wildfires

A disrupted boardwalk runs in an area with dead boreal forest Alaska birch trees, standing in floodwaters amid thawing permafrost and snowmelt, at Creamer’s Field on May 6, 2023 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Since heavier precipitation came to Fairbanks beginning in 2014, mostly due to sea ice loss, hundreds of the trees have died at the site due to ongoing flooding and accelerated permafrost melt. What was once a seasonal wetland is becoming more permanent while the boardwalk has been reconstructed various times due to ground subsidence. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Alaska ‘is warming at two to three times the rate of the global average.’

Mario Tama/Getty Images

April 10, 2024

What’s the Role of the Land Carbon Sink in Achieving US Climate Goals?

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist

Scott Olson/Getty Images

March 7, 2024

Wildfire Threat to Texas Nuclear Weapons Facility Highlights Intersecting Risks

Kristy Dahl
Former Staff

Spc. Ana-Grace Catoe, South Carolina National Guard

September 11, 2023

New Maps Show Inequitable Geography of Danger Season

Juan Declet-Barreto
Senior Social Scientist for Climate Vulnerability

US Army National Guard/Sgt. Denis Nunez

July 19, 2023

Yes, Climate Change Worsened that Heatwave, Flood, Wildfire. Yes, Fossil Fuels are the Root Cause. Policymakers, Please Act and Stop the Madness.

Rachel Cleetus
Policy Director

Wildfire smoke obscures an otherwise beautiful view from Yosemite's Half Dome

Derrick Z. Jackson/UCS

July 5, 2023

Smoke in Our Eyes: National Park Grandeur Degraded by Global Warming

Derrick Z. Jackson
Former Fellow

The New York City skyline at sunrise or sunset, with the sun and clear view of buildings obscured by yellowish haze from Canadian wildfires in June, 2023

Ahmer Kalam/Unsplash

June 22, 2023

Climate Reality vs. Public Perception: Will Toxic Haze and the 2023 Danger Season Make a Difference?

Derrick Z. Jackson
Former Fellow

Flood waters surround a modest-looking white house with a detached garage behind it. The water has submerged what you could assume is a driveway, a front porch or steps, and the front and side yards.

FEMA

June 7, 2023

Worsening Risks of Climate Change Expose the Need for—and Hard Limits of—Property Insurance

Rachel Cleetus
Policy Director

Kari Greer/US Forest Service

May 22, 2023

Western Wildfires are Burning Through Local and State Budgets

Juliet Christian-Smith
Former Contributer

A burnt down house in the foreground, while two houses in the back were untouched by the Carr Fire in Redding California.

Cecilio Ricardo/US Forest Service

May 16, 2023

Both Utilities and Fossil Fuel Companies Are to Blame for Western Wildfires

Mark Specht
Senior Manager, Western States Energy

US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

May 16, 2023

Cuatro razones por las que investigamos cómo los combustibles fósiles están detrás de los incendios forestales: una mirada detrás del nuevo estudio de UCS

Kristy Dahl
Former Staff

US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

May 16, 2023

Four Reasons We Investigated the Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires: an Inside View of Latest UCS Report

Kristy Dahl
Former Staff

Brody Hessin/CC by 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

May 12, 2023

Cómo la gestión de bosques puede crear ciclos saludables de incendios en el oeste de Norteamérica

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist

Fire consumes a forest of pine trees, and smoke fills the air during the 2013 Alder Fire in Yellowstone National Park

Mike Lewelling, National Park Service/Flickr

May 11, 2023

As Danger Season Begins, Congress Must Pass Stronger Wildfire Policies

Shana Udvardy
Senior Climate Resilience Policy Analyst

Firefighter battling 2020 El Dorado Fire, California.

San Bernardino County Fire/Wikimedia Commons

May 2, 2023

In a Changing Climate, What Does a “Normal” Year of Wildfires Look Like?

Kristy Dahl
Former Staff

Brody Hessin/CC by 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

April 27, 2023

How Forest Management Can Build Healthy Wildfire Cycles in Western North America

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist

Mike Chiodini/Bureau of Land Management California

April 3, 2023

What Is Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) and What Is Its Connection to Wildfires?

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist

Silhouettes of people overlooking San Francisco after wildfires turned the sky an eerie orange in 2020

Patrick Perkins/Unsplash

September 15, 2022

Inequitable Health Impacts from Wildfire Smoke Increased by Danger Season

UCS Science Network

iStockphoto.com/Pleasureofart

August 22, 2022

Four Months into Danger Season, Here’s the Tally of Extreme Heat, Floods, Fire Weather Events

Juan Declet-Barreto
Senior Social Scientist for Climate Vulnerability

National Interagency Fire Center/Flickr

March 24, 2022

Climate Change Is Turning California’s Wildfire Season into Wildfire Year

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist

Flames tower above the trees in Colorado’s 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire, the third most destructive fires in state history

Airman Magazine, Flickr

March 15, 2022

Colorado is Burning. For Many Scientists, It’s Personal.

Taryn MacKinney
Former Contributor

Boulder Police Department

February 2, 2022

Boulder Sued Big Oil for Climate Damages, Then the Marshall Fire Happened

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Hush Naidoo Jade Photography

February 2, 2022

California Utilities Shut Off Power for Fewer People, But Too Many Are Still in the Dark

Mark Specht
Senior Manager, Western States Energy

Christopher Michel/Flickr

December 16, 2021

A California Climate Story

Kristy Dahl
Former Staff

California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection

November 8, 2021

World Leaders at COP Say ‘The World Is on Fire.’ People in Western US Are Living It

Carly Phillips
Senior Scientist