What makes these wildfires so destructive and difficult to contain?
The answer lies in a mix of changing climate, the legacy of past land-management practices, and current human activities that are reshaping fire behavior and increasing the risk they pose.
Fire’s perfect storm
Wildfires rely on three key elements to spread: conducive weather, dry fuel and an ignition source. Each of these factors has undergone pronounced changes in recent decades. While climate change sets the stage for larger and more intense fires, humans are actively fanning the flames.
Climate and weather
Extreme temperatures play a dangerous role in wildfires. Heat dries out vegetation, making it more flammable. Under these conditions, wildfires ignite more easily, spread faster and burn with greater intensity. In the western U.S., aridity attributed to climate change has doubled the amount of forestland that has burned since 1984.
Compounding the problem is the rapid rise in nighttime temperatures, now increasing faster than daytime temperatures. Nights, which used to offer a reprieve with cooler conditions and higher humidity, do so less often, allowing fires to continue raging without pause.
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