Can California prepare better and prevent catastrophic wildfires?
[...]
On sweeping forest floors, CNN reports that California has been thinning overgrown forests and shrublands and treating them with prescribed burns to reduce brush and dried wood that could fuel catastrophic fires. In 2023, more than 1,500 square miles of state and federal land in California was "raked". Underbrush and debris were removed, and the land was treated with prescribed fire, timber harvest or animal grazing to reduce wildfire fuel.
[...]
However, environmental regulations protect the chaparral scrub, which contains low trees and bushes that thrive in hot, dry conditions in Southern California. Combined with the dense residential area near it, residents fear prescribed fires, which are done infrequently because they risk litigation if they go wrong.
[...]
As California experiences more severe droughts interspersed with rare wet years, experts have suggested that the state construct more reservoirs to store water for drought years. Building more water reservoirs could increase the state's water supplies and help the state in multiple ways, particularly in wildfire prevention.
[...]
Thailand wildfires occur every year and affect most of the country. These wildfires occur in high mountain ranges, and most were ignited by people foraging for food. To mitigate the severity of these fires and their impact on people's health, the province of Lampang launched the Pa Piak (wet forest) project. The wet forest project is one of the many fires of firebreaks and has successfully limited the spread of wildfires. Bangkok Post reports that this forest management technique has been expanded to cover all 36 communities.
[...]