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in reply to Ambivalena ☕

@ambivalena If you are close to a fire it is very scary. Been there done that. And the smoke can be awful living in it day after day. But for the most part, even though there are a lot of fires, they are mostly in lightly populated areas or areas with no population. But growth in the west continues to shrink the urban-wildland interface. So more fires & the expanding urban areas more structures & people are at risk. Climate change & decades of poor forest management has made the fires worse.
in reply to Bob Tregilus

That is so sad to hear, I really wish that we realize that we can't go on with poor forest managements.

Yeah, that air must be dangerous to live in.

in reply to Bob Tregilus

@ambivalena Regarding the poor forest and wildland management: For decades, in the 20th century, all fires were put out as fast as possible. It turns out that fire is part of the ecology in the west. Without periodic fires things get all messed up. The understory gets too thick causing all sorts of problems in the ecosystem. Lots of plants need fire to reproduce and pests get out of control without fire. The same applies to the deserts. Do your forests in Sweden need fire to be healthy?
in reply to Bob Tregilus

Yes, we need those fires aswell, but I don't know how much of it and how often. I am not that well-informed on the subject.
in reply to Ambivalena ☕

@ambivalena It seems fire is an important part of a healthy ecosystem everywhere. Here in the West they are much more aggressive nowadays doing controlled burns and clearing the understory and slash from the forests. But, as with some many other things, the programs are way underfunded, and, of course, there's a lot of square kms that need treatment. 🫤
in reply to Bob Tregilus

This is not good for the future, and it makes me sad. We need to be better than this 🥺