Reacción a "Extreme fires have doubled in the last 20 years "

The press release reflects the study adequately. The study is of scientific quality. The issues that restrict the conclusions obtained are the limitation to satellite information without considering other relevant aspects such as the recent evolution of the fuel stock, the forest management applied to each area (intensive, extensive, null), the population density, etc. Leaving aside the factors that have to do with anthropic influence on the terrain makes it impossible to draw consistent conclusions. Similar situations occur when attempts are made to describe the status of large-scale forests purely on the basis of satellite information, ignoring information that can only be obtained on the ground, including issues of land use, tenure, etc. 

The study fits with the available evidence, but with the limitations cited in the previous paragraph. For example, the increase in large fires in south-eastern (SE) Australia is undoubtedly related to climate change, but also to the abandonment of frequent but low-intensity fire practices by Aboriginal peoples and eliminated by settlers of European origin, exacerbated by the policy of systematically extinguishing all fires, similar to what happened in the western USA. In contrast, in northern Australia, with a larger Aboriginal population, the situation has evolved for the better with the recovery of ancestral controlled burning practices. 

In the case of the European/Northern Mediterranean, the virulence of fires is undoubtedly due to the exacerbation of climate change, but no less to rural abandonment, active (repopulation) and passive (spontaneous encroachment) ambush and the policy of systematic extinguishing of all fires.  

Only by integrating socio-economic variables and field observations can reasonable conclusions be drawn from such methodologies covering very different situations across the globe. One issue is to obtain satellite information on the evolution of forest areas or carbon stock, and another much more complex one is to analyse the causes of changes and how to address undesired trends.