Fighting Fire With Fire Could Be Solution To California's Worsening Wildfire Seasons
UC Berkeley Fire Science Professor Dr. Scott Stevens says that prescribed, or controlled burns should be increasingly used around homes in Southern California.
"We have too many trees – they have overgrown, so we've got to get rid of the brush, the grass. The larger, healthy trees need those removed in order to stay healthy," Stevens told KCBS.
But, Cal Fire Spokesperson Daniel Berlant says the terrain mandates just the opposite.
"The locations where we do prescribed burning is going to be open areas whether they be fields, or in the forestland – it's not going to be right up to homes," Berlant told KCBS.
In both northern and southern California, there are plans for more controlled burns, but that likely won't help until next year.
"Places that are vulnerable that have wind blow down and really threaten houses, you're not going to be able to do broad-scale burning in that area of chaparral to really mitigate fire hazards," Stevens told KCBS.