| In late October 2003 the state of California | | | | local residences and the tremendous losses to |
| was slammed with the worst wildfire that it | | | | local wildlife resulted in a push by the |
| had experienced to that date. Twenty people | | | | United States federal government to pass the |
| where killed, and damage to local communities | | | | "Healthy Forests" bill which allocated seven |
| and infrastructure was extensive. | | | | hundred and sixty million dollars to the |
| | | | urban interface between urban cities and |
| The wild fire extended from the Mexican | | | | forest areas. |
| boarder north to the suburbs of Los Angeles. | | | | |
| Hundreds of thousands of acres of forest | | | | The economic impact of this wildfire was |
| where destroyed. Local vegetation and animal | | | | catastrophic. One and a quarter to two |
| life suffered very large losses and many | | | | billion dollars in damages resulted from the |
| communities where effected by the disaster. | | | | fire, making it the most costly wildfire in |
| Thousands of different species where | | | | American history. Losses to businesses and |
| decimated by the fire. It is expected that | | | | local municipalities amounted to millions of |
| certain of the larger species like elk, and | | | | dollars in lost revenues, not to mention the |
| deer, may take several years to repopulate. | | | | cost of replacing or restoring lost |
| Even the local salmon stock feeding in the | | | | information, and resulted in hardship for |
| streams running through the burning acreage | | | | many local area residents. The logging |
| suffered losses from the fire. | | | | industry, of course, took a major financial |
| | | | hit. |
| Damage to the area was devastating. 20 people | | | | |
| died including one of the fire fighters. Two | | | | Not all natural disasters kill thousands of |
| thousand seven hundred homes and buildings | | | | people, yet most will spread their effects |
| where destroyed and many businesses had to | | | | over huge areas and cause massive damage to |
| close. This wildfire was to become the most | | | | our fragile and over-used infrastructure. |
| expensive fire to ever hit the United States. | | | | Telephone lines and utilities like |
| Damage to phone lines, and local utilities | | | | electricity, water and even sewage are easily |
| caused major outages. People were displaced | | | | interrupted. Businesses are not able to |
| from their homes and many had to leave the | | | | operate without these simple services. Lost |
| state to find accommodation elsewhere during | | | | data means lost revenues. Even something as |
| the clean-up period. | | | | simple as a forest fire can have a huge |
| | | | social and economic influence on our lives. |
| The social impact of this wild fire was a bit | | | | In this case it appears the best offense is a |
| unexpected. The personal losses incurred by | | | | great defense. Always be prepared. |