In this third Voices for Change video, fire chief Thom Porter talks about how weather is changing in his native California, because of climate change. And how this is directly affecting him and his team, because more dry wood and more dry lightning means more fires.
"California has a very diverse economy, but a lot of it depends on water. If the climate changes and we don't have the water we need - California could dry up and blow away."
Thom Porter, Fire Chief
"As a fire fighter, I'm a student of the weather, and I've noticed that there's a change that's occurred in the past several years - these weather patterns are not what I've grown up with, they're also not what I've seen in the historical records."
"We're starting to see more monsoonal type of weather - that's causing more dry lightning which ignites fires - sometimes thousands of fires in a 24 hour period and we're stretched for resources when that happens - we don't have enough fire engines and aircraft to take care of all those fires."
"California has a very diverse economy, but a lot of it depends on water. If the climate changes and we don't have the water we need to support that business, or the people who live here, we could see society start to have to move out of certain areas - California could dry up and blow away."
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