California is home to the world’s biggest firebreak, spanning 800-miles across the western parts of the Sierra Nevada during the devastation of the Great Depression and shielding the state’s forests from multiple wildfires.
The Pondesora Way was built in only three years from the Cascade Mountains’ Pit River to the Kern River near Bakersfield. The Civilian Conservation Group gathered thousands of unemployed individuals to form camps across the state to work on the massive project.
Some historians called the firebreak the “Great Wall of California,” while others considered it to be the “Mother of all firebreaks.” However, time and nature have eroded the landmark and covered the area with dirt.
Experts believe that if the Pondesora Way survived until today, it would have drastically reduced the damage of the record-breaking fire seasons in the past few years. The firebreak would have allowed firefighters an easier time and might have given affected residents a safer route to escape.
However, the enormous project was left neglected since its conception and was never able to live up to expectations. The failure marks one of the first and most expensive lessons that taught residents that wildfire prevention in the state’s expansive forests was complicated and, more often than not, unsuccessful.
A scholar from the University of California, Berkeley’s geography department, Gray Brechin, said that the probability of the Pondesora Way saving Paradise would never be accurately estimated.
Despite the Pondesora Way not being able to fulfill its purpose, modern-day fire prevention still utilizes firebreaks to shield residential areas from the dangers of forest blazes. One such example is California’s $30 million expansion of its network to better respond to incidents such as the Camp Fire.
While the historic firebreak aimed to protect a vast area of timber, today’s versions shield smaller areas in an attempt to keep fires isolated and spreading to vulnerable communities.
While some residents urged the government to revive the Pondesora Way to serve the community better, experts warn of the potential side effects of a massive firebreak. They said that it could easily be affected by unstable climate, vegetation issues, housing problems, and several other issues.
Large firebreaks could help make citizens feel safer and give politicians some breathing room, but it could potentially do little to actually stop fires that could jump gaps and spread flames over large areas that cleared-out lines are unable to prevent, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The idea comes amid multiple devastating fire seasons in California that have engulfed the region’s residential areas and forests. But the slow arrival of the storm season, the state saw a moment of reprieve as temperatures dropped and snow and rain covered the vast majority of the area during the past week.
However, firefighters are still cautious because cooler weather is not a guaranteed way of preventing fires, especially amid what they consider is the prime of a fire season. A spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Battalion Chief Issac Sanchez, said they were steering away from the term “fire season.”
Historically, May or June marked the beginning of the fire season in Southern California and ran up until November. But recent years showed that devastating fires could break out at any time. Firefighters still observed that the most dangerous incidents occur around July or August when environmental conditions are suitable for starting massive blazes.
This year also saw five of six of California’s largest wildfires between August and September. Altogether, they burned down more than 2,500 square miles of forestry and have taken 22 lives.
Despite fire departments not publicly announcing the fire season to the public, they still utilize most of their firefighting aircraft and services during the peak seasons of the year, USA Today reported.
