After a record stretch of blazes, California has not seen the worst of wildfires.
If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, the number of large wildfires across California will likely increase by 50 percent by the end of the century, while the amount of land that burns will grow 77 percent, according to a state report on the effects of climate change released Monday.
California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment projects more wildfires at the same time as higher sea levels, increased drought, and drier weather as a result of climate change.
“It’s all of these things happening in combination. That’s the scary part,” said Bob Weisenmiller, chair of the California Energy Commission that helped write the report, speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle. “There were times when people thought we had the rest of the century to act on climate change. But climate change is upon us now, and we have to act right now.”
The report’s release comes as state lawmakers are considering legislation requiring California utilities to obtain 100 percent of their energy from renewable or other zero-carbon sources by 2045.
Wildfires in California this year have burned 1.1 million acres, easily outpacing last year’s record, including this month’s record-sized Mendocino Complex, and the deadly Carr Fire that killed four residents and two firefighters. Both fires continue to burn.
In California, 14 of the 20 largest wildfires on record have occurred over the past 15 years, coinciding with some of the warmest years documented in the U.S.
California officials have attributed the longer fire seasons, and more destructive wildfires, to drier and hotter conditions caused by climate change.
“In California, facts and science still matter,” Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement after the report’s release. “These findings are profoundly serious and will continue to guide us as we confront the apocalyptic threat of irreversible climate change.”
But the Trump administration, in helping with response to the fires, has downplayed the climate change link, and instead blamed insufficient forest management work, which involve the removal of trees and vegetation in forests to take away fuel for fires.
