The Fire Right Now: Disaster, Healing, and Tradition

How Wildfires Disproportionately Affect Communities of Color

As forest fires, bushfires, and wildfires become more intense and more disastrous worldwide, here are a few resources that dive into the disproportionate impacts of these events on communities of color. Focusing on America’s West Coast, InvestigateWest shares some insights on the growing fire threat.

It’s not just fires, but smoke too: read what InvestigateWest has to say

Why Giant Sequoias Need Fire to Grow

Fire is not all about destruction; famous West coast species like the Giant Sequoia have relied on seasonal fires to reproduce for centuries.

Note: Even though annual fires do have positive impacts on some of the world’s most long-lived trees, climate change is making fires so dangerous that they could potentially destroy some of America’s biggest natural treasures. Check out the next link to see how Indigenous practices can prevent this from happening.

Discover the beneficial relationship between forest fires and Giant Sequoias

Fire Is Healing: Indigenous Burning Practices in California

Controlled burns in California have played an important role in the health of West Coast forest ecosystems. In small doses, fire has the ability to cleanse: making space on the ground for new plants, helping trees release their seeds, and returning fresh nutrients to the soil. Indigenous peoples have used prescribed burning for generations for this very reason.

Read how Indigenous tribes in CA and other parts of the U.S. have been rekindling controlled burning

Black Firemen Invented the Firehouse Pole

Firefighting is a dangerous job that saves lives and, in the case of mass forest fires, can save miles of critical forest ecosystems. But did you know that firefighting is closely tied to the Black community? One of the most iconic symbols of the American firefighter, the fire poll, was invented by Black firefighters to increase response speed.

Learn about the Black firefighters who made the fire poll mainstream

Support Your Mother: Disaster Preparedness

Here’s a disaster preparedness toolkit that we featured in the first issue of Radicle. Scroll down to Section VII of this ecological toolkit for a few practical resources for protecting yourself and your loved ones during environmental disasters.

Read these strategies to prepare for increasingly intense natural disasters

8 Ways to Help People Affected by California’s Wildfires

From food and funds, to physical volunteers, if you’re looking for a way to help those impacted by the current West Coast fires, take a look at this list.

Learn how you can help those living through wildfire destruction

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