Is Human-Caused Climate Change Contributing to Wildfires?

Arizona is second of 11 Western states in the United States that has seen an increase in the number and size of huge wildfires since the '70s, says a report by non-profit research organization Climate Central. But the question is, is it linked to human-caused climate change?   

"Arizona is actually among the fastest warming states in the entire country," said researcher Alyson Kenward, senior scientist and vice president of Climate Central, according to Tucson.com. "In terms of future risk, Arizona is projected to get even hotter and drier and to be the driest in the West, which is why our projections are for the state to see the most high wildfire potential days."  

While the study, titled "Western Wildfires: A Fiery Future," says that "climate change may be creating ideal conditions for more Western wildfires," it does not conclude that human-caused climate change is the culprit for individual wildfires. However, researchers have seen a connection between wildfires and the rise in temperature; and climate change has been linked to greenhouse gases, which are mostly due to human activities. 

"For the United States, climate change impacts include greater threats of extreme weather events, sea level rise, and increased risk of regional water scarcity, heat waves, wildfires, and the disturbance of biological systems," reads part of the letter sent to the U.S. Congress by 31 scientific organizations. "The severity of climate change impacts is increasing and is expected to increase substantially in the coming decades.  

The Climate Central report says warmer temperatures result in drying, which make it conducive for fires to spread. Dry wood in the forests, for instance, ignite more easily when lightning strikes or due to human activity, and small fires can easily spread over large areas when the condition is ideal. There is also less snowpack to keep fuels wet, as they tend to melt earlier in the year due to temperature rise.   

According to the report, the wildfire season last year was the worst thus far in the country. The West saw flames eat up more than 10 million acres, with the area affected having increased threefold from the '70s to the year 2010.  

The report estimates that by 2050, there will be an additional 34 days in the wildfire season - more than a month of potential wildfires happening.  

Idaho ranks No.1 in the list of Western states that saw the largest increase in the average number of wildfires from 1970 to 2015. Arizona is second; Montana and Oregon are third and fourth; while Washington and Wyoming are tied at No. 5.  

Arizona is also second, next to California, in the top five states with the largest number of people living in what the report calls "wildland-urban interface."  

Climate Central says that fire season "is approaching the point where the notion of a fire season will be made obsolete by the reality of year-round wildfires across the West."