Recently, I read a really important research article in Science. This was from a huge study regarding wildfires in the US from 2001 to 2020. Although I summarized much of this report (when printed, this article was 20 pages long, and that was without supplemental material), I tried to capture the essence of this article’s most important findings. I also used much text from the original article while still staying below my normal maximum length. The following paragraph is from the source article.
The most destructive and deadly wildfires in US history were also fast. Using satellite data, we analyzed the daily growth rates of more than 60,000 fires from 2001 to 2020 across the contiguous US. Nearly half of the ecoregions experienced destructive fast fires that grew more than 1620 hectares (4,000 acres) in one-day. These fires accounted for 78% of structures destroyed and 61% of suppression costs ($18.9 billion). From 2001 to 2020, the average peak daily growth rate for these fires more than doubled (+249% relative to 2001) in the Western US. Nearly 3 million structures were within 4 kilometers of a fast fire during this period across the US. Understanding fast fires is crucial for improving firefighting strategies and community preparedness.
