Let’s Talk Wildfires!

Another day, another deadly fire dominating the news headline. 

In August 2021, wildfire has broken out near Saint Tropez in France, alongside large blazes burning in the not-so-far tourist hotspot in Castro Marim, Portugal, near the borders of Portugal and Spain. 

A little while ago, massive blazes hit Greece, causing mass evacuations and the unfortunate passing of firefighters. And just right before the Greek islands got hit, across the sea in the neighbouring country of Turkey, tens and thousands evacuated along the southern coast owing to the ‘worst-ever fires they have ever experienced. 

About 29,700 acres of forest have gone up in flames in central Spain. 8,600 acres of forest and scrubland in Plaine des Maures have succumbed to the big rip. “Half of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve has been devastated. It is a disaster,” said Concha Agero, deputy director of the French Office of Biodiversity. Most devastatingly, the reserve “is one of the last spots sheltering Hermann’s tortoise.”

According to Greenpeace Russia, 170 fires are currently burning from the west to the Far East of Russia, where 100 of them concentrate in the republic of Sakha in northeastern Siberia, Russia’s largest and coldest region. The massive burn is on track to become the largest single wildfire ever recorded in human history.  

Europe has not been given a break. 

On the other side of the globe, the wildfire season has been in full blaze since July. Dozens of fires and more have burnt over 1 million acres of land across California, Oregon, and Washington. Every two days, the wildfires destroy American lands the size of one Washington D.C., creating some of the most undesirable, mass destruction one could’ve ever imagined. 

Without much saying, we all know too well the obvious from the bottom of our hearts the root cause of such intensity. The world has already warmed up by approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius since the industrial era. The increasing days of hot and dry weather, especially during summers, fuels wildfires. 

What’s good to know is that wildfires are not entirely destructive. As explained by natural history, many species would not be here today without the great tests. Many of the trees that depend on or have adapted to the fires would experience difficulty in reproduction, hence changing the habitat and adding an extra barrier for the survival of dependent species. 

We sure benefit from what history has left for us, but the alarming frequency and severity are worrying.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said: "Disturbances such as wildfire and insect outbreaks are increasing and are likely to intensify in a warmer future with drier soils and longer growing seasons." In its fourth assessment report, it also added that "Warmer summer temperatures are expected to extend the annual window of high fire ignition risk by 10-30%."

"With higher temperatures, more fuel will be dry and the relative humidity of the air will be lower. Both of these factors contribute to faster-moving and more intense wildfires, with larger flames and more energy, making them harder to fight by firefighters on the ground," said Thomas Smith, an assistant professor in Environmental Geography at the London School of Economics. In short, these longer and more intense heat waves and droughts mean there is more fuel available because the vegetation is dry and available to burn for longer.

The US Department of Agriculture estimated that an average 1 degrees Celsius temperature increase, annually, would increase the area burnt per year by as much as 600% in some types of forests. 

While some wildfires are caused by lightning strikes, the vast majority are believed to be accidentally or intentionally started by people. As per the forestry expert with the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, 95% of the fires (In Turkey) are caused by people, but the spread of fires is worsened by climate change.  

Climate change contributes to the rapid spread and outbreak of wildfires. The extended fire windows feed into an even greater temperature rise. Yet, human beings are ultimately the ones to blame for the acceleration of warming weather.  

If we could all be more responsible and remember our liability held to the environment, would we be able to win this war against nature? Together with the true efforts of the governments to cap emissions, would we be able to put a permanent pause to set the world aflame to a point where the ecosystem is simply irrecoverable? 

By Ottilie Cheung