Letters to the Editor: Can AI help suppress wildfires before they turn into catastrophes?

To the editor: The op-ed article on protecting fragile open spaces when extreme fire conditions are predicted offers one solution to help solve the problem. I have another. (“Southern California forests are burning. Protect them from their biggest threat — people,” Opinion, Sept. 21)

Using data and artificial intelligence, we should be able to predict the areas in greatest danger because they have not burned in a long time. Why not have patrols and volunteers in these areas and helicopters with water in the air to stop the fires before they get big? Is this due to bureaucratic red tape, management or costs?

If this is because of costs, what about the costs of fighting fires once they are large?

Lastly, instead of local media telling people that fire weather is here, have them remind folks to be on the lookout for fires and to call them in quickly. As the article says, once these forests burn, it can take a lifetime for them to regenerate, so any change to protect them deserves consideration.

Dan O’Mara, Agoura Hills

..

To the editor: Should public land be closed to the public? At first glance this question seems to answer itself: Of course not, because public land is for the public.

Yet, the destructive nature of human beings, even when unintentional, demonstrates a warranted reversal of this rule. Climate and drought-impacted forests are so fire-prone during heat waves that any human activity could light a spark and cause the next catastrophe.

By having the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies that manage public land deny entry to our beloved natural escapes, we are not giving away our right. Instead, we are ensuring that our want for these forests does not destroy anyone else’s right to experience them.

Luke Zaelke, Chatsworth

..

To the editor: This op-ed article hit the nail on the head but failed to delve deep enough. The real solution to all our ecological problems lies with human population control.

A smaller global population would reduce the need for the fish in the sea, the trees in the forest and the minerals in the mines.

We need to incentivize people having small families; then, we would watch many of our social and environmental problems begin to reverse themselves.

Mike Post, Los Osos, Calif.