Friday, April 18, 2014

More, Bigger Wildfires Burning Western US over Last 30 Years

A satellite image of the 2011 Las Conchas Fire in New Mexico shows the 150,874 acres burned in magenta and the unburned areas in green. This image was created with data from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) Project that the authors of a new study used to measure large wildfires in the western United States. (Credit: Philip Dennison/MTBS) Click to enlarge.
Wildfires across the western United States have been getting bigger and more frequent over the last 30 years.  The total area these fires burned increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres a year -- an area the size of Las Vegas, according to the study. Individually, the largest wildfires grew at a rate of 350 acres a year, the new research says.

 More, Bigger Wildfires Burning Western US over Last 30 Years
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