Give Donald Trump Credit for New Wildfire Policy in Idaho

There have been far more wildfires reported across the American West this summer than last summer.  But the volume of the burn has been considerably less.  Dramatically less acreage.  What’s going on?

The President's Team Could Get Some Credit

I saw a Substack post earlier this week that was shared by mining engineer and backwoodsman Darr Moon.  You may know him as the husband of Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon.  He watched the skies fill with smoke last year from the family’s mountaintop redoubt in Custer County.

The post goes into considerable detail about why we’ve seen less land scorched.  One possibility is a change in firefighting procedure, brought about by the election of Donald Trump.  He isn’t known as an environmentalist, but he’s known as a pragmatist.  He looks for what works, and not to satisfy the crunchies on the left.  In other words, he puts people before garden slugs, warblers, and minnows.

Fire Lacked One Key Ingredient for Spreading

Could it be that a speedier attack on the source of the burns is an explanation?  The Substack offers many possibilities, and concludes we’re still not finished with fire season, and we’ve had a very dry summer.

I’ll add another possibility.  Fire is fanned by wind.  A friend has a business where he works outdoors year-round.  Todd Eccles is the founder of Patriot Defense, and he spends 12 months a year on the range.  He reflected that it was unusually calm this summer when it came to blowing air.

We’ll need a larger sample size, perhaps three to four years, before we can reach any concrete conclusions.