Fire Management in the American West by
Most journalists and academics attribute the rise of wildfires in the western United States to the USDA Forest Service's successful fire-elimination policies of the twentieth century. However, in Fire Management in the American West, Mark Hudson argues that although a century of suppression did indeed increase the hazard of wildfire, the responsibility does not lie with the USFS alone. The roots are found in the Forest Service's relationships with other, more powerful elements of society--the timber industry in particular. Drawing on correspondence both between and within the Forest Service and the major timber industry associations, newspaper articles, articles from industry outlets, and policy documents from the late 1800s through the present, Hudson shows how the US forest industry, under the constraint of profitability, pushed the USFS away from private industry regulation and toward fire exclusion, eventually changing national forest policy into little more than fire policy. More recently, the USFS has attempted to move beyond the policy of complete fire suppression. Interviews with public land managers in the Pacific Northwest shed light on the sources of the agency's struggles as it attempts to change the way we understand and relate to fire in the West. Fire Management in the American West will be of great interest to environmentalists, sociologists, fire managers, scientists, and academics and students in environmental history and forestry.
Flames in Our Forest by
Introduction: why learn about fire? -- Mixed signals: a brief history of American perceptions of fire -- Fire on the landscape: past, present, and future -- Fire behavior: why and how fire burns -- Nature's creative force: how fire shapes the forest -- Different forests, different fires -- Environmental impacts: fire's influence on soils, water, and air -- Fire history: discovering effects of past fires in a forest -- Fire-prone forests: can we adapt to them? -- Restoring nature's creative force -- Managing wildland fuels around homes -- Lessons from nature: will we learn?
Forest Fires by
Even before the myth of Prometheus, fire played a crucial ecological role around the world. Numerous plant communities depend on fire to generate species diversity in both time and space. Without fire such ecosystems would become sterile monocultures. Recent efforts to prohibit fire in fire dependent communities have contributed to more intense and more damaging fires. For these reasons, foresters, ecologists, land managers, geographers, and environmental scientists are interested in the behavior and ecological effects of fires. This book will be the first to focus on the chemistry and physics of fire as it relates to the ways in which fire behaves and the impacts it has on ecosystem function. Leading international contributors have been recruited by the editors to prepare a didactic text/reference that will appeal to both advanced students and practicing professionals.
Forests in Our Changing World by
Scientists tell us that climate change is upon us and the physical world is changing quickly with important implications for biodiversity and human well-being. Forests cover vast regions of the globe and serve as a first line of defense against the worst effects of climate change, but only if we keep them healthy and resilient. Forests in Our Changing World tells us how to do that. Authors Joe Landsberg and Richard Waring present an overview of forests around the globe, describing basic precepts of forest ecology and physiology and how forests will change as earth's climate warms. Drawing on years of research and teaching, they discuss the values and uses of both natural and plantation-based forests. In easy-to-understand terms, they describe the ecosystem services forests provide, such as clean water and wildlife habitat, present economic concepts important to the management and policy decisions that affect forests, and introduce the use of growth-and-yield models and remote-sensing technology that provide the data behind those decisions. This book is a useful guide for undergraduates as well as managers, administrators, and policy makers in environmental organizations and government agencies looking for a clear overview of basic forest processes and pragmatic suggestions for protecting the health of forests.
Living with Fire by
Fire, both inevitable and ubiquitous, plays a crucial role in North American ecosystems. But as necessary as fire is to maintaining healthy ecosystems, it threatens human lives and livelihoods in unacceptable ways. This volume explores the rich yet largely uncharted terrain at the intersection of fire policy, fire science, and fire management in order to find better ways of addressing this pressing dilemma. Written in clear language, it will help scientists, policy makers, and the general public, especially residents of fire-prone areas, better understand where we are today in regard to coping with wildfires, how we got here, and where we need to go. Drawing on abundant historical and analytic information to shed new light on current controversies, Living with Fire offers a dynamic new paradigm for coping with fire that recognizes its critical environmental role. The book also tells how we can rebuild the important ecological and political processes that are necessary for finding better ways to cope with fire and with other complex policy dilemmas.
Painting the Landscape with Fire by
Fire can be a destructive, deadly element of nature, capable of obliterating forests, destroying homes, and taking lives. Den Latham's Painting the Landscape with Fire describes this phenomenon but also tells a different story, one that reveals the role of fire ecology in healthy, dynamic forests. Fire is a beneficial element which allows the longleaf forests of America's Southeast to survive.In recent decades, foresters and landowners have become intensely aware of the need to "put enough fire on the ground" to preserve longleaf habitat for red-cockaded woodpeckers, quail, wild turkeys, and a host of other plants and animals. Painting the Landscape with Fire is a hands-on-primer for those who want to understand the role of fire in longleaf forests. Latham joins wildlife biologists, foresters, wildfire fighters, and others as they band and translocate endangered birds, survey snake populations, improve wildlife habitat, and conduct prescribed burns on public and private lands. Painting the Landscape with Fire explores the unique southern biosphere of longleaf forests. Throughout, Latham beautifully tells the story of the resilience of these woodlands and of the resourcefulness of those who work to see them thrive. Fire is destructive in the case of accidents, arson, or poor policy, but with the right precautions and safety measures, it is the glowing life force that these forests need.
Silviculture and Ecology of Western U. S. Forests by
"Silviculture, once regarded solely as reforestation and growing trees for timber, is understood today as also maintaining forest health, reducing fire potential, benefitting wildlife and aesthetics, and ensuring multiple options for the future against the uncertainties of a changing climate.
Blazing Heritage by
National parks played a unique role in the development of wildfire management on American public lands. With a different mission and powerful meaning to the public, the national parks were a psychic battleground for the contests between fire suppression and its use as a management tool.Blazing Heritage tells how the national parks shaped federal fire management.
Building Construction Related to the Fire Service by
Building construction and the fire service -- Structural fire resistance and building classifications -- The way buildings are built : structural design features -- Building systems -- Fire behavior and building construction -- Foundations -- Wood construction -- Masonry and ordinary construction -- Steel construction -- Concrete construction -- Roofs -- Special structures and design features -- Buildings under construction, remodeling, expansion, and demolition -- Non-fire building collapse -- Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) Objectives: Building construction for Fire Protection.
Drawdown by
In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and activists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and methods are described here-some are well known, some you have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in the developing world to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path toward not just slowing the earth's warming, but actually reaching drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being-giving us every reason to seize our planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.
Firestorm by
"Frightening...Firestorm comes alive when Struzik discusses the work of offbeat scientists." --New York Times Book Review "Comprehensive and compelling." --Booklist "A powerful message." --Kirkus "Should be required reading." --Library Journal For two months in the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire "the Beast." It acted like a mythical animal, alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it's not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. A glance at international headlines shows a remarkable increase in higher temperatures, stronger winds, and drier lands- a trifecta for igniting wildfires like we've rarely seen before. This change is particularly noticeable in the northern forests of the United States and Canada. These forests require fire to maintain healthy ecosystems, but as the human population grows, and as changes in climate, animal and insect species, and disease cause further destabilization, wildfires have turned into a potentially uncontrollable threat to human lives and livelihoods. Our understanding of the role fire plays in healthy forests has come a long way in the past century. Despite this, we are not prepared to deal with an escalation of fire during periods of intense drought and shorter winters, earlier springs, potentially more lightning strikes and hotter summers. There is too much fuel on the ground, too many people and assets to protect, and no plan in place to deal with these challenges. In Firestorm, journalist Edward Struzik visits scorched earth from Alaska to Maine, and introduces the scientists, firefighters, and resource managers making the case for a radically different approach to managing wildfire in the 21st century. Wildfires can no longer be treated as avoidable events because the risk and dangers are becoming too great and costly. Struzik weaves a heart-pumping narrative of science, economics, politics, and human determination and points to the ways that we, and the wilder inhabitants of the forests around our cities and towns, might yet flourish in an age of growing megafires.
Hell on Earth by
The world is burning, and it appears that we are to blame. Conditions that create large-scale fire disasters are occurring more frequently every year, spurred on by global warming. And the potential for damage, loss of life, and greater harm to the environment is staggering. As devastating fires increase throughout the western and southern United States, the number of fires in the Brazilian rain forest continues to increase as well. Vast areas of the wilderness are dying throughout the West, setting the stage for a human and environmental tragedy. David L. Porter has been covering wild fires in the west for more than twelve years. After losing his home to a wildfire in 2003, he set out to find how and why this was happening, not only in the western US, but around the world. Hell on Earth chronicles the origins of these catastrophes as well as the effects they are having on our planet.
Introduction to Fire in California by
What is fire? How are wildfires ignited? How do California's weather and topography influence fire? How did the California Indians use fire? In the spirit of his highly acclaimed Introduction to Air in California and Introduction to Water in California, David Carle now turns to another fundamental element of the natural world, giving a fascinating and concise view of this complex topic. His clearly written, dramatically illustrated book will help Californians, including the millions who live near naturally flammable wildlands, better understand their own place in the state's landscape. Carle covers the basics of fire ecology; looks at the effects of fire on wildlife, soil, water, and air; discusses firefighting organizations and land management agencies; explains current policies; and explores many other topics. Features: * 91 color illustrations and 15 maps * Tips on what to do before, during, and after fires * An overview of major wildfires in California's history * A discussion of the effect of climate change on fires in natural landscapes A book in the Californians and Their Environment subseries, dedicated to understanding human influences on the state's ecology and natural resources
Megafire by
As forest fires continue to ravage communities, this bestselling author and firefighter explores what causes them, and captures the danger and heroism of those who fight them In Megafire, a world-renowned journalist and forest fire expert travels to the most dangerous and remote wildernesses, as well as to the backyards of people faced with these environmental disasters, to look at the heart of this phenomenon and witness firsthand the heroic efforts of the firefighters and scientists racing against time to stop it--or at least to tame these deadly flames. From Colorado to California, China to Canada, the narrative hopscotches the globe and takes readers to the frontlines of the battle both on the ground and in the air, and in the laboratories, universities, and federal agencies where this issue rages on. Through this prism of perspectives, Kodas zeroes in on a handful of the most terrifying and tumultuous of these environmental disasters in recent years--the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona that took the lives of nineteen elite "hotshot" firefighters, the Waldo Canyon Fire that overwhelmed the city of Colorado Springs--and more in a page-turning narrative that puts a face on the brave people at the heart of this issue.Megafire describes the profound impact of these fires around the earth and will change the way we think about the environment and the essential precariousness of our world.
Tending Fire by
Forest fires have been increasingly a part of the American psyche since the catastrophic fires in Yellowstone National Park in 1988. Many of the subsequent years have seen large fires that took human life, decimated vast acreages, and even destroyed homes and businesses in populated areas. What surprises most Americans is that the majority of these fires are due to human activity--not necessarily in starting the fires, but in having become so efficient at extinguishing fires during the latter half of the 20th century. Suppression has allowed a build-up of combustible fuels that otherwise would have been consumed by natural fire cycles. This fact has ignited a firestorm of controversy about how to manage forests to reduce fuel levels enough to make wildfires less catastrophic. In this well-written book, Pyne (Arizona State Univ.) discusses US fire history and how this country got to its current position. It then addresses options for fire management, current fire politics, and new approaches to treating fire. The book should be very useful to readers in such varied disciplines as natural resources, political science, and sociology. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All academic libraries serving undergraduates and up. M. G. Messina Texas A&M University
Wildfire by
A compelling story of wildland fires, from a fascinating exploration of wildfire science to a gripping moment-by-moment account of a Boulder blaze* The author was embedded with one of the busiest wildfire crews in the United States* Reveals wildfires through the experiences of the people who go face-to-face with them* Focuses on challenges faced in Western states.Every year wildfires ravage forests, destroy communities, and devastate human lives, with only the bravery of dedicated firefighters creating a barrier against even greater destruction. Throughout the 2016 wildfire season, journalist Heather Hansen witnessed firsthand the heroics of the Station 8 crew in Boulder, Colorado. She tells that story here, layered with the added context of the history, science, landscape, and human behavior that, year-by-year, increases the severity, frequency, and costs of conflagrations in the West. She examines the changes in both mindset and activity around wildfires and tracks the movement from wildfire as something useful, to something feared, to something necessary but roundly dreaded.
Essentials of Fire Fighting and Fire Department Operations by
Continuing the tradition of excellence in firefighter education, this new, expanded version contains the complete 20 basic chapters, as well as additional chapters including first aid and hazardous materials response to meet all of the requirements for Fire Fighter I and II levels of NFPA 1001® and NFPA 472® and OSHA 1910.120. This overhauled new edition offers a complete support package and includes updated information on 192 skill sheets, knot and rope requirements, the use of essential job tasks related to the medical requirements in NFPA 1582®, and more! Begin laying the foundation for your firefighting career now with this expanded version. nbsp; View a Sample Chapter:http://info.ifsta.org/essentials-6th
