The flames are out, the firefighters have gone home, the drama is over. Or is it?
If you live downhill or downstream from a wildfire burn area, you have a front-row reservation for the riveting sequel:
🔥 Wildfire, Part II: Here Come the Flows! 🌊
Introducing Heavy Rain!
In our last episode, Evil Wizard Wildfire cursed the burn scar with Hydrophobia, sealing the ground off from water’s love with a waxy second skin.
Act 1: Flash Flood Fury!
Enter Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain comes to the burn scar full of hope and enthusiasm, expecting to be embraced and foster new life. But the ground — stricken with Hydrophobia — rejects her! Humiliated and furious, she sends water cascading downhill. Within minutes, a flash flood is surging through canyons and down hillsides, headed right for the innocent village below.
Will the villagers, secure in having survived the fire, recognize this new danger? Who will rescue whom?
Act 2: Debris Flow Demolition!
Not satisfied with her flash flood, Heavy Rain stirs water with ash and dirt to form a thick heavy sludge. When this still doesn’t break through the hydrophobic barrier, she launches the wet-cement-like mass downhill. With the density of a battering ram, it snaps trees like toothpicks, and sweeps up boulders and everything else in its path. The resulting debris flow hurtles toward the innocent village at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.
Will the village and all its history escape being carried away?
Act 3: Small, But Mighty Miracles!
As seasons pass, the villagers continue to shore up hillsides and build defensive barriers. Whenever Heavy Rain threatens, they work together to fill sandbags and barricade their homes. After living in fear for five years, they learn that the curse has miraculously been lifted: Hydrophobia is cured!
We finally meet the tiny plants and microbes who worked their secret magic to break down the waxy hydrophobic layer, and make the ground open to water’s embrace once again!
🔥 Wildfire, Part II: Here Come the Flows! 🌊
Showing soon in select watersheds!
What can you do?
BEFORE the fire: Keep drainage channels and culverts clear of debris. Consider flood insurance — standard homeowner policies usually do not cover flood or mudflow damage.
DURING the fire: Do a rain dance — rain will aid firefighting efforts. If rains do come, stay alert to possible flash floods or debris flows from burned-out areas uphill or upstream from you — even if the fire is still burning somewhere.
AFTER the fire: Know your geography. If you are downhill or downstream from steep terrain that recently burned, you are in a flood zone, even if you weren’t before. Identify high ground and evacuation routes that don’t cross low-lying washouts.
RIGHT NOW: Make a donation to help Creative Crisis Leadership turn complex science into simple, life-saving knowledge!
Sources
- Burn Scar Flash Flood & Debris Flow Risks | National Weather Service
- Burned Watershed Geohazards | California Dept. of Conservation
- Flood After Fire | US Army Corps of Engineers
- What should I know about wildfires and debris flows? | U.S. Geological Survey
- Soil Erosion Control after Wildfire | Tom DeGomez, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
Stay Safe and Be Curious this Holiday Season!
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