Fire: Fact or Fiction       

   A week ago we wrote of California's destructive wildfires, one in particular which killed more than 80 and destroyed more than 13,000 homes. All this - leading up to what should have been a pleasant 
Thanksgiving season out there. 

   You've probably heard that climate change is responsible for this and other (extraordinary) destruction, such as Hurricane Michael. 

   "Things like this will be part of our future," said California Gov. Jerry Brown. 

   Not so fast, says Gregory Wrightstone, author of Inconvenient Facts: The Science that Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know. 

   He said the number of wildfires in the Western Hemisphere is on the decline. California in particular has seen a decrease of about 50 percent. Cliff Mass of the U. of Washington agrees that in past decades the frequency of California wildfires has declined. 

   What has increased is the risk to humans. In 1940, there were 607,000 homes in high risk areas. By 2017, that number was 6.7 million. 

   President Trump was criticized for blaming forest management for some of the loss of human life and property. 

   Wrightstone backs him up. By limiting logging and suppressing lower-intensity fires, the U.S. Government gives fire more fuel to burn. "Californians are suffering not from Gov. Brown's 'new normal' but from ill-conceived policies of radical environmental activists who planted a time bomb that is now exploding," he adds. 

WORLD online