A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
More than a hundred large wildfires are currently burning in the Western U.S., including one of the biggest in California history, the Park Fire. It's not uncommon at the beginning of August for there to be major wildfires across the West, although this fire season is especially brutal.
Here to talk about how this year's fires compare, let's check in with Nathan Rott of NPR's Climate Desk. Nathan, it's that time of year for me in Los Angeles. There's always a thin layer of ash on my car because of some fire somewhere in California. So how does this year compare to years past?
NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: Yeah, A, we are in it. So, you know, it's early morning. I'm not going to bore you with a bunch of numbers or acres or anything else until the coffee kicks in for everybody. But I will definitely say that it is a busier fire season than we've seen in the last couple of years, as the ash on your car may indicate. That said, A, it's really important to remember that when we're talking about what's new with wildfire, it's really not so much about what's happening this year or last year or the year before, but the longer-term trend.
MARTÍNEZ: Longer-term trend - I'd assume that isn't good - doesn't sound good.
ROTT: No, not so good. So, for example, here's how Camille Stevens-Rumann, an assistant professor at Colorado State University and a former wildland firefighter, put it to me earlier this week while she was literally watching the smoke plume from a new fire on Colorado's Front Range grow outside her window.
CAMILLE STEVENS-RUMANN: I'm a fire ecologist. I look at these extreme events all the time. And the number of times that I've said this event is unprecedented blows my mind sometimes.
ROTT: She says she feels like a broken record, which, as a journalist who's been covering fire for more than a decade now, I can totally relate to. And I can assume you do, too, A.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, absolutely. Aside from what happens in California, I'm thinking about the Lahaina fires in Hawaii last year or Canada's fires where there was smoke all over the East Coast, right? I mean, that's a lot of what we're talking about.
ROTT: Exactly. So I talked to the author of a study that was published last month that used NASA satellite data to look at the most extreme fire events that have happened in the world over the last 20-some years, so some of the events you just mentioned. Those are the ones that caused the most damage to ecosystems and the most harm to people. Here's Calum Cunningham, that researcher from the University of Tasmania.
CALUM CUNNINGHAM: Globally speaking, we're seeing more than a doubling in very extreme events. But some ecosystems, particularly in the west of North America and the boreal forest as well, have seen an exponential increase.
ROTT: When he says exponential, he means, like, more than 1,000% increase in parts of North America, so a really huge increase in really extreme fires.
MARTÍNEZ: A thousand percent. So why is that?
ROTT: So any fire researcher you talk to will say that climate change has its fingerprints all over this. You know, pollution from our activities is causing the climate in the world to get hotter. Hotter temperatures means more evaporation from vegetation and from soil. So we're seeing fires burn more frequently, more severely and in more places.
MARTÍNEZ: And climate change can't be the only reason.
ROTT: No, absolutely not. You know, the vast majority of wildfires that start in the U.S. every year are started by people. And, you know, the way we manage forest plays a big role in this, too. Remember, fire is a natural process. Many forests in California and other places need it. And we've been so effective at putting out small fires across much of the West over the last century that some places are overgrown. So there's a wide recognition now that what we really need to do is allow some smaller fires to burn to prevent the most destructive ones that you and I end up talking about.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Nathan Rott with NPR's Climate Desk. Nathan, thanks.
ROTT: Yeah, thank you, A.
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