Global warming to complicate control of wildland fires

A recent report published by an assembly of global fire ecologists indicates recent climate change will hinder our ability to manage wildland fire and apply prescribed fire across the landscape.
The Association for Fire Ecology’s report, “San Diego Declaration on Climate Change and Fire Management,” says that considering future drought and high heat scenarios it is possible that fires can become larger more quickly and be more difficult to manage. Fire suppression costs may continue to increase, with decreasing effectiveness under extreme fire weather and fuel conditions. Extreme fire events are likely to occur more frequently.”
Association president Robin Wills says the increases in wildfire occurrence and severity are a new reality that society as a whole must be prepared to cope with.
“Abrupt climate change can lead to rapid and continuous changes that disrupt natural processes and plant communities,” the Declaration continues. “Managers are not safe in assuming that tomorrow’s climate will mimic that of the last several decades.
The Associations report indicates that increasing temperatures are projected to result in broad-scale alteration of storm tracks thereby changing precipitation patterns.
“Some believe that the impacts of climate change may already be emerging as seen in more frequent outbreaks of very large fires, widespread tree die-offs across the southwest United States, expansive insect infestations in the Rocky Mountains, and more rapid and earlier melting of snow packs globally.”
The Declaration continues saying that wildland fire conditions that used to be considered rare, such as extreme wildfire events (e.g. high heat release and severe impact to ecosystems), lengthened wildfire seasons, and large-scale wildfires in fire-sensitive ecosystems including tropical rain forests and arid deserts, are current realities.
“Research indicates that climate change has, in part, caused these trends. Therefore, we are deeply concerned that wildfire conditions will only become exacerbated by further climate change.”
In the western US, researchers recently confirmed an increase in fire season duration with large forest fires starting both earlier and later in the year than in the recent past. The Association for Fire Ecology says these changes are correlated with earlier spring snowmelt dates.
“The ecological impacts are wide-reaching because of the high severity of these fires burning through heavy fuel loads,” the Declaration reads. “With global temperatures projected to rise throughout this century, we expect increases in fire season length and fire size.
Extreme wildfire events and a lengthened fire season would greatly increase the risk to human lives and infrastructures, particularly within the wildland urban interface,” the Declaration concludes.
“We need to change our approach to managing wildland fire,” Willis says. “Traditional approaches of suppression need to adapt to those changes in vegetation and resulting changes in fire regimes. There is a direct relationship between changes in climate and changes in the way fires behave and we need to make a corresponding change in our fire management.”