Global Warming Aggravates the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires

Summary

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With the 2006 fire season hard upon us, wildfires already are racing through tens of thousands of acres of dry brush, destroying homes and other properties and triggering the declaration of a state of emergency in San Bernardino County. And now, there are new, very credible scientific reports that global warming is making the wildfire problem much worse.

It is too early to tell whether this fire season will equal the 2003 season, when more than 4,300 fires consumed nearly 660,000 acres in Southern California. But the evidence that wildfires have become more common and more destructive is undisputable.

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Extract

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Global Warming Aggravates the Risk of Catastrophic Wildfires

Since 1986, wildfires in the western United States have struck with nearly four times the average frequency they did from 1970 to 1986. The total area burned during this period is more than 6.5 times the previous level. Last year's ...

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