Bartlein acknowledges that his study was not designed to provide insights specific to a particular location or forest type. But when the West is examined as a whole, he believes the research shows that fire suppression has pushed the region toward "a much more flammable condition."

Whether he is right or not, one aspect of the research is undisputed: It shows a clear relationship between climate and fire – namely, warmer and drier conditions bring more fire over the long haul.

As Veblen noted: "The most important message is that with warming temperatures we should expect increased wildfire activity in many ecosystems in the West.

"But as a society we're not really dealing with that problem."

DailyClimate.org is a nonprofit news service covering climate change. Contact editor Douglas Fischer at dfischer [at] DailyClimate.org.

10 Comments

1. 1. SoleilNoir 05:24 PM 6/29/12

   May?? Sometimes you just want to say "duh".

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2. 2. geojellyroll 05:52 PM 6/29/12

   Folks get caught up in an event and it clouds perspective. Wild fires in the Western USA are BELOW the norms for this time of year (announced by the US Forest Service today). Wild fires in western Canada are at almost historic lows.

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3. 3. Forsythkid 06:23 PM 6/29/12

   Fires in forested regions are common, needed and part of the natural order. That much is true. The problem, increasingly, is the human biomass that is expanding into these areas and who are suffering as a result. Ninety to one hundred percent of the problems humankind face on earth are due to humankind and the bio-diverse imbalance we represent as a species.

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4. 4. Owl905 09:03 AM 7/1/12

   The article scores highlighting the 20th century anomaly related to human-driven re-arrangements. But it also underscores the long-term partnership of heat/dry to fires. Trying to escape the relationship and trend with any dismissive about 'so far this year' is practicing a three-monkeys attitude.

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5. 5. BWTrainer in reply to knagknostik 11:17 AM 7/2/12

   That's how science works.
   
   We don't know evolution is real because Charles Darwin said so. We know it because thousands of researchers over 150 years independently studied it.
   
   People always use the argument of "it's just one study..." to dismiss claims with which they disagree. So scientists conduct multiple studies to increase robustness and strengthen the chain of evidence.

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6. 6. Crasher 05:32 PM 7/2/12

   For the people who seem to have a downer on science...read the article before jumping on your OLD bandwagon. The research is linking todays warming with historical evidence and what this means for predicting fire behaviour. To my mind the very essence of what science is.

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7. 7. Dennis2sheds 06:25 PM 7/2/12

   1. Many 20th century fires were human caused.
   
   2. Were we ever really that good at fire suppression?
   
   3. And isn't the fire fighting being done now fire suppression?

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8. 8. jaypatela 11:41 PM 7/2/12

   Of course, natural disasters such as fire are necessary for the development and succession of forests. And I agree that society shouldn't worry about it, unless it puts people's lives in danger.
   Dennis has a good point. It is unlikely that a Renaissance man burned down the forest with a cigarette, so data is definitely skewed based on a variety of variables including human behavior.
   

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9. 9. singing flea in reply to geojellyroll 01:31 PM 7/6/12

   Comparing the virgin forests of the past 3,000 years to the present day forests in this country is just another apples and oranges comparison.
   
   Of course there is less acres of forest burning lately. There is less forest and much of it is crisscrossed with highways and man made fire breaks that make it easy to control fires when they are small.
   
   Much of our forests land has already been thinned out and many thousands of people are employed in the business of making sure the rest of us don't burn our heritage down.
   
   Millions of hectors of forest land are now occupied by private homes all of whom have a vested interest in preventing nature from grooming herself. Millions more were converted to farm land which are irrigated and kept clear of weeds and brush that fuel wild fires.
   
   What all this has done, especially in recent years, is create a huge tinder box of under brush and beetle damaged trees that creates the reality that it is not a matter of if a fire will burn the forests down, but when.
   
   Climate change is the great equalizer. Nature has no plan, just action and reaction. Until humans collectively figure this out and put the brakes on unchecked development and the resultant pollution, there is nowhere to go but up in smoke.

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10. 10. jameseades 12:13 AM 8/11/12

    Aussie firm seeks donations to launch predictive virtual 3d earth fire mapping mobile app http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/192919?a=746377 check this out, if your concerned about fires, this app may save your life

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