Is climate change to blame for the California wildfires?

The “Pyrocene” is upon us. That is the theory that fire historian Stephen Pyne first introduced in a 2015 essay.

In an interview with The Explorers Journal in 2023, US Forest Service ecologist Gavin Jones described the Pyrocene as the current period of increased human fire activity. The key driver – human activity.

At least 11 people have been killed so far as a result of the wildfires that are currently ravaging Los Angeles’ suburbs in California and beyond, as well as more than 30 000 acres of land and more than 10,000 buildings. In state history, they have been the state’s wildfires with the highest devastation.

Climate scientists are becoming more concerned about the worsening of wildfires around the world as they become more frequent each year.

Intense and seemingly unstoppable wildfires in several Los Angeles neighbourhoods in California, US, which began on Tuesday, have killed at least 10 people and destroyed 10, 000 houses and structures. About 30, 000 acres (12, 000 hectares) of land have been burned, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

In Southern California, the #PalisadesFire is in full swing. California is eternally appreciative of the brave firefighters and other first responders who battled the blaze.

As local communities prepare for this severe weather, we will continue to mobilize resources and provide assistance. pic. twitter.com/JZrYy85e4z

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom said in a video he posted on X on Wednesday that there is no longer a fire “season” in California. “It’s year-round in the state of California”.

Pyne, an emeritus professor at Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences, agrees. He claimed that we “must now live with a fire age, the fire-informed equivalent of an ice age.”

Are California’s wildfires caused by climate change?

It is very likely, according to many experts.

The planet is warming to record-breaking levels, scientists warn. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union confirmed on Friday that 2024 would mark the first full year for global temperatures to exceed pre-industrial levels by 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to C3S, the world is experiencing temperatures never before experienced by people of today.

According to a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the frequency, duration, and burned area of wildfires have increased as a result of climate change.

As a result of all this, says Pyne, global warming is “adding energy to the system, magnifying the wet and dry spells, lengthening the fire season, ramping up all the]already powerful] elements that contribute to California’s firescape”.

How does climate change trigger wildfires specifically?

The exact causes of the California fires, which began on Tuesday in the Palisades area of Los Angeles, are unknown and under investigation.

“But they are human”, Pyne says. “They might be directly related to people]malice, carelessness] or indirectly]say, through faulty power lines]. For the moment the origins are unclear”.

However, according to experts, it is likely that a number of environmental factors contributed to the creation of the ideal conditions for the spread of calendar-defiant fires.

Southern California hasn’t experienced significant rainfall in months, for one.

The US Drought Monitor’s latest map shows that as of January 7, only 39.1 percent of California is completely drought-free. The rest of the state is described as “abnormally dry” and some areas are experiencing “moderate to exceptional” droughts.

At about this time last year – as of January 2, 2024 – 96.7 percent of California was classed as drought-free. Furthermore, only 3.4 percent of the state was abnormally dry and no parts were experiencing drought of any severity.

The vegetation becomes extremely parched and therefore highly flammable as a result of the extreme dryness.

Besides this, Los Angeles has an abundance of other flammable materials in its infrastructure, such as low-hanging power cables and wooden telephone poles.

Hot Santa Ana winds have also gusted in from the interior of the region towards the coast and offshore, further dehydrating the vegetation, say experts. Any spark can start a fire, whether it’s a burning car, a burning cigarette butt, or a burning power line, when the vegetation is so dry and the conditions are so flammable.

Are climate change and other natural disasters related?

Yes. The changing climate coupled with poor urban planning and management has exacerbated natural disasters globally, including cyclones, &nbsp, hurricanes&nbsp, and floods.

Hurricane wind speeds could increase by 10% if the planet’s temperatures exceed the pre-industrial average by 2C, according to NOAA scientists.

Additionally, they claim that hurricanes may be moving more slowly because of climate change than by their velocity. Storms can therefore pour more water into the areas that they pass through.

In April 2023, climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune reported to Al Jazeera that warm oceans aid in the rapid intensification of cyclones.

The World Weather Atlas (WWA) reported in October last year that increased seasonal rainfall in the Niger and Lake Chad basins by between 5 and 20% in 2024, adding to the flooding.

In recent years, intense floods have also occurred in Asian nations. Asia has been warming more quickly than the average, according to a report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in April 2024.

In a statement, WMO chief Celeste Saulo stated that “many countries in the region experienced their hottest year on record in 2023, along with a barrage of extreme conditions, from droughts and heatwaves to floods and storms.” She added that climate change made “frequency and severity of such events” even greater.

If climate change is not addressed, will these events get worse?

Wildfires are expected to worsen with time as a result of climate change and changing land use, according to a 2022 report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partner, environmental communications centre, GRID-Arendal.

According to the report, extreme fires will increase by up to 14 percent by 2030, by 30 percent by 2050, and by 50 percent by the end of the century.

Furthermore, wildfires damage the environment in other ways, too. In terms of the California fires, “when (and if) winter rains finally arrive, they could lead to hillside erosion and debris flows”, Pyne said, suggesting that cleanup after the fire “will be messy, long and expensive”.

The human-caused environmental disasters have also become more difficult to deal with.

When they go up in flames, Pyne said, “contemporary homes are filled with plastics, synthetics, and electronics that can be toxic.”

How do wildfires affect wildlife?

Wildfires can quickly erode acres of land and have a variety of negative effects on wildlife that lives near fire sites.

The effects depend on the type of wildlife and its habitat requirements, and the intensity and frequency of the wildfires, according to an article published by North Carolina (NC) State University.

Some species can quickly elude a fire that quickly sweeps acres of land. “Some animals, especially those that are immobile or too slow to escape, are more vulnerable to the smoke and heat of wildfires”, it explains.

Does that affect the environment generally?

It could. Some wildlife can lose their habitat as a result of wildfires, which alter the vegetation by thinning it, and the resultant movement of wildlife can disrupt a region’s ecosystem’s balance.

Take snakes as an example. Some 33 snake species are endemic to California.

According to Michael Starkey, a conservation biologist who studies snake conservation, rising temperatures and dry conditions are causing some areas to be unhabitable for some snake species.

According to Starkey, some snake species may be extinct, but others may not. Because snakes consume rodents, which eat crops for human consumption, this is a problem. Whole food systems can be affected by this chain reaction.

California is also home to 700 vertebrate species, which simply put, are animals with backbones and skeletons. According to an article published by the US Department of Agriculture in March 2024, this makes the state the most biodiverse in the country.

Record-breaking wildfires engulfed California in 2020 and 2021, burning more than 4.2 million acres of land.

“Tragically, the bushfires killed or displaced almost 3 billion animals. In the US Agriculture Department article, Jones, an ecologist for the US Forest Service, was quoted as saying, “It made me wonder what was happening to our wildlife.”

Source: Aljazeera