Cómo el cambio climático y los patrones de desarrollo están contribuyendo al aumento de los costos de los incendios forestales occidentales

The document argues that climate change is creating warmer, drier conditions in the western United States, leading to longer fire seasons and more frequent large wildfires. This environmental shift, combined with increased development in fire-prone areas and a federal management bias toward fire suppression over proactive risk reduction, has caused firefighting costs to exceed $1 billion annually since 2000. The report highlights significant secondary costs, including infrastructure damage, public health crises from smoke, and watershed rehabilitation. It recommends stricter zoning laws, carbon emission reductions, and a shift in funding toward long-term forest health and community resilience.

• Climate change is driving an increase in the frequency and scale of wildfires in the western United States, with the annual number of large fires on federal lands in 11 western states rising from approximately 140 in 1980–1989 to 250 in 2000–2009. Additionally, the average fire season has expanded from five months in the 1970s to seven months currently.
• Direct firefighting costs have risen sharply, exceeding $1 billion (2012 dollars) every year since 2000. Between 1985 and 2013, these costs increased nearly fourfold, from $440 million to over $1.7 billion. Total wildfire costs are estimated to be 2 to 30 times higher than direct suppression costs.
• Increased development in fire-prone areas has heightened human and economic vulnerability. Over 1.2 million homes across 13 western states, with a total estimated value exceeding $189 billion, are classified as being at high or very high risk. California, Colorado, and Texas contain nearly 80% of these high-risk properties in the western states.
• Federal forest management is overly focused on fire suppression rather than proactive risk reduction. This is evidenced by the U.S. Forest Service budget allocation for fire management, which grew from 13% in 1991 to over 40% in 2012.
• Wildfires cause extensive secondary economic and health damages. Examples include $86 million in infrastructure damage from the 2003 San Diego fires, $2.2 million in hospital expenses in the Reno/Sparks area of Nevada during the 2008 season due to smoke, and $60 million in lost tourism revenue in Yellowstone National Park between 1988 and 1990.
• Wildfires lead to significant watershed and soil degradation. The 1997 Buffalo Creek and 2002 Hayman fires cost Denver Water $26 million for basin rehabilitation, while the 2000 Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico resulted in over $9 million in direct costs for the Los Alamos Water Service and $72.4 million for flood mitigation and restoration.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2014). Cómo el cambio climático y los patrones de desarrollo están contribuyendo al aumento de los costos de los incendios forestales occidentales. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/playing-with-fire-summary_spanish.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Cómo el cambio climático y los patrones de desarrollo están contribuyendo al aumento de los costos de los incendios forestales occidentales. 2014. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/playing-with-fire-summary_spanish.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Cómo el cambio climático y los patrones de desarrollo están contribuyendo al aumento de los costos de los incendios forestales occidentales |date=July 2014 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/playing-with-fire-summary_spanish.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2014cmo, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Cómo el cambio climático y los patrones de desarrollo están contribuyendo al aumento de los costos de los incendios forestales occidentales}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2014}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/playing-with-fire-summary_spanish.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }