Despite a dry, hot, low-snow-pack summer so far, the fire season has not been extraordinary south of the 49th parallel. But north? It’s been an inferno.
The Vancouver Sun covers the story:
Forest fires have exploded across the province this summer, consuming more than 10 times as much land as at this time during last year’s devastating fire season.
And later:
87 new fires started Sunday because of lightning strikes.
The long-range forecast is for three weeks of hot, dry weather with little or no rain. As a result, firefighters are bracing for the worst.
Later still:
Since April 1, the province has had 1,467 fires . . . . During the same time last year, 842 fires had burned.
Fires are not a bad thing for many forests. They recharge the ecosystem.
But fire seasons are growing in intensity in part because of climate change, as we’ve been discussing (e.g., here), and in part because of the related phenomenon of beetle infestations. (More on that in another post.)
