California is Burning: WH climate change report links extreme weather events to global warming
2017 has seen its fair share of natural disasters. From the fatal hurricanes in the East Coast and Central U.S., to the destructive earthquakes in countries across the globe, the world has witnessed death and property damage in record-breaking numbers.
California was among the many victims this year as flames raged across the vineyards of Napa Valley, the fields of Sonoma County and the picture-perfect suburbs of Anaheim Hills and Orange in early October.
Anaheim resident Parshottam Donga and his family were forced to evacuate their home of 10 years as the hills adjacent to it caught fire. Donga said they left everything behind, not knowing if their house would make it.
“[The] wind was so strong and we were not sure if our property [could] be saved or not,” Donga said. “We left everything [to] God, whether it could be saved or not.”
Safety Measures: Donga is removing hedges from his home to reduce fire hazards.
This year, the number of Americans that registered for disaster aid jumped to 4.7 million, as opposed to the 480,000 that applied in 2016, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported on its website. The annual White House climate change report links global warming to the increasingly severe weather events.
USC environmental science professor Kate Svyatets said global warming can increase the severity and frequency of extreme weather events such as rain or heat waves.
“Climate change is a long-term change in average temperatures and also average carbon dioxide emissions. It is accompanied by other changes such as precipitation level, [and] extreme events become intensified,” Svyatets said. “Some areas may become drier, other areas might become more flooded.”
Climate change is clearly linked to wildfires in the Pacific Northwest because it has reduced the amount of rain and snow that falls in this region. As the climate become warmer in these states, fires are started more easily, she said.
“Wildfires become more intense when we have low precipitation, such as in California. Everything is just drier, so some areas become much drier, much hotter,” Svyatets said.
The Northern California wildfires were the most damaging in state history according to Cal Fire. Forty-three people died, 245,00 acres of land were burned and nearly 9,000 structures were destroyed.
The Anaheim Hills fire, termed Canyon Fire 2, was the largest to burn in Orange County in almost a decade, the Anaheim Fire Department reported. It burned more than 6,000 acres of land and more than 1,000 homes were evacuated.
Another resident of the Canyon Heights Drive neighborhood, Phil Waimrin, was ordered to evacuate, but stayed behind to keep an eye on the community. Waimrin said it was a challenge to even get back to his home from work because of the chaos in the streets.
“I got to my house, smoke was everywhere, the fire department trucks were everywhere. They were evacuating the school down the street,” he said. “It was like being in a warzone. It was pretty crazy.”
Nine elementary and high schools were evacuated and shut down for the duration of the fires due to the poor air quality, Anaheim fire officials reported. Donga said it was difficult to remain outdoors because of the thick layers of smoke in the air.
“It was too smoky, [we] could not breathe even. It was not safe to live in this place. Not even to stand nearby the property,” he said.
The Canyon Fire 2 was the third time Waimrin and his family had to evacuate because of flames nearby. Waimrin said this fire was more threatening than others in the past because of its close proximity.
“Throughout the day there were different areas where plumes of smoke were coming up,” he said. “The fire actually burned all the way around our area, up into the street back behind us.”
USC public policy professor Daniel Mazmanian said despite the findings of the federal climate change report, the Trump administration is reducing the number of environmental protection policies.
“They’re significantly cutting the scale of our Environmental Protection Agency, personnel, resources and explicitly preventing them from talking about climate change,” Mazmanian said.
While limiting the Obama-era global warming policies does not have immediate impacts on the world’s environmental health, it gives other unenthusiastic nations an excuse to back out of climate change regulations, he said.
“For the United States to say we’re not going to participate is demoralizing,” Mazmanian said. “[It] allows others who are reticent participants to say ‘well if the U.S. isn’t going to do it, we aren’t either.’”
Even though the U.S. does not hold a strong position on environmental protection, California has major energy and industry regulations in place to reduce the effects of climate change, he said.
“California is heralded around the world as being a sub-national actor,” Mazmanian said. “[It] has been developing and continuing to pursue very aggressive strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from California.”
Kent Porter is a photographer at the The Press Democrat, a prominent publication in the Santa Rosa community, which experienced extreme damage by wildfires. Porter said it was a difficult situation to observe, even as a journalist.
“It’s been a real trying experience. More than any other disaster I’ve covered probably in the last 30 years, [it] hits closer to home than it normally would because I know a lot of people affected,” he said. “It touched everybody here, and that’s what’s unusual about this one. It touched almost everybody in the community.”
