A Few Things to Remember when Camping during Wildfire Season
Aftermath of fires in Yosemite National Park, CA - Photo Credit: Chris Blake
As was the case at this time last year, Wildfire season in the United States has been looking quite bleak, and due to the catastrophic impact of climate change there is good reason to believe this will be our new way of life until such a tide can be reversed. 3 million acres of wilderness are actively on fire as this is being written, with 5.5 million burnt in 2021 overall. Extreme drought, high winds, low humidity, and an increase in the number of lightning storms in regions where they were previously scarce all combine to create the ideal conditions for wildfires to spark, spread, and sweep rapidly across thousands of acres of wilderness (and often into towns as well!)
A few weeks back, we ran a series of fire safety tips on our social media pages that received a great response from our community. In case you missed these on the Pathloom Instagram or TikTok sites, we wanted to post the collection here in our blog for easy review.
Do your part to keep our forests safe from further damage - no one wants to be the person who sets off the next great wildfire! Short of implementing sweeping political changes to stem the tide of ongoing climate change, there isn't much we can do to prevent the drought conditions that leave our wilderness so susceptible to fire damage. While we can't control where the next bolt of lightning may strike, we can control for human error.
Always check local fire danger conditions before you depart, seek guidance of local rangers if you have questions, and follow these four easy steps the next time you go camping to ensure proper fire safety for yourself and the world around you.
Irongate Reservoir: Hornbrook, CA - Photo Credit: Scott Carnahan
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