If you hadn’t been paying particular attention, and depending on where you live, you might assume that wildfire is just wildfire. You might think that fire is just like it’s always been, and that it’s either terrible (Smokey Bear) or natural and healthy (regenerative). But none of this is true. Indeed, the story of wildfire in our times keeps developing. Here’s the situation as of late summer 2024 — with a focus on wildfire behavior.
Global overviews:
Regional overviews:
Fire behavior overviews:
Firestorms and other specific behavior changes:
- A new meaning for “fire weather”: “A Canadian wildfire grew so intense it made its own weather,” Austyn Gaffney, New York Times. For a 2021 3D simulation of such a firestorm, see “See how the Dixie Fire created its own weather,” Nadja Popovich and others, New York Times.
- For a news account that is unusual in how it directly addresses the emotional impacts of both experiencing such firestorms and reading about them, see “Western wildfires bring heartbreak, anxiety as Jasper burns, thousands flee.” Gaye Taylor, The Energy Mix.
- “Hot nights fuel wildfires in California, complicating containment.” Austyn Gaffney, New York Times. Firefighters can no longer trust fires to slow down at night.
- Wildfire threat is growing in America. Just look at Kansas. John Herron, Op-Ed, Washington Post. Year-round; Midwest; a state where climate-change is much doubted and nearly all land is private.
- “Not too wet to burn.” Madeline Ostrander, Hakai Magazine. Old-growth rainforests. (Some of the world’s largest wetlands, such as the Pantanal in South America, have also been burning.)
- “Yes, even most temperate landscapes in the U.S. can and will burn.” Kylie Mohr, Vox. The increasing role of highly flammable invasive species, both in the U.S. and elsewhere.
New response tactics:
Finally, two very interesting illustrated talks on YouTube, both illuminating fire behavior past and present:
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