<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/02/earths-wildfires-growing-in-number>
"Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In
California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn,
£12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the
grief and the economic pain in recent years.
As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion-dollar losses from wildfires
have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures – fuelled
by the climate crisis – that create tinderbox conditions.
For the first time scientists say they have shown unambiguously that the
numbers of “societally disastrous” wildfires – the ones that hit economies hard
and take lives – have increased around the world as global heating bites.
“We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how wildfires impact society,” said
the Australian scientist Dr Calum Cunningham, who led research published in the
journal
Science. “Climate change sets the stage for these disasters.”
Looking at the 200 costliest fires between 1980 and 2023 – pulled from a
private database maintained by global re-insurer Munich Re – the trends were
clear.
Of the 200 most damaging fires since 1980 – that is, the fires with the highest
direct costs relative to each nation’s GDP – 43% happened in the last 10 years.
Half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were also in the last 10 years. Over
the 44 years analysed, the frequency of fires causing 10 or more deaths tripled
while the population only went up by 1.8 times.
Temperatures and the dryness of the atmosphere and of the vegetation – all
factors promoting fires – all got significantly worse between 1980 and 2023.
Half the wildfires happened while local weather conditions were in the worst
0.1% on record for fire danger."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
