Wildfires and Climate Change

Climate change is intensifying wildfires in the United States by raising temperatures and drying out forests, while a century of fire suppression has increased fuel loads. These fires cause significant loss of life, property destruction, and high federal costs, while simultaneously releasing greenhouse gases that further accelerate global warming.

• Since 2015, the United States has seen an average increase of approximately 100 large wildfires annually, characterized by more burned acreage and longer, more intense fire seasons.
• Wildfires result in severe human and economic losses, as exemplified by the 2018 Camp Fire which caused at least 90 deaths and destroyed over 18,000 structures. Federal spending on firefighting averaged 2.4 billion dollars annually between 2014 and 2018, more than double the inflation-adjusted spending from 1994-1998.
• Climate change drives wildfire risk by increasing temperatures, causing earlier snowmelt, and drying soils and plants. It is also linked to increased droughts, unusual rain patterns, and insect outbreaks that create dead tree stands.
• Land management practices have contributed to risk; a century of suppressing almost all fires has led to denser forest growth and more fuel. While prescribed burning and thinning are used to lower density, they have been difficult to implement at scale, though they are more frequent in the southeast.
• Wildfires create a feedback loop with climate change by releasing carbon dioxide and other global warming gases as they burn more land.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Wildfires and Climate Change. https://www.ucs.org/resources/infographic-wildfires-and-climate-change

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Wildfires and Climate Change. 2020. https://www.ucs.org/resources/infographic-wildfires-and-climate-change.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Wildfires and Climate Change |date=8 September 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/infographic-wildfires-and-climate-change |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2020wildfires, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Wildfires and Climate Change}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/infographic-wildfires-and-climate-change}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }