Such change has not worked its destruction unaided. Mistaken policies have made the forests more vulnerable, especially the decades-long suppression of wildfires. Fires thin out the dense, flammable undergrowth. Preventing them—as a study in Science pointed out as long ago as 2006—increases what is called fuel loading and turns forests into tinder boxes. Frank Lake of the US Forest Service talks of a tipping point: “There is too much fuel loading; it is too warm and the probability of ignition is greater.” That summarises what has happened this season.
氣候變化并非是造成破壞的唯一罪魁禍首。錯誤的政策使森林變得更加脆弱，特別是長達數十年的野火撲救上的錯誤。野火使原本茂密、易燃的樹叢變得稀疏。早在2006年，一項科學研究就指出，撲救野火會增加所謂的燃料負荷，并將森林變成火藥箱。美國林業局的弗蘭克·萊克談到了一個問題：“燃料負荷太多；天氣太熱，引發野火的可能性更大。”這句話很好地總結了發生在此次野火季的事情。
Considering the vastness of the fires and their position —on the edge of the Bay Area, home to more than 7m people— the cost in human life could have been far greater. Seven people had died by August 25th. Californians have learned the lessons of previous fires, such as the one in 2018 which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people: evacuate early. Southerners fleeing Laura, a mighty hurricane that hit the Gulf coast on August 27th, will follow the same guidance.
考慮到野火的巨大規模以及發生位置 ——在海灣地區的邊緣，有700多萬戶居民——付出的人類生命的代價可能會更慘重。截至8月25日，已有7人死亡。加州人已經吸取了以往野火災害的教訓，比如2018年那場野火摧毀了天堂鎮，造成85人死亡，人們學會了要盡早撤離。8月27日，強烈的颶風勞拉襲擊墨西哥灣海岸，南加州人遵循同樣的教訓進行撤離，逃離了危機。
So far, the responses of state and federal governments have held up fairly well in California, despite ritual hazing by the Democratic governor and Republican president. Donald Trump declared a major disaster, speeding federal funds to those who had lost their homes. And this week firefighters seemed to be making progress.
到目前為止，加州政府和聯邦政府都應對的不錯，盡管民主黨州長和共和黨總統例行針鋒相對。唐納德·特朗普宣稱這是一場重大災難，并加快了發放聯邦資金的進程，以援助那些失去家園的人。本周，消防員們似乎取得了進展。
Still, California’s many crises— covid-19, fires and rolling blackouts—are overlapping, which hampers a long-term response. Early this year, the governor proposed spending $100m to make existing houses more fire-resistant (replacing wooden shingles with tiles, for example). He had to suspend the programme because of a state budget crisis caused by covid-19.
盡管如此，加州還是同時面臨新冠肺炎疫情、野火、連續斷電的多重危機，這阻礙了長期應對。今年早些時候，加州州長提議投入1億美元，加強現有房屋的耐火性（比如說用瓷磚代替木瓦）。由于新冠肺炎造成的國家預算危機，他不得不中止這項計劃。
In 2008 another condor chick was caught in a fire and miraculously survived. She was, inevitably, renamed Phoenix. Iniko, alas, need not be renamed. Her name means “born in troubled times”.
2008年，另一只禿鷹幼崽在一場野火中奇跡幸存。她不可避免地更名為Phoenix（鳳凰）。唉，伊尼科不需要改名。因為她名字的含義是“生于亂世”。
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