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What can LA teach us as wildfires threaten Europe?

Experts say that the LA fires provide lessons on urban wildfires

Fires are more likely to start in areas of urban sprawl and land abandonment

Experts advise focusing on long-term prevention

Joanna Gill

According to a report published in May by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (which advises European policymakers), more than twice as many cities in Europe are at high risk of wildfires as in North America or Asia.

Experts say that the ferocious fires which ravaged Los Angeles last January, killing 22 people and destroying 12,000 homes provide a powerful lesson and warning to European policymakers.

The myth of fire suppression has collapsed in California, said Elias Tziritis. He is a veteran firefighter, and coordinator for forest fires at WWF Greece.

"Fires have become more intense." He said that we need to build a society that is fire resistant.

FIREBELT SUBURBS

According to a U.N. report, the global warming will increase extreme fire risk by 50% by the year 2050. Environment Programme.

She said that "the human element is managed in certain areas, with projects to reduce abandon land, and managing the vegetation to decrease the fuel availability."

Vandecasteele stated that "but still, not enough is being managed to manage the present, let alone the future, expected effects of climate change."

What began as a wildland blaze in Los Angeles quickly became an urban fire as powerful winds blew flames from one house to another across parched terrain.

Experts say that the destruction was caused by the urban sprawl in California and the wood construction of many homes.

Urban sprawl is a risk, even though Europe's buildings made of mostly concrete and stone would be more resistant.

Lindon Pronto is a senior fire management specialist at the European Forest Institute. He was a former firefighter. "But it's not necessarily the full-on house-to-house scenario that we saw in Los Angeles."

California's fire-resistant materials rules were credited for reducing the damage and stopping the chain reaction. However, houses outside of the regulated zone were still vulnerable because they weren't bound by the same codes.

Vandecasteele stated that Europe should learn from Los Angeles by noting, for instance, the importance of mapping risks in borderlands where people and forests or fields meet, to ensure regulations are up-to-scratch.

You can implement lower vegetation green buffer strips to stop fires spreading.

Unregulated construction is another challenge.

Tziritis said that illegal construction in areas prone to wildfires increases the risk of fires in Greece.

Living with Fire

Mediterranean countries share a similar climate with Los Angeles: hot, dry summers; mild winters; and long fire season. But other European countries also face a growing threat, as was seen in 2022, when hundreds of fires broke into London on one day due to record temperatures.

Experts say that climate change will likely intensify extreme weather. A shift in mentality is therefore needed.

Thomas Elmqvist is a professor of Natural Resource Management at Stockholm University.

He said EU regulations to promote sustainable agriculture and restore ecosystems in order to make forests resilient and reduce wildfire risks must be applied.

"Because L.A. taught us that the city had neglected its landscape." He said that although they had regulations, they were not implemented.

Experts also said that nature protection laws must be updated so as to allow prescribed burning in order to clear vegetation, and to help slow down the spread of wildfires.

Pronto said that "most national legislations in Europe do not recognise the use (of fire) as a tool for management" to clear vegetation. He said that if you don't clear it, there is "more fuel" for the wildfire to play with.

He said that forests should be allowed to regrow after fires rather than being replanted.

"Nature is able to correct itself."

It is also important that European policymakers think beyond the next election.

Elmqvist said, "As an elected official you can buy an aeroplane to show off what you have done."

(source: Reuters)