Climate change makes wildfires in California more explosive
NPR Online NewsAug 30, 2023
At least 4K residents have been forced to evacuate their homes near Aguanga in Southern California due to a raging wildfire. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning of extreme fire danger in parts of Los Angeles and Riverside counties.
Though the wildfire, fueled by gusty Santa Ana winds, has been 10% contained, it has destroyed three structures, threatened nearly 2.4K homes and buildings, and injured a firefighter.
Climate change is the driving force behind wildfires in California and has raised the risk of quick-spreading fires by 25%. The climate emergency is real and must factor into the calculations of Californians as they work and live in increasingly dangerous wildland-urban interface areas growing more precarious in a warming world.
Complex, long-standing natural phenomena are causing the fires in Southern California. Dry winds and low humidity have dried out grass and brush in rural areas, and the Santa Ana winds provide ample conditions for flames to spread. California has historically had very problematic fire conditions — it's far and above the environmental alarmism of squarely blaming climate change.
There's a 50% chance that wildfires will destroy a total exceeding 10Mha of global tree cover by the end of 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.