Extreme wildfires will become more common due to global warming and land-use change

According to a new UN report, extreme wildfires will become more common, increasing by around 50% by the end of the century. In addition, according to the report, there is an increased risk in the Arctic and other previously unaffected areas.

Scientists define extreme fires as extraordinary conflagrations that occur approximately once every hundred years. Researchers believe that rising temperatures and changes in land use will drive the increase.

The new study calls for a radical shift in financial resources from firefighting to prevention. According to UNEP scientists, large fires that burn for weeks are already becoming hotter and burning longer in many parts of the world where wildfires have always occurred. They are, however, starting to appear in remote northern areas, drying peatlands and thawing permafrost.

According to the latest study, there will be a global increase in extreme fires of up to 14% by 2030, compared to the number recorded from 2010 to 2020. 

"As a result of the global analysis of fire frequency, the potential for that type of fire increased by a factor of 1.3 to 1.5 times." The results were comparable in both the low and high carbon emissions scenarios.

The study defines extreme conflagrations as "extraordinary or unusual fires," but this definition varies greatly depending on where you live.

"Imagine a peat fire spreading at centimeters per hour in the Arctic. It's not necessarily a raging inferno, but it's unusual and spreading over vast areas because no one is there to put a stop to it, "Dr. Sullivan stated.

"A fire like this in the peatlands is extreme, but it's not what you'd expect an extreme fire to be if you lived in California."