Re: Fires and winds

Those of you interested in the ecology of fire in Mediterranean climates should take a look at Jon Keeley's website. He has been working on the subject since the '70s, and since he is a US government employee, much of his work is publicly accessible. 
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/seki/keeley.asp
Of particular interest this week is his 2004 article "Lessons from the October 2003 Wildfires in Southern California." The lessons, to paraphrase, are that uncontrollable fires of this magnitude are inevitable, and they cannot be ameliorated by current management practices (reducing fuel load by controlled burns).
The Santa Anas are what make the fires uncontrollable; my impression is that the variable that seems to be making these fires worse is not the frequency/intensity of the Santa Anas, but the extent of the "wildland-urban interface" -- i.e., people.
The SF Chronicle ran an excellent story yesterday detailing the extent of the latter problem in the Bay Area (Northern California): 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/25/MNA0SVGRQ.DTL&tsp=1
We have wind and drought too, so it is only a matter of time until a similar catastrophe happens here. 

Best,
Max Withers
Oakland CA

khe36747 wrote:
After the fires in Victoria last year, we have been watching the reports of fires in Greece, France and now California with the sort of horrified fascination of a light blinded motorist waiting for the oncoming train. A recent conference discussed the changing nature of fires and the emergence of mega-fires which last for weeks and months - as we experienced last year. However I have been wondering if there has been an increase in the number of days on which we have 'witches winds' and the talk of the Santa Ana winds has prompted me to ask others if they have experienced any such increase. Here we have the North Wind, which affects those who live in Victoria and South Australila, which has local names such as Soul Grabber, Blast Furnice, and Devil's Breath, and I know of the Mistral of France, and of course the Santa Ana winds which have been so prominant. What others are around in the Mediterranean Climate Zones? Are they a feature of all Medit.Plant places? And are they increasing? We have had about a dozen days of 'witches wind' already this year and they are usually not a feature of our lives until after Christmas. Best wishes and luck to those suffering in California. 
Margaret Healey
near Ballarat
Victoria Australia
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