U.S. wildfires became larger, more frequent and more widespread in last 20 years

Forest fires in the U.S. have become larger, more frequent, and more widespread since 2000, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder published in Science Advances. Researchers, who said they were concerned that climate change would cause more extreme fires, analyzed fire data from recent decades.

Researchers studied records of about 28,000 fires that began in 1984 and ended in 2018, combining satellite imagery with state and federal fire history records. The team found that there were more fires in the last 13 years than in the previous two decades. On the west and east coasts, the frequency of fires almost doubled. In the Great Plains, the frequency of fires quadrupled.

When they looked more closely at the most extreme forest fires in each region of the country, the scientists found that in the west and the Great Plains, the average area burned by forest fires increased in the 2000s.

“This trend is challenging firefighting efforts and threatening the lives, health and homes of millions of Americans,” Iglesias added.

The research team also found that the size of fire-prone areas increased across the U.S. during the 2000s. The time and physical distance between new wildfires is shrinking. The flames are also spreading to areas that did not burn before the year 2000.

Researchers believed that climate change may be causing larger and more frequent fires. But the study found that other factors, including topography and “anthropogenic impact associated with recreation, ecosystem management, increased use of prescribed fire, and development, affect the behavior of fire complex ways “.

“Projected changes in climate, fuel, and ignition suggest that we will see more and more fires in the future,” said Virginia Iglesias, a research scientist at CU Boulder’s Earth Lab and lead author of the paper. “Our analysis shows that these changes are already taking place.”

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• florida
• United States Environmental Protection Agency
• California forest fires