Green

Climate change to cause more wildfires

The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona in June 2013 caused the loss of almost the entire firefighting team of Granite Mountain Hotshots. Only one member of the team was spared. During the 2013 fire season, the U.S. lost 32 people fighting wild fires, the largest number in nearly 20 years. Another huge wildfire spread near Yosemite National Park threatening some of the nature’s best.

People are moving closer and closer to areas prone to wildfires. On the other hand climate change is playing havoc throughout the world. Forest ecology is changing rapidly. All together disastrous wildfires are happening all over the world bringing air quality implications and destroying homes and infrastructure. There have been forest fires all throughout the history. But the difference now is humans are getting awfully closer to forest areas. On the other hand we humans are contributing to climate change causing forests to heat up and dry out. As a result scientists are predicting more devastating wildfires in the future. Australia, dry parts of the middle latitudes and tinder box of the American West are more prone to wild fires in the long run. Under extreme weather conditions carbon-rich peat soil of the high-latitude also becomes a candidate for future fires.