Erik Piikkila

There is a huge amount of Fire Science that we are missing out on because it is so far back in time it has been forgotten. We need to look at the number, sizes, intensities, fuel loads, and locations of Forest Fires and Mega Fires. We also need to look at the forest harvesting history or logging which produces fire fuels and arranges them in a connected and continuous sea in each cutblock and across landscapes. These slash accumulations in cutblocks and across the landscape had an immediate High Fire Hazard that extended to medium after several years. But a Medium to High Fire Hazard could extend out for 40 Years after logging!! We also have to look at the impacts of 100 years of Fire Suppression which through forest growth has built up another major source of fire fuels. We also need to look at Fire Weather Conditions that preceded each fire. We also need to look at the Climate Conditions & Patterns, and the impacts of the various Climate Systems: El Nino/La Ninja, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, the Madden-Julien Oscillation (Atmospheric River from SE Asia), and the Jetstream. There is a huge Forest Fire History from 1840 - 1952 that has been forgotten in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The 1920s & 1930s were the two warmest decades of the 20th Century until the 1990s. Many of the Fires followed Logging 1880 - 1952. In the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s & 1940s, for every acre that was logged another acre was being burned at almost a 1:1 Ratio with a 4% Reburn Rate.