While wildfire season is winding down in California, there’s still some risk due to seasonally high winds and lack of rain.
Living with catastrophic wildfires has become an unfortunate reality for many residents of the United States, particularly in the West. And climate change has made the fire season even longer and more intense than previous years. Deliberately setting “good fires,” also called prescribed burns, could help prevent future fires by clearing away unwanted brush and debris. But organizing controlled burns is a lot of work, and it has its risks, too.
KQED Science’s Danielle Venton, who has reported extensively on wildfires, speaks with Myles Bess about the challenges of fire management in the latest episode from KQED’s Above the Noise series. The video is above.