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| Vernal Fall of the Merced River in Yosemite |
Yosemite National Park is 1,200 square miles of protected wilderness in the state of California, ranging from
waterfalls and canyons to the well-known sequoia tree forests. The park is home
to more than 400 species of animal and is full of all kinds of plant life.
However, much of the western United States has recently been at high risk of
fires, and Yosemite was no exception. About a week and a half ago, the risk of
fire turned into reality and what grew into a very large fire began to burn
within the park. By now, it is supposedly “80% contained” , but at the
cost of 371 square miles of land damage and $81 million spent to combat the
fire (which from my understanding did not include any property or monetary loss
of businesses and civilians). It is now one of the largest wildfires in
California’s history.
Right away,
investigators and fire fighters had ruled out lightning as the cause due to the
lack of storms in the area. And now, just today, investigations have revealed
that what caused the fire was in fact a hunter that had somehow lost control of
his campfire. Before the start of this wildfire, there had been rules in place
to keep campfires within designated grounds to prevent such a thing from
happening, so I am curious to see what the reason was behind this hunter
starting a fire to begin with, as well as how he lost control of it.
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Flames sweeping through the Stanislaus National Forest, on
the western edge of Yosemite |
The British news
source called The Guardian says that the governor of California had
declared a state of emergency because of this week-long fire. The concern is
that it will damage water and electrical supply. This is a good example of when
a hazard event occurs, it has more consequences than it may seem. The reason
why they worry about this fire’s effect on water and electricity is because it
is still burning and could reach the buildings that supply these resources to
the state. If that were to happen that could cause, I imagine, even more damage
than just what is physically burned by the fire. Lack of water and power, in my
opinion, means more money spent in getting them up and running again, as well
as what needs to be done in order to somehow get people these things until the
problem is fully resolved. I believe that a lack of water could cause a lot of
health problems amongst the state’s residents. Beyond that, after this
tremendously damaging fire, I have to wonder if tourism rates will drop because
a lot of the park got burned, creating less of a reason for tourists to come,
and therefore, in the long term, affect that area’s economy.
The Guardian on the Yosemite Fires
San Francisco Mayor Declares State of Emergency
ABC News - Hunter Causes Yosemite Fire
National Park Service - Information on Yosemite
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