The Las Vegas Review Journal reports:
As firefighters head home from Southern Nevada, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday blamed “climate change” for the intense blaze that consumed nearly 28,000 acres and drove hundreds of residents from their homes around Mount Charleston this month.
Reid said the government should be spending “a lot more” on fire prevention, echoing elected officials who say the Forest Service should move more aggressively to remove brush and undergrowth that turn small fires into huge ones.
“The West is burning,” the Nevada Democrat told reporters in a meeting. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a fire in the Spring Mountains, Charleston range like we just had.
“Why are we having them? Because we have climate change. Things are different. The forests are drier, the winters are shorter, and we have these terrible fires all over the West.”
“This is terribly concerning,” Reid said. Dealing with fire “is something we can’t do on the cheap.”
“We have climate change. It’s here. You can’t deny it,” Reid went on. “Why do you think we are having all these fires?”
“You can make all the excuses,” he said, such as that fires are disasters that “just happen every so often.”
But the extinction of lodgepole pines won’t get Harry Reid re-elected like his wailing about fire will. No one cares about lodgepole pines!
We build flammable structures in flammable trees. Then they burn. Yeah.
The West is *supposed* to burn. Lodgepole pines (one of the most common pine trees) have evolved over millions of years to REQUIRE fire to propagate their seeds. A long enough spell without ANY fires would eradicate the species.
From the article – “Reid based his view on a New York Times report” – LOL!
Add to MT Geoff’s list the increasing number of dwellings built in “wild” areas. Yep, all due to global warming.
1. Fires in the Southwest are actually low this year.
2. “Hundred evacuated” often means that homes have been built into fire areas with inadequate preparation.
3. One of the best forms of fire prevention is fuels removal, the “green” name for logging.
4. Democrats like Reid have been huge barriers to fuel removal or to land-use changes that would include removing fuels from the proximity of housing areas.