考满分网

Drought, housing expansion, and oversupply of tinder make for bigger, hotter fires in the western United States

干旱、住房扩张，以及易燃物的过量在 西部制造出了更大、更高温的火灾

Wildfires are becoming an increasing menace in the western United States, with Southern California being the hardest hit area. There’s a reason fire squads battling more frequent blazes in Southern California are having such difficulty containing the flames, despite better preparedness than ever and decades of experience fighting fires fanned by the ‘Santa Ana Winds’. The wildfires themselves, experts say, are generally hotter, faster, and spread more erratically than in the past.

美国西部的野火正在成为一个越来越严重的威胁，其中南加州是受灾最严重的地区。正在南加州对抗愈加频发的烈火的消防队们如此难于控制住火势是事出有因的，尽管他们比从前有着更好的准备以及几十年来应对由“沈安娜风”煽风助燃的火灾积累的经验。专家们说，这些野火本身与过去相比通常都温度更高、起势更快、传播路径也更不好预测。

Megafires, also called ‘siege fires’, are the increasingly frequent blazes that burn 500,000 acres or more – 10 times the size of the average forest fire of 20 years ago. Some recent wildfires are among the biggest ever in California in terms of acreage burned, according to state figures and news reports.

超级大火也被称为“围攻火”，它们越来越频繁地发生，烧毁了500，000甚至更多英亩的土地——这个数字是20年前森林火灾平均损毁土地面积的十倍。根据州统计数据和新闻报道，有些近期发生的野火按照焚毁土地面积来看是加州历史上最大的火灾之一。

One explanation for the trend to more superhot fires is that the region, which usually has dry summers, has had significantly below normal precipitation in many recent years. Another reason, experts say, is related to the century-long policy of the US Forest Service to stop wildfires as quickly as possible. The unintentional consequence has been to halt the natural eradication of underbrush, now the primary fuel for megafires.

对于超大火灾愈演愈烈这种趋势的一个解释是：该地区通常在夏季很干燥，而在近些年里其降水量更是严重低于以往正常值。专家说，另一个原因与过去一个世纪以来美国林务局采取尽可能快地扑灭野火的做法有关它意外造成的结果是阻止了矮树丛的天然清理，而它们现在成了超级大火的最主要的燃料。

Three other factors contribute to the trend, they add. First is climate change, marked by a 1-degree Fahrenheit rise in average yearly temperature across the western states. Second is fire seasons that on average are 78 days longer than they were 20 years ago. Third is increased construction of homes in wooded areas.

专家们还说，另外三个因素也对这一趋势起到了推波助澜的作用。首先是气候变化，其标志是西部各州的年平均气温上升了1华氏度。第二是火灾多发季节现在平均比20年前长了78天。第三则是森林地带内房屋建筑的增加。

‘We are increasingly building our homes in fire-prone ecosystems,’ says Dominik Kulakowski, adjunct professor of biology at Clark University Graduate School of Geography in Worcester, Massachusetts. ‘Doing that in many of the forests of the western US is like building homes on the side of an active volcano.’

“我们正在越来越多地把我们的家建造在容易期货的生态环境里,” Dominik Kulakowski这样说，此人是马萨诸塞州伍斯特城克拉克大学地理研究生院的生物学客座教授。“在美国西部的许多森林地带这么做把家安在一座活火山的旁边。”

In California, where population growth has averaged more than 600,000 a year for at least a decade, more residential housing is being built. ‘What once was open space is now residential homes providing fuel to make fires burn with greater intensity,’ says Terry McHale of the California Department of Forestry firefighters’ union. ‘With so much dryness, so many communities to catch fire, so many fronts to fight, it becomes an almost incredible job.’

在加州，人口增长在至少十年间每年平均增加600,000多人，有更多的住房正在不断建设中。“曾经的空地现在成了居住区，为大火更加密集地肆虐提供了燃料，”加州林业部消防员联合会的Terry McHale如是说。“天气这么干燥，这么多社区都着了火，这么多着火现场需要救灾，这成了一项几乎无法完成的工作。”

That said, many experts give California high marks for making progress on preparedness in recent years, after some of the largest fires in state history scorched thousands of acres, burned thousands of homes, and killed numerous people. Stung in the past by criticism of bungling that allowed fires to spread when they might have been contained, personnel are meeting the peculiar challenges of neighborhood – and canyon – hopping fires better than previously, observers say.

虽然话是这么说了，但许多专家都给加州打出了高分，认为它在经历了州历史上最大的一些烧焦了数千英亩土地、烧毁了数千栋房屋、吞噬了不计其数生命的火灾之后，近些年来在应对火灾的准备工作方面还是有进步的。观察家们认为，相关人员过去曾饱受指摘，被批评正是由于他们拙劣的处理方式才使得本来能够得到控制的火情蔓延开来，而备受刺激之下，与过去相比，他们现在能越来越好地应对火势的奇特挑战——它们竟能跨越住宅甚至峡谷而四下蔓延。

State promises to provide more up-to-date engines, planes, and helicopters to fight fires have been fulfilled. Firefighters’ unions that in the past complained of dilapidated equipment, old fire engines, and insufficient blueprints for fire safety are now praising the state’s commitment, noting that funding for firefighting has increased, despite huge cuts in many other programs. ‘We are pleased that the current state administration has been very proactive in its support of us, and [has] come through with budgetary support of the infrastructure needs we have long sought,’ says Mr. McHale of the firefighters’ union.

州政府所做出的提供更新型机车、飞机和直升机以应对火灾的承诺已经兑现了。消防员联合会过去曾抱怨破旧的设施、陈旧的救火车，以及匮乏的防火安全规划，现在则赞成了州政府的投入，指出尽管在许多其他项目上大幅削减了资金，但对救火工作的资金投入却有所增加。“我们很高兴看到现任州行政机关非常积极地支持我们的工作，并对我们长久以来一直寻求的基础设备需求给予了财政预算上的支持，”消防员联合会的McHale先生如是说。

Besides providing money to upgrade the fire engines that must traverse the mammoth state and wind along serpentine canyon roads, the state has invested in better command-and-control facilities as well as in the strategies to run them. ‘In the fire sieges of earlier years, we found that other jurisdictions and states were willing to offer mutual-aid help, but we were not able to communicate adequately with them,’ says Kim Zagaris, chief of the state’s Office of Emergency Services Fire and Rescue Branch. After a commission examined and revamped communications procedures, the statewide response ‘has become far more professional and responsive,’ he says. There is a sense among both government officials and residents that the speed, dedication, and coordination of firefighters from several states and jurisdictions are resulting in greater efficiency than in past ‘siege fire’ situations.

除了提供资金以更新那些必须跨越全州、还要在峡谷中的曲折道路上弯弯绕绕前行的消防机车以外，该州还斥资建立了更好的“指挥和操控”设施以及如何操作这些设备的策略。“在早些年的大火围攻战中，我们发现其他管辖区和各州都愿意提供相互搭把手的帮助，但我们没能与他们充分地交流沟通，”加州应急事务办公室火灾与救援支部的负责人Kim Zagaris这样说。他说经过一个委员会检视和改造了沟通流程以后，全州内的应对举措“变得更为专业和敏锐”。政府官员和当地居民都有这样的感觉：来自几个州和辖区的消防员的速度、投入与合作构成了比先前“围攻大火”情形下更高的救灾效率。

In recent years, the Southern California region has improved building codes, evacuation procedures, and procurement of new technology. 'I am extraordinarily impressed by the improvements we have witnessed,’ says Randy Jacobs, a Southern California-based lawyer who has had to evacuate both his home and business to escape wildfires. ‘Notwithstanding all the damage that will continue to be caused by wildfires, we will no longer suffer the loss of life endured in the past because of the fire prevention and firefighting measures that have been put in place,’ he says.

近些年来，南加州地区还改进了建筑行业标准、空地清理流程，以及新技术的采购。“我对我们已经见证到的改进感到格外印象深刻，”一位住在南加州的律师Randy Jacobs如是说，他曾为了躲避野火而被迫搬迁自己的住所和事务所。“抛开野火必定会持续造成的破坏不谈，至少我们将不再遭受过去所经历过的生命损失了，这都是火警预防措施到位的结果，”他说。