Converging wildfire seasons around the world are increasing the risk that firefighting agencies will be less able to share resources like ground crews and water bombers, according to a new study.
The study, published this month in the journal Science Advances, found that the extreme weather conditions that stoke wildfires around the world are happening on more days each year, causing fire seasons in different regions to overlap more.
“If a fire season is increasing and eventually overlapping, it will shrink the window of opportunity to help each other in terms of firefighting,” said Cong Yin, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced, who led the new study.
“These changes are attributable to climate change, so we need to mitigate climate change if we want to avoid this future.
” Different parts of the world have historically had wildfire seasons at different times, which has meant that states, provinces and countries can share firefighting resources.
In January 2025, when wildfires burned around Los Angeles for three weeks, Canada and Mexico contributed firefighters and other resources. When Spain and Portugal were burning in 2023, countries as far-flung as South Africa sent help.
“Resource sharing can be quite beneficial,” said John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at U. C. Merced and an author on the new paper. “If you’re unable to deal with a fire surge within a country, it provides some flexibility, a little insurance.
” Earlier research on how fire weather patterns have changed, and the consequent effects on firefighting, focused on specific regions or countries. The new study focuses on global patterns. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
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