Climate Change Doubled the Size of Forest Fires In Western US, Says Study (time.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TIME: Man-made climate change has doubled the total area burned by forest fires in the Western U.S. in the past three decades, according to new research. Damage from forest fires has risen dramatically in recent decades, with the total acres burned in the U.S. rising from 2.9 million in 1985 to 10.1 million in 2015, according to National Interagency Fire Center data. Suppression costs paid by the federal government now top $2 billion. Now a new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that a significant portion of the increase in land burned by forest fires can be attributed to man-made climate change. Other factors are also at play, including natural climate shifts and a change in how humans use land, but man-made climate change has had the biggest impact. That trend will likely continue as temperatures keep rising, researchers said. Climate change contributes to forest fires in a number of ways. Fires kill off trees and other plants that eventually dry and act as the fuel to feed massive wildfires. Global warming also increases the likelihood of the dry, warm weather in which wildfires can thrive. Average temperatures in the Western U.S. rose by 2.5 degree Fahrenheit since 1970, outpacing temperature rise elsewhere on the globe, according to the research.

Comments

Re:What about forest management practices

[Strider-]

A fair amount of this can probably be traced back to this. In the days of yore, the Forest Service had a policy of "Out by 11" (the next day). The reality is that just caused massive fuel buildup in the forests, and made them far more flammable than they were in the past. That said, climate change has magnified this problem and made the tinder box even more dangerous.

Reference: I spent two summers ago at the heart of the Wolverine Fire in Chelan County, WA. We watched over 1000 acres burn in 15 minutes (from 8 miles away) and it's what I imagine what a Nuclear weapon going off would look like.

Choices

[frovingslosh]

Which should we blame, poor land management or climate change? Hmmm, climate change is popular, lets go with that.