Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future

Struzik is a sure guide as we set out on an uncertain path through the smoky woods and beyond.". "A fascinating and much-need account of a new, fiercer era of forest fire

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.. 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. 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. 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. Our understanding of the role fire plays in healthy forests has come a long way in the past century. 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 t