Trump says California can learn from Finland about fires. Is he right?

President Trump has often blamed California's forest management for the huge forest fires that burn there, one of which has killed at least 76 people and has become the most destructive in the history of the United States. ;State.

And even though the experts called his critics unjustified, he continued in the same vein this weekend, suggesting that California should take lessons from Finland, a country with 57 million acres of forests but comparatively little forest fire.

"You look in other countries where they do it differently and it's a whole different story," Trump said at a news conference in Paradise, Calif., Saturday. "I was with the Finnish president and he said," We have a very different nation: we are a forest nation, "he said as a forest nation. They spent a lot of time raking, cleaning and doing things. And they have no problem.

Trump added that when forest fires occur in Finland they are "a very small problem".

But like previous comments on California's forest management, experts said the president's comments were misleading.

Finns do not rake.

Picking up leaves and needles is not a normal feature of fire prevention in Finland, according to Rami Ruuska, a forest fire specialist with the Finnish Ministry of Internal Affairs. Finns focus instead on eliminating dead trees from the forest floor as far as possible.

"Of course, we have a big country and we can not do it everywhere," Ruuska said.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said, in an interview published Sunday in a Finnish newspaper, that during a brief conversation in Paris on November 11 he had explained the virtues of Finnish forest management to Mr Trump. But he does not remember mentioning the raking.

The secret of the Finnish forest management system lies rather in its early warning system, its aerial surveillance system and its network of forest roads, said Professor Henrik Lindberg, a researcher on forest fires in Finland. University of Applied Sciences Häme, a university in southern Finland.

In times of high fire risk, the Finnish authorities are very effective at issuing warnings in most types of media, Lindberg said.

Local aviation clubs are paid to fly over the most endangered forest areas, increasing the likelihood that fires will be spotted before they get out of hand. "The likelihood of inflammation is about the same as in Sweden, but they are catching up faster," Lindberg said.

And the timber and paper companies have built an extensive network of roads through Finnish forests. Built primarily to make the landscape more accessible to logging, they also slow down the passage of a fire – and allow firefighters to reach the flames more quickly.

"Almost all of Finland is covered by this network of forest roads, so of course it is easier to get closer to forest fires by using fire trucks," Ruuska said.

Finland is much colder than California.

Temperatures in Finland, some of which are in the Arctic Circle, may drop below minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Even in August, the temperature is usually in the mid-60s.

The fire risk is therefore much lower during most of the year in Finland than in California, where high temperatures, dry air and frequent winds make forest fires much more likely. .

"This is not a good comparison," Ruuska said. "We have half a meter of snow in winter, so it is quite natural not to have a fire in winter, and our fall is very wet."

The trees are not the same.

Finnish forests are mainly populated by large boreal trees – pine, spruce and birch – while much of California vegetation consists of chaparral shrubs and small trees, which are more prone to take fire.

"The whole comparison is a little wild," said Lindberg, who suggested that it would be best to study methods in Mediterranean Europe, where forests look more like those of California.

Finland is not without fire.

Despite its effective fire prevention system, Finland is still affected by forest fires: about 2,000 hectares of trees were burned this year, its highest total since 2006, said Mr Lindberg.

But the damage is still much less severe than in Sweden, where 62,000 acres were affected.

"We are doing something right," Ruuska said. "But we are also lucky."