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Apple Fire Adds Fuel to Smoldering Debate Over California Fire Management

from Palm Springs Desert Sun, Aug. 9, 2020

Apple Fire Adds Fuel to Smoldering Debate Over California Fire Management Palm Springs Desert Sun, Aug. 9, 2020 A debate over fire management in Southern California reignited in the past week as the Apple Fire tore a blazing path through Riverside and San Bernardino counties. U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire updates on the Apple Fire — which by Saturday had consumed 32,412 acres and had 2,721 firefighters battling it — identified the point of ignition as a diesel-fueled vehicle's exhaust system spitting out burning carbon. "Fire activity is being driven primarily by record low moisture content of the vegetation combined with high temperatures and low relative humidity," according to the agencies. But they also highlighted that the fire is tearing through an area with no recent burn history, leading to questions of whether it could've been avoided with more prescribed burns, the practice of torching an area prior to fire season to remove flammable vegetation. READ MORE

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