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 f we try to prevent all fires, there's no possibility of a 100% success
rate. In fact, the odds are getting worse that effective suppression can
be done at all because of the excessive build up of fuels over the past
100 years.
Trees will be killed, houses destroyed, and lives lost. Some of the worst
damage from catastrophic uncontrolled fires will be the least visible.
Where the fuel loads are excessively high, soils can be heated to the
point of sterility and never recover.
Extremely hot fires destroy both organic matter and nutrients in the soil;
at some point clay minerals are fused. With the vegetative cover removed
and some soils made water repellent, an ordinary rainstorm becomes an
extraordinary event, causing severe soil erosion and flooding on already
fire-damaged land.
In many places, the future of the land is at risk. Lands that lose their
topsoils or are turned to desert, will be worthless for generations, perhaps
permanently. (From: R. Neil Sampson,"Western Forests Need Action Now,"
California Forests, May/June 1997)
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