Comstock's magazine 0619 - June 2019 | Page 58

n forestry C al Fire Battalion Chief Sean Griffis spots smoke rising in the distance, about 10 miles from where he stands on a hill in Nevada County. He had approved a burn permit for a pri- vate property in that area, but there’s more smoke than he would expect. He calls the nearest fire station to check it out. He can never be too careful these days. On this May morning, Griffis is with his four-man crew as they do cutting and pile burning, remov- ing brush that had grown 8 feet tall in many places. The work is almost a daily occurrence in this part of the Sierra Nevada foothills during the spring. This job is on 200 acres Cal Fire Battalion Chief Sean Griffis serves as a “burn boss,” meaning he oversees prescribed fire programs and leads crews to conduct these fires. 58 comstocksmag.com | June 2019 at Reader Ranch, whose owners are clearing land for cattle grazing and to reduce wildfire risk. The ranch is in the footprint of the 49er Fire, which tore through Nevada Coun- ty in 1988, causing what was, at the time, unprecedented damage. “The operations chief, at that time for the fire, came out and was recorded as saying, this is the fire of the future, this is what we’re going to see from here on out,” says Griff- is, who is in his 40th fire season. “Over the years, he has been proven correct. … The 49er Fire was for the folks before me, my predecessors, my mentors, my captains that I worked for, that was their fire of a lifetime. But now I’m having one of those ev- ery year.” Most of the state’s largest wild- fires have happened in the past 15 years. The last two years have broken records for death and destruction. Today’s conditions are unlike any- thing from the past. Warmer tem- peratures and decreased humidity — driven by climate change —  and heavy vegetation in California’s for- ests can turn a spark into a massive threat. Flames burn hotter and move faster, creating infernos with their own weather patterns. Blazes burn during months when historically the fuels would have been too wet, like what happened with the Camp Fire in Butte County that burned most of Paradise in November 2018. The U.S.’s approach to forests has long been a misinformed re-