Wildfires and other fire incidents

[weatheriscool]

[Tadasuke]

According to a new article on Our World In Data, wildfires around the world are actually less common in the last few years than they were in the 2000s.

[wjfox]

According to a new article on Our World In Data, wildfires around the world are actually less common in the last few years than they were in the 2000s.

A nice attempt by you to minimise the impacts of climate change, but here's what the article had to say:

"...this is largely driven by a decline in burn rates in grasslands and savannas as a result of the expansion and intensification of agriculture.

This highlights the strong role that human activity and land use management play in wildfire extent, alongside weather- and climate-related factors. Both factors must be considered when trying to minimize the damage of increasing fire risk in a changing climate."

[Tadasuke]

Share of land area used for agriculture, 1961 to 2020: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/shar ... griculture

Agricultural area over the long-term, 1600 to 2023: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tota ... -long-term

Agricultural land is the sum of cropland and land used as pasture for grazing livestock. Agricultural land per capita: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/agri ... per-capita

This dataset is showing estimates of the total agricultural land area – which is the combination of cropland and grazing land – per person. It is measured in hectares per person: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tota ... per-person

Is agricultural land expanding? Change over the prior decade, 2021: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/agri ... -less-land

Share of land area used for arable agriculture, 2020: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/shar ... griculture

Although a lot of land on Earth is dedicated to agriculture and pasture, land use per person is going down each decade. And precision fermentation can totally revolutionise how food is produced. For example, milk wouldn't come from animals, but from precision fermentation tanks, which would drastically reduced land and resources needed. Completely removing risk of wildfires may be impossible, but AI monitoring and robots fighting fires could lower chances of wildfires which have been happening for hundreds of millions of years so far.

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Wildfire Risk Management in the Era of Climate Change
May 7, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A Perspective explores lessons learned from recent deadly wildfires and proposes a strategy for managing wildfire risk. Wildfire risk and wildfire deaths are on the rise due to climate change, policies of fire suppression, and development in the wildland-urban interface. The August 8, 2023, fire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, claimed 98 lives, in part due to a failure to alert residents to the danger. In 2018, 104 lives were lost in a fire in Mati, Greece, for which there were also no alerts. For both incidents, Costas E. Synolakis and Georgios Marios Karagiannis argue that lives would have been saved had there been evacuation orders issued. In both cases, traffic was mismanaged, some victims perished in their cars, and some survivors who self-evacuated had to be rescued from nearby beaches. The authors propose a long-term strategy for integrating wildfire risk management into forest land management and note that large fires are often followed by investment in fire-fighting infrastructure, but not wildfire mitigation and prevention. Prevention and mitigation measures should be increased, the authors argue, including retrofitting buildings to meet or exceed building code standards, limiting development in the wildland-urban-interface, prescribed burning, fuel reduction, and forest thinning. The authors call for governments to work closely with the forest products industry to integrate land management and wildfire risk management as well as for a global system for reporting wildland-urban interface fires. In addition, public alert and warning systems need to be improved, along with evacuation plans, including plans for people with functional needs. The authors describe how scientists’ advocacy after the Mati and Maui catastrophes led to advances in each country’s wireless emergency alert systems. The authors argue that alerts should go out through multiple communication pathways including mobile and landline phones, radio, television, and highway variable message signs. According to the authors, authorities should also take advantage of new technologies, including machine learning, to forecast in real-time worst-case scenarios once fires start, along with Earth observation from satellites, to improve monitoring and predictive capabilities.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1043649

The study summarized in the above cited article also had the following direct things to say about climate change and wildfires:
Extract:

(PNAS Nexus)

Climate change and wildfire risk

Wildland fires have an intricate relationship with climate change. Bowman et al. (45) estimated that wildland fires are responsible for 19% of the anthropogenic radiative forcing. Climate change does yield higher temperatures and drier conditions that prime the landscape for fires to catch and spread more easily. Flannigan et al. (46) estimate that fire seasons will last 20 days per year longer in the northern high latitudes by the end of the century. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (47) notes that fire weather is expected to increase in many parts of the world and, a 2-degree global warming scenario is projected to increase burned area globally by 35%. These estimates are corroborated by regional studies, which point to an increase in the number of human-induced wildfires, burned area, and wildfire risk (21, 48–56).

These scenarios are hardly fictitious, as climate change is already increasing wildfire risk around the world. Fire-prone areas are extending poleward to areas previously unaffected. Jolly et al. (2015) found that, by 2013, fire seasons had lengthened in about one-quarter of the Earth's vegetated surface, resulting in an increase of the global average fire season length by 18.7%, compared to 1979. They also estimated that, between 1979 and 2013, the burnable area affected by longer fire weather seasons had doubled. Furthermore, the frequency of long fire-weather seasons increased across more than half of the global vegetated area between 1996 and 2013, compared with 1979–1996. Regional studies corroborate these global findings by showing an increase in the number of fires and the burned area during fire seasons, as well as in the size, extent, and frequency of large fires (49, 56–61). Consensus is emerging that the conventional suppression-centered wildfire and forest management strategies applied so far no longer efficiently address megafires, variously defined, but usually as fires that burn over 40,000 hectares.

Source: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/art ... gin=false

[weatheriscool]

Wildfire in Canada's British Columbia forces thousands to evacuate. Winds push smoke into Alberta

Source: AP

Updated 5:44 AM CDT, May 12, 2024

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian authorities are urging all remaining residents in a town in British Columbia to leave immediately, despite improving weather conditions, after many were already evacuated due to a fast-growing wildfire.

The blaze, which started Friday, almost doubled in size the following day, reaching about 17 square kilometers (4,200 acres). BC Wildfire Service maps showed the fire burning just a few kilometers (miles) west of Fort Nelson’s city limits.

Fort Nelson is located in the far northeastern corner of British Columbia, about 1,600 kilometers (995 miles) from Vancouver. Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson Indian Reserve have a combined population of about 3,000.

In 2023, Canada witnessed a record number of wildfires that also caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S. and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate across British Columbia.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/canada-wildf ... 6c38acb54b

[caltrek]

As Canadian Wildfires Escalate, Outlook for U.S. is for a Slower Start
by Jacob Knutson, and Andrew Freedman
May 15, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) With wildfires raging in western Canada and heat and drought leading to heightened fire risks in Mexico, the U.S. faces a fast start to the smoke season but a slower one when it comes to fires.

Why it matters: After last year's relatively inactive U.S. wildfire season, forecasters expect this fire season to be overall more active but likely not as extreme as the destructive years of 2020 or 2021.

• The 2024 U.S. wildfire season is set to pick up over the coming weeks as hotter-than-average summer temperatures set in, according to the National Interagency Fire Center's (NIFC) forecast.

Context: Though last year was the least active in recent decades in terms of the amount of land burned, it was one of the deadliest on record due to the devastating fires that swept the Hawai'ian islands.

• The fires killed at least 101 people and razed the historic town of Lahaina.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/05/15/us-wi ... te-change

[weatheriscool]

New Mexico village of Ruidoso orders residents to evacuate due to raging wildfire: "GO NOW"

Updated on: June 18, 2024 / 7:27 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Ruidoso, N.M. — Residents of a village in southern New Mexico were ordered to flee their homes Monday without even taking time to grab any belongings due to a fast-moving wildfire.

"GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately," officials with Ruidoso, home to 7,000 people, said on its website and in social media posts at about 7 p.m.

Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off electricity to part of the village due to the fire, which had grown to at least 2 square miles at the time the evacuation was ordered, KOAT-TV reported. The utility said it cut power to some 2,000 homes and businesses but they should have cleared out anyway.

CBS Albuquerque affiliate KRQE-TV reported that Ruidoso officials said there was hot ash from the fire falling in parts of the nearby community of Alto. People were being asked to call 911 if they saw any hot ash spots or active flames.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ruidoso-wi ... acuations/

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Large Wildfires Create Weather that Favors More Fire
June 18, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A new UC Riverside study shows soot from large wildfires in California traps sunlight, making days warmer and drier than they ought to be.

Many studies look at the effect of climate change on wildfires. However, this study sought to understand the reverse — whether large fires are also changing the climate.

“I wanted to learn how the weather is affected by aerosols emitted by wildfires as they’re burning,” said lead study author and UCR doctoral candidate James Gomez.

To find his answers, Gomez analyzed peak fire days and emissions from every fire season over the past 20 years. Of these fire days, he examined a subset that occurred when temperatures were lower, and humidity was higher. “I looked at abnormally cool or wet days during fire season, both with and without fires. This mostly takes out the fire weather effects,” Gomez said.

Published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, the study found that large fires did have an effect. They made it hotter and drier than usual on the days the fires burned. The extra heat and aridity may then make conditions favorable for more fire.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1048554

For a technical presentation of study results as published by the European Geosciences Union : https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/24/6937/2024/

[caltrek]

More Residents in Parts of Arizona’s Most Populous County Asked to Evacuate as a Wildfire Threatens Homes
by Paradise Afshar, Sydney Bishop and Sarah Dewberry
June 28, 2024

Introduction:

(CNN) Residents in parts of Maricopa County, Arizona – the state’s most populous and home to Phoenix, the state capital – have been asked to evacuate as the Boulder View Fire threatens structures.

An evacuation order went into effect Thursday night for residents along the southeast side of the fire, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management said in a social media post. The department said at least 60 homes were evacuated Thursday. About 4.5 million people live in the county.

“It definitely puts a little bit of a panic into your mind right away,” a Scottsdale woman told CNN affiliate KPNX. “We made a plan. We have had a plan. We have lots of friends in the area that have trucks and trailers ready to go when we are.”

The woman, along with another resident, safely evacuated to another property in north Scottsdale where they have mares, pigs, goats and cats. They said watching the “orange flames over the north side of the houses” put them “on edge” as they watched from safety.

The fire, which began Thursday, has burned 3,200 acres and is at 0% containment, fueled by winds and hot, dry conditions, said via the US Forest Service’s InciWeb alert system on Friday. Overnight, there were flame lengths as high as 20 to 40 feet in some areas, the alert said.

Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/28/us/ariz ... ndex.html

[caltrek]

"Life-threatening" Heat Wave Hits California as Wildfires Burn
by Andrew Freedman
Updated July 3, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) California's heat wave that began Tuesday looks more intense and longer-lasting than expected, potentially pushing it into all-time record territory.

Why it matters: Up to two weeks of record-breaking heat is on tap across much of California, Oregon and portions of Nevada.

• Already, damaging wildfires have broken out, and the heat itself will be "life-threatening," according to the National Weather Service.

Zoom in: The Thompson Fire in Oroville, fueled by 100-degree-plus temperatures and strong winds, burned homes overnight.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/07/03/calif ... ildfires

[caltrek]

Wildfires Erupt in West and Canada Amid Major Heat Wave
by Andrew Freedman
July 22, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) A dangerous heat wave will continue into midweek in much of the West as large wildfires burn out of control in several states, particularly California, Oregon and Washington.

Why it matters: The combination of heat and wildfire smoke is bringing a significant threat to public health, and smoke from fires burning in Canada may soon move into the U.S. as well.

Zoom in: The heat wave has triggered warnings for millions in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In addition, red flag warnings are in effect in many areas for dangerous fire weather conditions.

• The National Interagency Fire Center was tracking 60 uncontained large wildfires as of Sunday afternoon, most of them in the Northwest and Southwest.

• Several have exhibited extreme fire behavior, which makes them more difficult for firefighters to control. The Durkee Fire in eastern Oregon burned nearly 60,000 acres on Saturday alone, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, bringing its total to more than 100,000 acres.

• In California, the Hawarden Fire burned homes in Riverside, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles, prompting evacuations.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/07/22/wildf ... eat-wave

[Time_Traveller]

'Monster' fires may have destroyed half of historic Canadian town

25 July 2024



Huge, fast-moving wildfires have destroyed up to half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials say, as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.

Entire streets have been levelled by the blazes in Alberta province, with video showing smouldering rubble where homes once stood.

Cooling temperatures brought some relief on Thursday, but park authorities said the fires were still out of control and further warm weather was forecast.

Meanwhile, there are hundreds of active blazes in neighbouring British Columbia, while fires are burning in western US states including California and Utah.

While no deaths have been reported, some 20,000 tourists and 5,000 residents have fled the mountainous area in Alberta province - a hugely popular tourist spot.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyj423n2jdgo

[Time_Traveller]

Firenado spotted after huge California park fire

[Time_Traveller]

'High to extreme risk of wildfire' across most of southern Europe

Tuesday 30 July 2024 16:05, UK



The risk of wildfires is currently high or extreme in summer holiday destinations across most of southern Europe, authorities have warned.

The fire danger map has turned shades of dark orange and deep red across the continent, from Portugal in the west, through parts of southern France, most of Italy, swathes of Croatia and most of Montenegro, Albania, Greece and Turkey.

It comes as a heatwave in south-west Europe is set to spread east to more holiday hotspots.

The risk of a forest fire is highest in areas like eastern Spain, the 'boot' of southern Italy and parts of Greece, marked in black on the map produced by the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

On the Greek island of Evia, near Athens, people have been ordered to evacuate from areas near a blaze, while firefighters in Albania battle flames at the seaside town of Shengjin.

https://news.sky.com/story/high-to-extr ... e-13187279

[caltrek]

Climate Whiplash Helping to Fuel California's Massive Wildfires
by Allison Snyder
August 3, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) A massive wildfire in northern California is a symptom of the American West's suffering from climate whiplash — oscillating between periods of extremely wet and dry conditions exacerbated by a warming atmosphere.

Why it matters: This whiplash, coupled with decades of land management practices that have strictly limited fire from the landscape, is increasingly creating conditions in some places for destructive and devastating fires.

• Several studies point to a future with more frequent shifts between wet and dry extremes.

• There is an "increase in this hydro-climate whiplash" and it creates an ideal scenario for worsening wildfires by growing vegetation then burning it, says Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.

Driving the news: The Park Fire that began in Butte County in northern California has burned more than 397,000 acres, making it the fourth-largest fire in California's history. Authorities say they think the fire began from an act of arson.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/08/03/clima ... lifornia

[wjfox]

[Powers]

Nothing was as on-brand (so far) as the blood-red days in Australia a few/some years ago.