Objectively, it's tough to ignore the effect that two huge issues facing America and the world have had on this natural disaster.
Global warming, as many scientists seem to agree, is beginning to significantly affect temperatures, which affect weather patterns. With less rain and longer Santa Ana winds, the "fires are burning hotter and bigger, becoming more damaging and dangerous to people and to property," U.S. Forest Service chief Gail Kimbell said. "Each year, the fire season comes earlier and lasts longer."
But this is far from just a Southern California problem. The U.N. Commission on Climate Change has studied areas that are getting hotter and drier, and predicts similar fires globally. Most scary is how global warming helps fan these fires, which, in turn, fuel global warming. According to one expert, almost 20 million tons of greenhouse gases, the amount from 3.6 million cars a year, have been unleashed by this latest fire.
The other objective finding is that the war in Iraq affected the ability of the state to respond quickly and forcefully. While California does have a significant number of National Guard troops in Iraq, many are at home, and Gov. Schwarzenegger called up 1,700 of them to aid in the firefighting. (Though shortages did mean he had to pull 400 from the Mexico border.) But one hang-up was that equipment that the California National Guard sends to Iraq stays in Iraq.
More than six months ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "As state forestry officials predict an unusually harsh fire season this summer, the California National Guard says equipment shortages could hinder the Guard's response to a large-scale disaster." And so it was, as the state had to request the use of Pentagon equipment because they didn't have enough of their own.
