More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal?

The document highlights a trend of increasingly destructive wildfires in the U.S., driven by climate change and a lack of funding for hazardous fuel reduction. It notes that forests are shifting from carbon sinks to emitters and that the U.S. Forest Service faces significant budget cuts despite rising fire risks. The author proposes that developing markets for woody biomass and bioenergy could provide a sustainable funding mechanism for forest restoration and wildfire prevention.

• Wildfires in the United States are becoming more frequent and destructive, with the fire season lengthening by more than two months since the 1970s. In 2012, over 9.3 million acres burned, including 51 fires exceeding 40,000 acres and 14 exceeding 100,000 acres. Several states, including Florida, Georgia, Utah, California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, have seen their most destructive or largest fires in history within a six-year period.
• Climate change is a primary driver of increased wildfire risk, causing forests to transition from carbon sinks that remove nearly 12 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions annually into carbon emitters. Projections suggest that by 2050, U.S. wildfires could be at least twice as destructive, potentially burning 20 million acres per year.
• The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) faces a critical funding gap for prevention; while wildfire fighting costs have averaged $3.5 billion annually since 2008 (consuming 40 percent of the USFS budget), funding for the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program has remained flat at $500 million in 2012. Recent budget sequestration cut this funding by 16 percent, with proposed FY14 cuts of another 30 percent.
• Expanding markets for wood products and bioenergy is proposed as a way to make forest treatments more affordable. The USFS Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program has awarded $2.5 million to ten projects that use woody material from wildfire prevention and beetle-killed trees to produce green energy for electricity and heating.
• Human encroachment into wild lands has increased vulnerability, with housing units within national forest boundaries rising from 335,000 in 1940 to 1.2 million in 2000. Currently, almost 400 million acres of vegetated lands and over 70,000 communities are at moderate to high risk from large wildfires.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2013). More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? 2013. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? |date=3 July 2013 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being- |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2013more, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal?}}, publisher = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }