Unnatural Disasters: The Top Three Ways Climate Change Makes Wildfires Worse

Fire is an essential, natural process that is part of a healthy forest. The extreme wildfires we’ve seen in recent decades are not. These megafires are “unnatural disasters” fuelled by forest mismanagement and climate change.

While there are many different reasons for a wildfire to start in the first place, fossil-fuel driven climate change is the most important reason they are becoming more dangerous, frequent, and harder to control than ever before.

In the last 50 years or so, the area burned by wildfires has doubled in both Canada and the United States.

In addition to the heartbreaking losses of forests and wildlife, these fires are also putting our homes and communities in danger. The recent wildfire in Jasper destroyed 358 structures at last count, and has caused $283M in property damage. The Fort McMurray wildfires of 2016 saw over 2,500 homes destroyed, and the private property loss reached nearly $4 billion.

If climate change continues on its current course, the area burned each year is expected to double again and the toll on our forests, homes, and communities will be harsh.

Here are the top three ways climate change is making wildfires worse:

1. Hotter, Drier Weather

Fossil-fuel driven climate change is causing more frequent heatwaves and droughts across the world. 

As the planet gets hotter and hotter, this causes the water in soil and vegetation to dry up faster – resulting in drought conditions.

Drought conditions lower the amount of moisture in our forests. When the amount of moisture in our forests is low, they are primed to ignite when exposed to even the smallest spark – whether it’s from lightning or an unattended campfire.

Once a fire has started, the next factor that will decide whether it becomes an extreme wildfire is how fast it can spread.

As climate change causes an increase in hot and dry weather, it turns more and more of our healthy green vegetation into dry material that is the perfect fuel for wildfires to spread. 

Our forests are now filled with kindling that gives a wildfire what it needs to burn hotter and move faster.

2. More insect infestations in our forests

Increased temperatures also allow insects and disease to thrive – turning once healthy trees and shrubs into kindling. A good example of this is the mountain pine beetle infestation that had destroyed so many trees in Jasper.

Climate change allowed these beetles to move north and eastward from British Columbia, and gain a foothold in Jasper. Trees that were stressed by drought were not able to defend against them.

The combination of this and changes to forest management practices that left these dead trees scattered throughout the forest was a recipe for the devastation we saw play out in July.

Lori Daniels, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s department of forest and conservation sciences explains, “So much of the forest had been impacted by mountain pine beetle outbreak, and we had those dead fuels accumulated and then down on the ground contributing to the intensity of the fire.”

Thanks to climate change, our beloved forests that were once protected by natural winters are now falling tree by tree. Without taking steps to change course, the heartbreaking loss in Jasper will be played out again and again across the country.

3. Longer Fire Seasons

Studies show that climate change is extending the length of fire seasons. This is caused in part by warmer winters and hotter springs which turns a once-seasonal threat into nearly a year round danger. 

A longer fire season means that fires have more time to start and spread uncontrollably. With wildland firefighters already stretched to the breaking point, longer fire seasons will make it harder for them to fight these fires and keep our homes and communities safe.

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As burning fossil fuels drives climate change, wildfires will keep getting worse. In the short term, we urgently need to back up our wildland firefighters with more resources to help them fight the sharp rise in wildfires.

To stop Canada from burning out of control, we need to tackle the root causes: climate pollution and forest mismanagement. We’ll have more on the solutions for both in a future post. 

***Our wildfire fighters need your support to battle these megafires. Sign the Don’t Let Canada Burn petition below to call on the government to give firefighters what they need to keep our communities safe.