Nearly a hundred massive wildfires have ravaged several western states in the U.S. burning up over a million acres and destroying homes, businesses, apple orchards and apple storage. Tragically, at least 13 firefighters have lost their lives trying to quell the blazing. Obviously, resources to tame the flames during low-humidity and high-wind action are far beyond stretched, costing hundreds of millions of dollars.
This is probably why not many have blinked an eye that along with 30,000 firefighters there are troops, Homeland Security, FEMA, National Guard and now foreign firefighters either readying themselves for the front lines or are already there.
From Chicago Tribune:
So many fires are burning in Washington state that officials summoned help from fire managers in Australia and New Zealand. They also got 200 U.S. troops from a base in Tacoma in the first such use of active-duty soldiers in nine years.
The Oregon Military Department said soldiers also were ready to help battle a wildfire that has destroyed more than three dozen homes near John Day, about 150 miles east of Portland.
Newsweek reported on August 21:
President Barack Obama signed a federal declaration of emergency for Washington state on Friday, authorizing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts in 11 counties and several Indian reservations hard hit by wildfires.
Authorities late on Thursday ordered the population of Tonasket, a riverfront hamlet of about 1,000 residents just 25 miles south of the Canadian border, to flee their homes as flames closed in.
A couple of shocking graphics that depict the disaster emergency:
‘Jaw-dropping’ #California wildfire consumes 60,000 acres (PHOTOS, VIDEO) http://t.co/cSZSweqnki http://t.co/1erDbjkB4A
— RT America (@RT_America) August 4, 2015
How many #wildfires & acres have burned across the US & CA this year? Check out the latest numbers #cawx pic.twitter.com/zZbIZySveA
— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) August 17, 2015
A couple of readers have been concerned about the use of troops for the fire and the concept of capitalizing Agenda 21 tactics, seeing as the Western U.S. is becoming less and less conducive to living.
About the troops, Homeland Security, FEMA and foreign firefighters, this writer cannot say what it means because, ostensibly, the government is responding to the emergency. People who are evacuating can probably see or tell somehow that the fires are truly nearby.
As for Agenda 21, again it’s difficult to balk when there’s a legitimate emergency making the land unlivable. However, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who believes climate change is to blame for the fires made another interesting comment, reported by RT:
Another issue complicating the Forest Service’s capabilities is that people have continued to build on property that is much closer to forests than in the past. Since houses are in much closer proximity to wildfires, more homes are threatened and more property can potentially be destroyed when a fire occurs.
“We now have more communities that have been located in and around one of our forests,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “Hazardous fuel build-up has increased in part because of climate change. We see drier conditions.”
As a result, Vilsack is urging Congress to reform the way the government fights fires.
I couldn’t say whether houses are truly being built more next to forests, but it sounds like a slight form of blame for using firefighting resources and a hint toward more measures to close land off from citizenry.
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.
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