00:00Of course, like everything with fire policy in the U.S., not everyone agrees.
00:08This is global warming or climate change?
00:12That's just utter nonsense.
00:14California in the West has been subject to periodic droughts.
00:18I mean, if you know your history, for example, what happened to the California missions,
00:22the Spanish missions?
00:24They basically all were abandoned in the 1600s because they had a 35-year drought.
00:29Not six or seven, which we're experiencing, but 35 years.
00:32They basically starved to death.
00:33California is a Mediterranean environment.
00:37It's subject to periodic droughts.
00:39It's heavily influenced by El Niño, La Niña, the Pacific weather patterns.
00:45And the forests are adapted to that.
00:50We have introduced a man-made situation that basically contradicts the evolution of these
00:57fires.
01:03As we experience longer, hotter, drier summer seasons, fire activity is spread out in intensity,
01:14length and duration.
01:17And whether you want to believe that's anthropocentric or whether you don't want to believe it is,
01:23or whether you think it's some and not all, doesn't really matter.
01:28But the fact is that that's what is happening.
01:31We're not seeing the worst fire seasons we've ever seen.
01:35But as far as economic impact is concerned, we're seeing increasingly destructive seasons.
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