Why does nobody ask why the wildfires are starting?

weekend blog

We’ve all been bombarded with news stories of ‘Britain on fire’ and ‘apocalyptic wildfires destroying homes‘ and ‘blazing infernos’ and suchlike. But one question the newsreaders and ‘journalists seldom, if ever, seem to ask is: “Do we know what caused the fires?”

There seem to be four main causes of wildfires – volcanoes, climate change causing spontaneous combustion, lightning strikes and human stupidity or criminality.

Volcanoes? There are no active volcanoes in mainland Britain. The last volcanic eruptions in the region occurred approximately 55 to 60 million years ago during the early Palaeogene period, associated with the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. So, I think we can rule out volcanoes

Spontaneous combustion? I believe that if a lot of coal is stored in a closed space, it can spontaneously combust. This is suspected to have been one of the contributing factors to the Titanic disaster. A fire in a starboard side coal bunker started burning as soon as the liner left Belfast considerably weakening the area of the ship which hit the iceberg. But forests and farmland do not spontaneously combust. So, while a hot dry summer may have led to the wildfires being more damaging than usual, we cannolt blame ‘climate change’ for starting the wildfires.

Lightning strikes? I believe these are often the cause of wildfires in the USA and Canada. But we haven’t had any such storms in Britain in the last few months, so lightning strikes are probably not to blame for the over 1,000 wildfires we’ve had this summer.

Human stupidity/criminality? Even the BBC admits that “Most wildfires are caused by human carelessness. Arson, campfires, discarding lit cigarettes, disposable barbecues, not burning debris properly, and playing with matches or fireworks are often blamed.” It appears that the worst of the wildfires – the one which destroyed about 19 houses in Stourbridge – started in several places almost simultaneously. That means the cause was arson.

Moreover Staffordshire Police said a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of arson over a fire in Stoke-on Trent. And a 29-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of arson in Wales after a wildfire tore through homes in the old mining village of Newbridge, Caerphilly, on Wednesday.

As I reported in a previous blog:

Since the beginning of the month, 184 people have been arrested in connection with wildfires across France. Five have already been handed jail sentences, and 15 are awaiting trial.

One of the arrested seems to have been extremely ‘productive’: “In the department of Var in south-eastern France, a 23-year-old man is in police custody for allegedly starting 10 fires. CCTV cameras helped police identify the man, who is accused of setting fires on the edge of forests while travelling between towns for several days on his motorbike”

Yet I get the feeling that our brave journalists seem rather uninterested in seeking out the causes of our many wildfires and much more interested in hyperventilating about their intensity and the role of ‘climate change’ in the extent of damage caused.

So, can we blame ‘climate change’ for the current spate of UK wildfires? A few days ago, it was reported that the display team, the Red Arrows, were cancelling appearances at several UK airshows as bad weather in Canada had prevented them returning to the UK. In the last few days at least five people have died in eastern Japan after “unprecedented” heavy rain:

In China one million people have been evacuated from their homes due to flood risk. There are massive floods in Thailand. And in March Hawaii suffered its worst flooding in more than 20 years, with people in the hardest-hit areas being urged to “LEAVE NOW” by officials. And now Maui residents prepare for storm Lala and new flooding.

Oh, and now for something completely different, – apparently coral cover on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which we were repeatedly told was doomed due to supposed ‘climate change’, is at record levels:

Meanwhile increasing atmospheric CO2 levels are causing ‘Global Greening’ and thus a rise in agricultural output.

Yet how many mainstream media news reporters are interested in informing us about quite different weather problems and positive stories in other parts of the world?

So what does this all mean? Does exceptionally hot weather in Europe prove that ‘Global Boiling’ is happening? Does exceptionally wet weather across parts of Asia and Hawaii prove that ‘Global Drowning’ is happening? Do the Great Barrier Reef and Global Greening stories tell us that the the climate is getting better for us all? Or is it possible to find a part of the world you can use to prove any climate theory you want?