West coast forest fires likely to become much more severe

By 2050, forest fires in the Rockies will likely be an annual event, with little chance of forests being able to replenish between events, the Globe and Mail reported.
The Globe and Mail reported on a study, which will be published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers collected climate information from 1972 to 1999 and studied how it related to the frequency of large forest fires that occurred in the Rockies from the Canadian border to the Teton mountain range in Wyoming.
Using this information, the researchers then projected how climate change would affect fires in the region through this century.
They predicted fires would increase with higher temperatures, but were surprised to learn the speed and the scale of the projected changes, The Globe and Mail reported.
“Big fires in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem were predicted to become an annual event by 2050, whereas in the recent past, it was very common for no fires to break out,” Renata D’aliesio wrote.
“The study showed that by 2075, the frequency of wildfires could reach unprecedented levels, leaving forests with little time to adapt.”
The article also noted that to-date, 2011 may well shape up to be Canada’s most destructive wildfire years.
The Slave Lake, Alta fires resulted in an estimated $700 million in insured losses. Forest fires burning in Northwestern Ontario have forced roughly 3,000 people from their homes. In total, 2.4 million hectares have burnt to date in 2011 in Canada.