settlements near and in forests, poor choices of construction materials, drought, climate change, lack or disregard of campfire regulations, carelessness with burning and sparking objects of all sorts, lightning, and power lines.

Our SC-based Morris team is meeting in Boulder Creek now, at a large home on 4 acres of mostly forested land, surrounded by forests. To get there, we drive about 40 minutes into the SC mountains, at least 25 of those spent on one of the only two evacuation routes in the area, both two-lane roads winding through forest. The drive experience has significantly more menace recently, due to three small fires in that area within the last two or three weeks, including one official evacuation of a neighborhood of 200 small homes and cabins.

Having a wildfire is one thing, and fighting it is another. Humans often don’t fight the ones that don’t affect people. Perhaps California should follow the lead of New Jersey and Texas, which are considering buyout instead of rebuilding for frequently flooded homes.

Many people living in the SC mountains are middle-income folks who feel they have no choice due to high prices in town, and would strongly object to this option being removed. There are also wealthy people who live there for the views, and statewide, rich people are just as likely to live in fire-prone areas.

According to US Today, Malibu has averaged two fires per decade since 1929, with more than 100 homes destroyed in each. All so far have been rebuilt, usually in grander style. The average cost of defending a home against fire is $82,000, although as Rosling would point out, this lonely number is meaningless. Is that per all homes per year, per saved home in each fire, or what?

In the US, the federal firefighting budget has tripled since the 90s, and now firefighting consumes almost 50% of the US Forestry Service budget. Seems like a trend worth discussing, but perhaps not while the fires still rage. The human cost, which I’ve intentionally not mentioned until now, is severe and growing. One idea that is being discussed here: Fire relief donations in lieu of holiday gift-giving this season.