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by bawolff 1788 days ago
Are current fires actually much more destructive? https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/data/charts/NFD_NFDB_compariso... seems to suggest that the average year is getting worse but really big outliers are getting rarer. https://www.google.com/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/8045796/cana... suggests we have a higher number than normal but below average in total area burnt.
2 comments

You are correct that there have always been really bad years (that chart doesn't go back very far but look up the great burn of 1910). However total size is effected by us getting better at fighting them.

What has changed is that the fires burn hotter and so fully destroy vegetation and even seeds with intense heat which makes it much harder for the forests to regrow in the way they typically would in a "fire adapted ecosystem": https://www.cpr.org/2020/09/01/colorado-wildfires-forests-re...

In California they absolutely are. Canada has wild land that have been undergoing a natural burn cycle. In the US, fires have been put out, leading to 150 years of built up fuel