A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire burning in a natural area. It starts from lightning, human carelessness, or intentional ignition. Once going, it feeds on dry vegetation and spreads with wind. Hot, dry, windy weather makes fires explosive. They can jump roads, rivers, and firebreaks.

Fires are natural. Many ecosystems evolved with them. Some pine cones only open after a fire. Grasslands regrow quickly. Fire clears dead brush and returns nutrients to the soil. But fire regimes have changed. Decades of fire suppression left forests choked with fuel. Climate change extended fire seasons and dried out vegetation. The result is larger, hotter, more destructive fires.

The 2018 Camp Fire in California killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. Australia's 2019-2020 bushfires burned over 18 million hectares. Smoke from western US fires reaches the East Coast. Solutions include controlled burns, thinning forests, and building codes that reduce home ignition. The problem is not fire itself. It is fire where people live and where ecosystems are not adapted.

Main drivers

• Drought and heat
• Wind
• Fuel accumulation
• Human ignition
• Climate change