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Mountain fires burning higher at unprecedented rates by Staff Writers Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jun 18, 2021
Forest fires have crept higher up mountains over the past few decades, scorching areas previously too wet to burn, according to researchers from McGill University. As wildfires advance uphill, a staggering 11% of all Western U.S. forests are now at risk. "Climate change and drought conditions in the West are drying out high-elevation forests, making them particularly susceptible to blazes," says lead author Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, a PhD student at McGill University under the supervision of Professor Jan Adamowski. "This creates new dangers for mountain communities, with impacts on downstream water supplies and the plants and wildlife that call these forests home."
Climate warming has diminished 'flammability barrier' Their results show that climate warming has diminished the 'high-elevation flammability barrier' - the point where forests historically were too wet to burn regularly because of the lingering presence of snow. The researchers found that fires advanced about 252 meters uphill in the Western mountains over those three decades. The amount of land that burned increased across all elevations during that period, however the largest increase was at elevations above 2,500 meters. Additionally, the area burning above 8,200 feet more than tripled in 2001 to 2017 compared with 1984 to 2000. Over the past 34 years, rising temperatures have extended fire territory in the West to an additional 81,500 square kilometers of high-elevation forests, an area similar in size to South Carolina. "Climate change continues to increase the risk of fire, and this trend will likely continue as the planet warms. More fire activity higher in the mountains is yet another warning of the dangers that lie ahead," says co-author Jan Adamowski, a Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University.
Research Report: "Warming enabled upslope advance in western US forest fires"
Drought-hit 'tinderbox' California braces for fires in months ahead Paradise, United States (AFP) June 2, 2021 "Now, when there's smoke here, everybody panics," said Steve Crowder, mayor of the small town of Paradise that was almost wiped off the map by California's deadly 2018 wildfires. The former police officer still struggles to hold back tears when talking about the blaze that claimed dozens of lives and engulfed 95 percent of his community's buildings. "It's still hard to get over the 85 people that didn't get out," he told AFP. "It's the most horrific thing that I've ever experienced in my lif ... read more
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