“While no single wildfire can be said to be caused by climate change, climate change has been making the fire season in the U.S. longer and on average more intense,” Holdren says in the video — further explaining that, on average, annual wildfires in the west have “increased several-fold in the last decade,” and the eight worst years on record for “area burned” by wildfires “have all occurred since 2000.”
“Climate change is also bringing us more dead trees — kindling in effect — killed by a
combination of heat stress, water stress and attacks by pests and pathogens that multiply faster in a warmer world.”
Specifically, the length of U.S. fire seasons has expanded by 60 to 80 days since the 1980s, and the amount of acres consumed by wildfires each year has doubled to more than seven million. This year’s fire season is on track to drain the $1.4 billion Congress allocated to fight wildfires well before the season is actually over, leaving the U.S. Forest Service and other departments about $400 billion short by most estimates. That will force them to engage in what’s called “fire borrowing” — pulling funds away from other activities like regular thinning of forest and brush, and controlled burns that reduce the number and severity of wildfires. This is something the Forest Service has had to do for seven of the last twelve years.
Democrats in the House and Senate, along with the White House, are pushing bills that would open up more funding for wildfire fighting. But the House GOP has ignored the bills, and now that Congress has left for vacation the issue is in limbo.
White House Chief Science Adviser: Wildfires Are Linked to Climate Change
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