Is Climate Change Making Wildfires Worse?

At least five unseasonal wildfires in the Los Angeles, California, area are wrecking havoc on homes, businesses and health. 

Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, says: “Incredibly sad to see the devastating impact of the Los Angeles wildfires. Thinking of everyone in Los Angeles right now. 

“Amazon Disaster Relief is preparing to ship pallets of relief items from our wildfire Disaster Relief Hub to the American Red Cross and other partners to help communities and first responders. 

“My heart goes out to everyone going through this scary and dangerous time.”

Daniel Swain, Climate Scientist and Associate Researcher at UCLA said on Bluesky that there is a  “much greater wildfire risk than 2011 due to far drier vegetation” in California.

“Essentially no rain has fallen so far this season in SoCal”

More than 130,000 people are under evacuation orders and more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed according to officials. 

Danielle Mulder, BBC Group Sustainability Director, says: “Human induced emissions are changing the background conditions and increasing the number of ‘fire weather’ days.

“Further work will be needed to assess the attribution to climate change but there is a clear link to increasing the likelihood and extreme nature of these events as the world warms.”

How do wildfires start?

Wildfires can ignite for a range of reasons, from natural causes like lightning to human activity like electrical equipment faults or burning debris. 

The development and expansion of an ignited fire can be dramatically impacted by weather conditions.

Hot, dry conditions, such as those caused by climate change, can dry out vegetation and create an ideal environment for fire to spread. 

Droughts can stress trees and cause them to become more vulnerable, creating potential fuel for a fire. 

Strong winds can dramatically accelerate the spread of fires. 

Wildfires throughout history

Wildfires have been impacting Earth for hundreds of millions of years, with the first known wildfire around 430 million years ago in the Late Silurian period.

Forest management strategies throughout much of the 20th Century worsened wildfires by preventing any and all fires.

By preventing small, natural fires, dead plant material and brushwood were allowed to build up on forest floors which provided more fuel for large and dangerous wildfires. 

Modern forest management is adapting to address these issues and prevent significant wildfires. 

Because of this, there are less wildfires today than throughout some parts of history. 

However, climate change is lengthening fire seasons around the world.

Global temperatures have risen by just more than 1°C since 1880, drying out vegetation and making it more flammable.

Fire-related tree cover loss in boreal regions has increased by about 138,000 hectares per year for more than 20 years.

In California, the number of autumn days suitable for wildfires has doubled since the 80s.

The United Nations expects the number of wildfires around the world to rise by 50% by the year 2100.

“Current government responses to wildfires are often putting money in the wrong place. Those emergency service workers and firefighters on the frontlines who are risking their lives to fight forest wildfires need to be supported”, said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.

“We have to minimise the risk of extreme wildfires by being better prepared: invest more in fire risk reduction, work with local communities and strengthen global commitment to fight climate change”.

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