Menu
Idea

wildfires

28
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Overhead view of neighborhood in the Palisades destroyed by wildfires.
partner

The L.A. Fires Expose the Problem With Conservation Policy

For more than a century, conservation policy has focused on economic development and wisely using natural resources.
by Johnathan K. Williams via Made By History on January 30, 2025
An aerial view of a forest meeting with a burnt, empty landscape.

Does the U.S. Have a Fire Problem?

Forest fires of 1910 sparked a media-driven fire exclusion policy, which has arguably worsened today's "fire problem."
by Richard Bednarski via Edge Effects on October 10, 2024
Engraving of people fleeing the Peshtigo fire.

In Maui, Echoes of the Deadliest U.S. Wildfire: The 1871 Peshtigo Blaze

The Peshtigo fire ran through 17 towns and killed more than 1,000. It was worsened by a dry season and extreme winds — not dissimilar to what happened in Maui.
by Kelsey Ables via Retropolis on August 16, 2023
Mount Harkness Fire Lookout in California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Historic Fire Lookout Towers Are Burning Down in Today’s Megafires

One of the country’s oldest fire lookouts was destroyed last year in the largest wildfire in California’s history. What else is being lost?
by Hannah Kingsley-Ma via The New Republic on September 7, 2022
Line of forest fire volunteers in Siberia

A Deranged Pyroscape: How Fires Across the World Have Grown Weirder

Fewer fires are burning worldwide than at any time since antiquity. But in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The Guardian on February 3, 2022
<p>Thick smoke from multiple forest fires shrouds El Capitan (right) and the granite walls of Yosemite Valley on Saturday 12 September 2020, in Yosemite National Park, CA.<em> Photo Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty</em></p>

What Yosemite’s Fire History Says About Life in the Pyrocene

Fire is a planetary feature, not a biotic bug. What can we learn from Yosemite’s experiment to restore natural fire?
by Stephen Pyne via Aeon on December 24, 2021
Lithograph of people fleeing the Great Fire of Peshtigo on horseback and on foot.

Why America's Deadliest Wildfire Was Largely Forgotten

In 1871, the Wisconsin town Peshtigo burned to the ground, killing up to 2,500. But due to another event at the time, many have never heard about the disaster.
by Erin Blakemore via HISTORY on July 29, 2021
Forest on fire with two firefighters spraying water

A Note from the Fireline

Climate change and the colonial legacy of fire suppression.
by Jordan Thomas via The Drift on October 21, 2020
A motel that burned down in the Pacific Northwest wildfires, with a melted sign seen through orange smoke.
partner

Scapegoating Antifa for Starting Wildfires Distracts from the Real Causes

Radicals have long been blamed for wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.
by Steven C. Beda via Made By History on September 18, 2020
Firefighters cutting a trench as a blaze approaches.

The Case for Letting Malibu Burn

Many of California’s native ecosystems evolved to burn. But modern fire suppression creates fuel for catastrophic fires. Is it time for a change?
by Mike Davis via Longreads on December 4, 2018

California Wildfires Have Been Fought by Prisoners Since World War II

The war had turned forestry work into a form of civil defense, and prisoners a new army on the home front.
by Volker Janssen via HISTORY on November 13, 2018
Mountains on fire above a town.

Defensible Space

“Megafires” are now a staple of life in the Pacific Northwest, but how we talk about them illustrates the tension at the heart of the western myth itself.
by Jessie Kindig via Boston Review on October 22, 2018

California Burning

Wildfires in the American West are becoming ever more prevalent and destructive. How did we get to this point?
by William Finnegan via New York Review of Books on July 28, 2018
partner

The Wildfire That Burned Yellowstone and set off a Media Firestorm

30 years ago, it was a huge fire in Yellowstone National Park that stoked media attention and political controversy.
via Retro Report on July 9, 2018

Looking To History To Combat Wildfires

After decades of modern fire prevention, many forests have become dangerous tinder-boxes.
by Grace Hood via NPR on June 14, 2018
A house with Christmas lights, and wildfires advancing towards it.

Southern California’s Uncanny, Inevitable Yuletide Fires

The current level of fire danger is so high that the U.S. Forest Service has described them using the color purple, to signify “extreme.”
by Mike Davis via The New Yorker on December 11, 2017

U.S. Wildfire Causes 1980-2016

Lighting, trash burning, powerlines, playing with matches – how do they rank as causes of wildfire?
by Jill Hubley via Jill Hubley.com on December 7, 2017

California Burns

A meditation from 2007 on the connection between wildfire destruction and suburbanization in California.
by Mike Davis via London Review of Books on November 15, 2007
1908 forest fire in New Hampshire.
partner

The Burned-Over District

The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come.
by Stephen Pyne via HNN on December 10, 2024
Charred ruins of Lahaina following the fire.

After Wildfires Destroyed Lahaina, the Battle to Restore an Ancient Ecosystem Will Shape Its Future.

A wetland restoration project is bringing hope to Maui residents who want to honor Lahaina’s history and return water to the town after last year’s fires.
by Reis Thebault via Washington Post on July 11, 2024

The Brutal Legacy of the Longleaf Pine

The carefully-tended longleaf pine forests of North America were plundered by European colonizers. They're still recovering.
by Lacy M. Johnson via Orion Magazine on September 30, 2022
Prairie landscape.

Protecting the Prairie

On the native prairies of North America, green is the problem.
by Sarah Smarsh via Orion Magazine on August 27, 2024

Smoke Blanketing New York City Evokes Memories of 1966 ‘Killer Smog’

The wildfire haze reminded some of the 1966 "killer smog" that wrapped New York in a toxic cloud. A woman recalled how her dad built a machine to save her mom.
by María Luisa Paúl via Washington Post on June 8, 2023
Silhouette of a Park official against smoke, monitoring a controlled burn.

How the Indigenous Practice of "Good Fire" Can Help Our Forests Thrive

To renew Yosemite, California should embrace a once-outlawed Indigenous practice.
by Robyn Schelenz via Fig. 1 (University Of California) on April 6, 2022
Mountains in California.

The Lost Rivers of Owens Valley

Water—who owns it, who uses it—has shaped this landscape from the Paiutes’ irrigation canals to the Los Angeles aqueduct.
by Frederic Wehrey via New York Review of Books on February 16, 2021

Why Humanity Will Probably Botch the Next Pandemic, Too

A conversation with Mike Davis about what must be done to combat the COVID-19 pandemic – and all the other monsters still to come.
by Mike Davis, Eric Levitz via Intelligencer on April 30, 2020
Buffalo jump

Native Americans Managed the Prairie for Better Bison Hunts

Hunter-gatherer societies may have a bigger ecological impact than we thought.
by Kiona N. Smith via Ars Technica on July 25, 2018
Photo of Lake Oroville with low water levels, California, 2014.

The West Without Water

What can past droughts tell us about tomorrow?
by B. Lynn Ingram via Origins on November 8, 2017

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History