Reacción a "Wildfire disasters have intensified since 2015"

Scientists had already demonstrated that the severity and intensity of fires are increasing worldwide. They had also shown that climate change creates conditions more conducive to extreme fires. However, evidence on the evolution of the impacts of fire on human lives and on the generation of socio-economic losses at the global level was more limited due to constraints in the available data. 

The study by Cunningham and colleagues addresses this issue in an excellent and highly relevant paper. These authors, who are internationally renowned in the field of pyrogeography, demonstrate how the frequency of catastrophic fires has increased. To do so, they used a comprehensive database comprising information on loss of life and economic losses, with information from reinsurance companies and public data. 

Globally, the results shown in the study are compelling: fires causing 10 or more deaths have increased 3.1-fold from 1980 to 2023, a change far greater than the increase in population. For the same period, the frequency of fires causing major economic losses has increased 4.4-fold. 

The study also shows how economic losses and loss of life are disproportionately concentrated in certain areas of the planet. Risk models highlight the Iberian Peninsula as one of the areas most susceptible to this type of disaster due to climatic, economic and demographic factors and the intensity of the fires. Other regions with a Mediterranean climate also present a high risk. This is the case for the other countries around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as California, the Cape region in South Africa, and parts of central Chile and southern Australia. 

The authors emphasise the link between these major disasters and climate change, showing a clear relationship between them. To do so, they have used drought and fire weather risk indices, which have increased significantly over the last two decades. 

The study provides further evidence that the risks associated with fires are increasing dramatically in some areas. This should have consequences for the development of prevention policies and landscape management, promoting strategies to mitigate the social, ecological and economic risks associated with extreme fires.