The Waldo Canyon Fire
Approximately three miles west of Colorado Springs in the Pike National Forest, the Waldo Canyon fire of 2012 was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history burning 18, 247 acres, killing two people, destroying 347 homes and damaging many more (City of Colorado Springs, 2013). In addition to property damages and loss of life, there were other damages caused from this wildfire to include wildlife, plant life, watershed and soil. Economic damages caused by this wildfire include firefighting costs, insurance claims, home displacement costs and business closures during the duration of the fire.
The cost associated with fighting the Waldo Canyon fire was very expensive. The city of Colorado Springs reports the expenditures
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As with the Waldo Canyon fire the year prior, there were also damages to wildlife, plant life and soil. Several of the same type of economic damages as the Waldo Canyon fire were felt. Reminiscent to the Waldo Canyon fire, these economic damages were in the form of firefighting costs, insurance claims, home displacement costs and some business closures as well.
As with the Waldo Canyon fire, many other agencies and organizations were involved in the response to this wildfire. This included state and federal agencies as well as nearby fire and police departments. Many of the same assets were utilized in the fighting of this fire including aircraft to fight this fire. It is reported that the Black Forest firefighting costs at $14.8 million and had a total market value loss of just over $116 million
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Following the containment of the Waldo Canyon fire, there were several major flash floods in this area and one particular deadly flood resulted in destroyed homes, vehicles and loss of life. The town of Manitou Springs incurred damages of $374, 755 and has received state funding in the amount of $2, 374, 423 for flood mitigation projects within the town (ManitouSpringsgov, 2013). Most of the flash flooding damages occurred to the state highway system that runs through Manitou Springs and continues west towards the continental divide in the Rockies. The Colorado Department of Transportation reported that over $400 million in state highway damage occurred during the 2013 flash floods (CODOT, 2014). Many commuters were required to take an alternate route as this part of the highway was unavailable until repaired. These flash floods were severe due to the burn scar from the Waldo Canyon fire. To date costs are occurring to mitigate the effects of these flash floods. Potential flooding is also a concern with the Black Forest burn areas but no significant flood damage has occurred in this
It is so sad to see the horror of forest fires and how they corrupt our beautiful land. So much damage comes out of what started so small. At least 603 square miles of land were burned in the early stages of the Arizona fire only a couple of years ago (BBC 2). In a Colorado fire 2.3 million acres had been burned (BBC 3). That land could have been saved if the use of prescribed burns had been in the area.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America is about Teddy Roosevelt’s attempt to save the beautiful scenery of the West. Roosevelt used his presidency as a springboard to campaign for his want of protection for our woodlands, while doing this he created the Forest Service from this battle. In this book, Timothy Egan explores the Northern Rockies to analyze the worst wildfire in United States history. This disaster is known as the “Big Burn,” the 1910 fire that quickly engulfed three million acres of land in Idaho, Montana and Washington, completely burned frontier towns and left a smoke cloud so thick that it hovered over multiple cities even after the flames had been extinguished. Egan begins this story about the Big Burn of 1910 with the story of how the United States Forest Service came into existence.
The Armenian genocide ruins Vahan Kenderian’s picture-perfect life. Vahan is the son of the richest Armenian in Turkey and before the war begins, he always has food in his belly and a roof over his head in the book Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian. Life is absolutely quintessential for Vahan, until the war starts in 1915, when he endures many deaths of his family, losses of his friends, and frightening experiences in a short amount of time. He is a prisoner of war early in the book and is starved for days. As he goes through life, he is very unlucky and experiences other deaths, not just the deaths of his family. Vahan ultimately becomes the man his family would want him to be.
To analyze the city’s fire protection the ISO uses a grading system with a 100-point scale. The better grade the community receives the better off the community is in receiving lower insurance rates. The best grade possible is a class 1 which is 90.00 points or more on the grading scale. The next best grade is a class 2 with 80.00-89.99 points, then class 3 with 70-79.99, and on down to a class 10 with 0.00-9.99.
The United States Department of agriculture Forest Service investigation report on the thirty mile fire.
Wildfires started as an annual and seasonal occurrence in the south western region of California since the early 1930’s in part because of the hot dry summers and the hot dry turbulent Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert during the fall months. Now it has become a yearlong event (Mckay, 2010). These conditions greatly contribute to the “fire season” throughout this area. This set of circumstances in conjunction with downed power lines and humans that ignited fires took place in October of 2007. This led to a series of fires that burned more than 500,000 acres, destroyed 1,500 homes, killed 9, injured 85, and forced the successful evacuation of around 500,000 people out of harm’s way.
# National Wildlife Coordinating Group Training Working Team. Wildland Fire Suppression Tactics Reference Guide. National Wildlife Coordinating Group, Boise, ID, 1996.
Ethos (1)- Dr. Umar Johnson’s interview Black People Tend Not to Understand Propaganda can be found on YouTube and in the film 2015 Wilmington on Fire. Throughout the film, title cards in the film make it clear Dr. Johnson is a historian and psychologist with a PhD. His credentials compounded by his appearance in a documentary about historical event blotted from history make his testimony all the more believable because this topic has not been discussed in the public sphere. This is what would be considered initial credibility.
In the case, “Facing a Fire” prepared by Ann Buchholtz, there are several problems and issues to identify in determining if Herman Singer should rebuild the factory due to a fire or retire on his insurance proceeds. I believe that this case is about social reform and self-interest. I think that Singer needs to ask himself, what is in the firm’s best economic interests. There are several things to question within this case, what should Herman Singer do and why, should he rebuild the factory or begin retirement, if he rebuilds, should he relocate the firm to an area where wages are lower and what provisions, if any, should Singer make for his employees as well as for the community?
Greed is the root to evil or at least the motivation behind some corporations making a good, ethical decision. The Ford Motor Company fell into a trap of greed that would cost many human lives. Before the disaster of the Pinto Fires, Ford had a reputation as being the safety pioneer in the automobile industry with additions such as the seat belts. However, as the invention of small cars began to take emerge Ford began to loose market shares to the foreign market. Ford had to do something and quick.
Fires kill plants and trees leaving wildlife without homes and food. Large fires cause lots of smoke and air pollution.
Although it was difficult to find the precise cost of damages from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens there were hefty estimates of cost to restore areas. Reflecting the total loss regarding the timber, civil works, and agriculture was estimated $2 to $3 billion. Congress provided aid of $951 million to agencies like the Small Business Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for restoration
Perhaps the most infamous American example of a coal mine fire is Centralia, a town in the anthracite region of eastern Pennsylvania. Centralia was like any other coal town until one fateful day in 1962, when a heap of burning trash in a dump that doubled as a mine stripping pit quickly spread to other parts of the mine. After a few months of bureaucratic haggling, the local government finally agreed to drill to suffocate the fire, but it had spread faster than had been anticipated and could not easily be contained. In the next few years, subsequent efforts to quell the fire proved futile while it expanded beyond the confines of the coal mine to other areas underneath people’s residences in the town of Centralia.
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.
Obliterating everything in its path, a bushfire is a natural hazard, which can be defined as wild fires in scrublands and or bushlands, especially one that spreads rapidly and is hard to contain. They can be catastrophic, causing severe damage to properties, the environment and even deaths. And as a result there is an ever-increasing need to prepare for the potential impacts of bushfires.