From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Paul Kolk
Blame it on climate change!
The Valparaíso region of Chile is wealthy and densely populated, but last Friday there was little to warn residents living in the green hills and valleys that a firestorm packing the power of several hydrogen bombs was to hit.
Fabiola Camilla, a 31-year-old mother of two, watched her seven-year-old daughter playing at her birthday party. She recalled nothing out of the ordinary, other than the warm, dry weather the currents of El Niño had brought to an area known locally as the Jewel of the Pacific.
There was also a fierce wind, said Misael Vergara Tapia, a resident of the neighbouring village of Achupallas. “A hot wind … a wind we had never felt before.”
From this idyll erupted hell. Moments later, fire was leaping from house to house, setting entire neighbourhoods ablaze and threatening the lives of thousands. “It was like a tornado of fire,” said Misael, 67. “In five minutes, you couldn’t see more than half a metre in front of you. Everyone was shouting, calling for their family. People died on the streets, in their cars.”
The wildfire is the worst disaster to hit Chile for more than a decade. At least 131 people have died, with a further 370 still missing. The hillside neighbourhoods it ripped through, destroying more 15,000 homes, are now a scorched wasteland of broken cement and steel.
Firestorms of this magnitude are a terrifying phenomenon, moving so fast and with such energy that they can kill people hundreds of metres away through radiant heat alone. But it is not unique.
Hawaii, California, France, Portugal, Canada, Greece and Australia have all been hit in recent years. In July 2022, when temperatures reached 40C for the first time in the UK, the residents of Wennington in east London witnessed nearly 20 houses burn down in a matter of minutes. The spark was a compost heap that had spontaneously combusted.
Experts are now asking: What’s causing these infernos? And is there anything that can be done to stop them?
Chile’s forest fire, like most, was preceded by unusually high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds.
The blaze started at midday in forested mountainous areas, and by the afternoon had swept northwards into the city of Viña del Mar, home to 330,000 people, and the smaller urban areas of Quilpué, Limache, and Villa Alemana.
Wildfires have become three times as common in Chile in recent years, according to a recent report in Nature.
Officials say some are started intentionally and that extreme weather conditions – “fire weather” – are responsible for their rapid spread.
“Fires are increasing due to the combination of El Niño and global warming,” said Dr Raúl Cordero, climate professor at the University of Groningen and the University of Santiago.
“The years where fires are more frequent are the years of El Niño. The effects of global warming on the weather cannot be ignored anymore.”
Dr Cordero says that the main anomaly on the day of last week’s inferno was the extreme temperatures. “In the epicentre, on Friday and Saturday, it was 36 degrees – a likely all-time record for this city,” he said.
Climate change?
No.
Quietly tucked away near the end of the Telegraph report is the real reason:
Forestry is actually very big business in Chile.
https://academic.oup.com/jof/article/114/5/562/4599759?login=false
The Valparaiso region is in the central region of Chile, which has a Mediterranean climate. In other words, one which during El Nino is very hot and dry, and therefore prone to fires.
And it is this region where the native forests have been almost totally replaced by invasive species, including eucalyptus. Most of the clearing of native forests has taken place in recent decades:
https://www.wri.org/research/chiles-frontier-forests
https://academic.oup.com/jof/article/114/5/562/4599759?login=false
As noted, eucalyptus accounts for about a third of plantations. Is it any wonder these fires spread so rapidly nowadays.
Most fires in Chile occur up in the mountains well away from civilisation. But sooner or later, this tragedy was bound to occur.
Climate change has nothing to do with it.
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Pinus Radiata are what we might call Fir Trees.
Fir of course being a contraction of ‘Fire’
(Read my raves about planting/using trees to save the climate and where I always qualify with: Do Not Plant Conifers)
I always ask me, why heat should play a role as reason for fire. Wind and dry air are enough and ignition, often by arsonists.
Heat is baseless.
I guess you have never lived near Eucalyptus trees, the heat liberates the oil from the trees and assists with the ignition process.
On a cold day, even with wind, the trees are hard to ignite. Add heat and a volatile oil and you have a fire that spreads from canopy to canopy in seconds.
I wouldn’t recommend for a gum tree to remain within 50m of a house. And for those that want to live amongst them, good luck, get a fail safe escape plan or a concrete bunker.
This fire actually started at four locations at the same time. Arson is believed to be the cause. The three times increase in wildfires in Chile is due to arson. The majority of the fires centered in the Bio-Bio/Maule region of Chile (more to the south of above fires) and are due to arson by Indigenous Groups seeking to take back their “Ancestral Homelands”. Yes, imported types of vegetation were accelerants, but the fires were arson. Chile President Boric, on Feb. 3, stated that “…arson could not be ruled out…”. So, no thunderstorms, no power lines, simultaneous start in four locations, prior history of arson as a tool, and “arson cannot be ruled out”?
There’s always someone, arson about with matches.
My condo in Villa Alemana was OK, as located between two bands of fire. The zone east of it in Peñablanca and west in Quilpué caught fire about the same time. Most likely arson, as with the preceding forest fires out on Ruta 68.
Milo, porque ellos no venden machas en latas en supermercados ahora?
No sé. La ultima vez he comprado machas en latas, estaban disponibles en Jumbo y Lider, cual es Walmart. Pero prefiero frescas a Caleta Portales.
https://www.jumbo.cl/machas-robinson-crusoe-lata-425-g-al-natural/p
“” packing the power of several hydrogen bombs”
Harriet has touch of atomic bomb syndrome, beloved of the alarmist fraternity…
“”Global warming of oceans equivalent to an atomic bomb per second””
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/07/global-warming-of-oceans-equivalent-to-an-atomic-bomb-per-second
Just the one?
“”The planet is building up heat at the equivalent of four Hiroshima bombs worth of energy every second. And 90% of that heat is going into the oceans. Right, now I’ve got your attention.””
https://theconversation.com/four-hiroshima-bombs-a-second-how-we-imagine-climate-change-16387
It’s torrid emotional reportage, which is now the default method of conveying the narrative on just about anything you can think of.
“”watched her seven-year-old daughter playing at her birthday party””
“”From this idyll erupted hell.””
ad nauseam.
“”Experts are now asking: What’s causing these infernos””?
They need to ask? I think not. But there is plenty of obfuscation
“”Chile’s “green rush” of radiata pine has hastened the displacement of people and plants and has created a flammable landscape that acts synergistically with climate change””
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358915026_Lessons_from_Fire_The_Displaced_Radiata_Pine_on_Mapuche_Homelands_and_the_California_Roots_of_Chile's_Climate_Crisis
Radiata pine and Eucalyptus have created a flammable landscape – that would be entirely benign were it not for climate change. What utter bolleaux.
Put that light out.
Quite a few years ago, I was travelling between Santiago and Valparaiso, and was horrified at the spread of Eucalypts. It was blindingly obvious that they were going to get bushfires. Incidentally, arson is a red herring. Yes arsonists might have started these fires, but with Eucalypts you get fires with or without arsonists. Not only did Chile import Eucalypts from Australia, they also imported the blind stupidity from Australia of letting the Eucalypts spread near houses. With one exception. The particularly vulnerable neighbourhood of Botania near Valparaiso took precautions by keeping their neighbourhood and its surroundings permanently cleared, and guess what – an inferno came up the hill through the Eucalypts towards them, and then when it got to the cleared area it simply went out. Botania lost not one house. There is a lesson for everyone there, and particularly for Australia (tbough history suggests that Australia will never learn): NO FUEL, NO FIRE! It really is that simple.
Eucalyptus, harvested for cosmetics and shampoo? What commercial products consume entire forests of gum trees? Or are they just weed trees, like the California forests? Even in the 70s there were former cottonwood and pine forests completely replaced by Eucalyptus, growing so closely together that the former paths were overgrown. I can’t imagine what it is like now.
The Eucalypt is indeed a weed, even in its home country, Australia. They have eliminated most of Australia’s other trees, and are currently destroying the Tarkine Rainforest in Tasmania. Tarkine is an icon to the greens, but they are so wrapped up in their ideology that they haven’t noticed that it is being wiped out. The Eucalypts are spreading up from the south, and have crossed the last remaining barrier, the Pieman River.
The blind stupidity you refer to was imposed upon farmers by the urban polis that listened to the whining of lefty environmentalists. I had a cousin who accepted the fines for maintaining clear cut to 100 yards and he did not get burned out in 2009.
I may have mentioned this before, but my dad described an experience, when he was 9 or 10, of riding down the road near Bendigo (Vic) with his father and seeing a Eucalyptus ahead of them erupt in fire (likely due to a spark from a steam locomotive) and then just after the passed the flames jump the road (at least 150 feet) to cause other Eucalyptus to erupt in fire.
Well, add this to the growing list of things/events caused by climate change. Pretty soon, the list will be things that aren’t caused by climate change. Oh wait a list of zero is nothing. <sarc>
Strong sunshine, ie high ground-level UV index, besides El Niño is a factor in wildfires, and Chile has recently endured very high UV levels. A reason for this year being worse than the last decade likely is the high solar irradiance from this solar cycle maximum is enhancing mountain-top ground-level UV.
Strong sunshine…
“”The sun is mighty, but modern climate change is caused by human activity | Fact check””https://news.yahoo.com/sun-mighty-modern-climate-change-184010947.html
Yahoo indeed.
The local press reported that arson was a major factor. A fireman was quoted as saying he saw fire starting in some ten different places practically simultaneously.
My take on it was that organised crime has an interest in slash burning of woodlands.
Friday funny
“”Polar bears appear to be ageing faster as the Arctic gets warmer””https://www.newscientist.com/article/2417305-polar-bears-appear-to-be-ageing-faster-as-the-arctic-gets-warmer/
The bear in the picture is fat as mud. But perhaps that’s what the morons associate with ‘starvation’.
There is no surprise that this is happening, anymore than when it happened in San Diego years ago. These trees are valued for their organic compounds and in the State of Victoria have been know to light like torches throwing flames hundreds of feet into the air. It got so bad in the 30s that my grandfather instituted a strict policy on his lands where by all brush, bush and trees within 100 yards of any structures was to be cleared and maintained cleared. This continued until the 90s, when local environmentalists convinced the urban polis to enact regulations that fined farmers that maintained such clear cut, with the inevitable result of many legacy farms being burned out in 2009.
Eucalyptus!!
Run!!
That stuff is like gasoline when lit. The academic arsonists in California would love it.
The “academic arsonists” in Commiefornia often live in groves of eucalyptus! The Berkeley and Oakland hills burn on a regular basis when the fuel load is high in the summer heat.
Most of the beautiful homes designed by Bernard Maybeck have been destroyed over the decades by these regularly occurring blazes! If you want to get a better appreciation for that lose, take a look at the First Church of Christ Scientist in Berkeley, or the Palace of Fine Arts in SF. To me, Maybeck is a better designer than Frank Lloyd Wright!
PH had an earlier post about fires in Europe (EU Fire Trends Feb 2nd 2024) which quoted the 2022 report of the European Environment Agency, Mediterranean Region, (Portugal,Spain,France, Italy and Greece) saying that
“96% of wildfires in the EU are caused by human actions” ie arson, accident, or irresponsibility.
Part of the reason for worsened forest fires is faster plant growth resulting from rising CO2 levels. It is estimated that plants are probably growing around 15-20% faster now than before the Industrial Revolution. Faster tree and brush growth also means faster accumulation of dead wood that fuels the worst fires.
There are also additional dynamics associated with faster growth from CO2 that are increasing fire risks. One of these is that with higher CO2 levels, photosynthesis is increased at a greater rate in plants exposed to indirect light as opposed to those in full sunshine. Thus the under-story plants in the forests experience a relatively greater acceleration of growth than the large trees in full sunlight, and this overgrowth increases the risks of crown fires that are the hottest and most destructive.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that tree growth is exponential, with the yearly carbon fixation in the tree normally rising each year. This compounding effect of carbon accumulation is further amplified by a faster baseline growth rate from higher CO2. Considering that forest growth often spans long time periods, a 15% faster baseline growth rate would result in a 3.9 times greater accumulation of carbon by a tree after 100 years.
There are bound to be other dynamics at play that would alter these faster forest growth rates from higher CO2 levels, but one of the problems is that there is very little research being conducted into measuring forest growth rates worldwide. Considering that forests have been proven to have significant impacts on climate and smoke from wildfires has been associated with lower regional surface warming, it is possible that faster plant growth could have a greater impact on our climate over time than the “Greenhouse Effect”.