The practice of fire agencies doing mass evacuations during wildfires may very well be a death sentence for some. The philosophy behind mass evacuation is that lives are more important than property, so flee early. Not a bad philosophy or practice, providing not everyone leaves at the same time and ends up blocking the roadways. Assuming there is an orderly evacuation as the fire is bearing down on residents, and all the people are gone from the community, no lives will be lost; that is if no firefighters are killed defending the property left behind.

But what happens when the evacuation is en mass and disorderly because a wildfire is moving so fast that the speed of the fire and the smoke and embers are already causing panic? What happens is blocked roads and unsafe driving conditions. Do people get killed evacuating? Yes, and not always because the victims “decide” to leave too late; sometimes, the fire moves so rapidly there just isn’t time to leave early.

Leaving a dangerous condition is, of course, a sane and good thing to do. The problem with mass evacuations, however, is that everyone in the area is ordered to leave, in spite of the vast difference in the level of danger. Not every home is susceptible to being destroyed by wildfire in a given area or community. Fires don’t travel like a tsunami and roll through in an unstoppable surge. Wildfires move according to available fuel, topography, and weather conditions. Homes directly against the wildland interface are much more likely to ignite as a fire moves in, and homes further away from the interface area are less likely to be ignited by the wildland vegetation burning. Homes that catch on fire in the interior of the community get ignited by ember showers, not the fire front. This is a fact, as there are numerous examples of communities involved in wildfires which prove this point.

When people are ordered to leave that aren’t in danger, along with those who need to leave, the roads become clogged by people evacuating who don’t need to, endangering everyone. The populace, and the fire agencies, need to act responsibly and rethink the mass evacuation paradigm. Fire agencies need to learn how fire behaves in the wildland interface areas, and change their attitude about people staying to defend their homes. I know the government wants to protect all of us, and that government agency personnel think they are the only people capable of defending us, but it simply isn’t true. Some people are actually endowed with just enough intelligence to take care of themselves and their families without constant bureaucratic intervention. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy.

Imagine a community of people who have prepared themselves and their homes in the event of an approaching wildfire. They would be capable of readying their homes and themselves to stay and defend their property effectively and safely. Property loss would be minimized because there would be people on site to extinguish the small fires started by embers, instead of allowing the ember fires to grow into large destructive fires which ignite even more homes. Imagine firefighters working alongside of homeowners, trained and prepared to defend their own property, and their neighbors. Imagine wildfires being a natural occurrence that we cope with, not fear. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy.

Maybe I’m crazy because I believe you are a lot more capable and intelligent than bureaucrats think you are. If you want to leave a situation because its dangerous, that’s a smart thing to do. But if you want to protect yourself, your family, and your property because you’re capable of doing so, that’s a smart thing to do also. Yeah, I may be crazy, but I’ll decide for myself when to run and when to fight; because I’ll be prepared to do either.