In the Aftermath of California’s Firenadoes

Wildfires are a common occurrence throughout the State of California. News anchors announce the arrival of the annual fire season with most listeners unmoved by its activity, unless family or someone they know is involved.

In recent years, wildfires have gradually escalated, but nothing to the destructive force marking the Summer of 2018. The season was preceded by low or no precipitation – winter through spring. California also is noted for its sporadic, hot gusty winds. Lack of rain, combined with dry brush and vegetation, becomes the kindling for wildfires that morph into fire tornadoes.

The Carr Fire in Redding, Calif., ignited on July 23, 2018, due to sparks from the mechanical failure of a vehicle. Three days later, a “fire tornado or firenado” exploded in the midst of an already gigantic and devastating wildfire. Newscasters reported that although other fire tornadoes had been documented in recent years, this was the strongest and largest to date.

I watched the fire’s progression, as it came threateningly close to family and friends living in the northern part of my native state. Fire and forestry officials called the wildfire’s unpredictable behavior “surreal,” or at times, “apocalyptic” in appearance.

According to a broadcast on Redding KPIX¹, “a fire whirl or firenado is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when heat from the fire rises rapidly from the ground and the air around it rushes in to fill the vacuum.” In the Carr Fire, “winds and flames rotated in opposite directions forming a massive vortex.”

The base of the firenado reportedly reached 1000 feet in diameter, the size of three football fields. Winds ranged from 136 to 165 mph, with peak temperatures up to 2700 degrees. The perimeter of the fire was finally contained by September 4, after burning 229,651 acres, and destroying 1,079 residences, 22 commercial structures, and 503 outbuildings. This was only one of numerous fires fought statewide, into December.

How do people and communities rise up from the ashes of such devastation? Some sell and relocate to a friendlier terrain. Others literally pick up the pieces and rebuild, determined to stay in place. How does forestry replenish?

In the aftermath of wildfires, a hidden miracle begins to take place. It’s a miracle planned by a Creative God who built into specific trees, cones, and plant life, the means to protect, reproduce and/or proliferate. Here are some examples:

• California horse-chestnut – re-sprouts after a fire, due to its broad root system
• Ponderosa Pine – develops thick bark and sheds lower branches as it matures, an innate protection for fire-prone areas²
• Lodgepole Pine is the first pine to grow after a fire due to its serotinous cones. The cones are thick, hard, and glued shut with a strong resin. “Only when a fire sweeps through, melting the resin, do these heat-dependent cones open up, releasing seeds that are then distributed by wind and gravity.”²

There is another fire – the supernatural fire of God – that is not destructive. It’s the consuming fire of God’s love that nurtures healthy roots in our inner beings, so we can re-sprout after adversity. His fiery love cleanses flaws and covers us with tailor-made armor to fully protect us. This love melts the hardened shell surrounding our hearts, to release dormant, fruit-bearing seeds wherever the wind of the Spirit carries us.

God builds into nature and into the supernatural realm, the ability for us to rebound, overcome, and make new. In Isaiah 61:3b-4 NKJV, God promises He will transform our lives, giving us:

beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

¹Information excerpted from: Redding KPIX, August 16, 2018/CBS San Francisco Bay Area.

²Information excerpted from, https://www.nationalforests.org/our-forests/your-national-forests-magazine/how-trees-survive-and-thrive-after-a-fire