Global warming may limit management of wild fires

SAN DIEGO
August 29, 2006 10:23am

Changes in climate will limit ability to manage wild fires and apply prescribed fire across the landscape, according to a report Tuesday from the Association for Fire Ecology.

"Under future drought and high heat scenarios, fires may become larger more quickly and be more difficult to manage,” says the report, released at the association’s annual meeting in San Diego.

“Fire suppression costs may continue to increase, with decreasing effectiveness under extreme fire weather and fuel conditions. Extreme fire events are likely to occur more frequently,” it says.

"We're going to see more fire, not less," says Association President Robin Wills of Oakland. "And these increases in wildfire occurrence and severity are going to be part of our new reality. We, as a society, must be prepared to cope with these changes."

The association says fire managers are not safe in assuming that “tomorrow's climate will mimic that of the last several decades.”

With increased temperatures, could come broad-scale alteration of storm tracks that would change precipitation patterns, the group says.

"The impacts of climate change may already be emerging as seen in more frequent outbreaks of very large fires, widespread tree die-offs across the southwest United States, expansive insect infestations in the Rocky Mountains, and more rapid and earlier melting of snow packs globally,” it says.