Wildfires Are Happening Because of Climate Change - There Is A Feedback Loop Between The Two - August 27, 2025

There’s nothing earth-shattering in that headline, right? You wouldn’t think so, but we need to continue to scream out loud about the devastating impact of climate change, when we hear about moves like this one noted just below. 

The Trump Administration is moving to rescind approval for a large wind farm project off the coast of Maryland. This project was approved by the Biden Administration in September 2024 and was expected to supply power to 718,000 homes in the area.  This effort by the current Administration is the latest in a series of moves aimed at curtailing offshore wind and other clean energy initiatives.  President Trump has repeatedly criticized wind energy solutions as “ugly, unreliable and expensive”.  The Trump Administration also recently revoked approval for a wind project in Rhode Island, citing “security concerns”, which seems to be the Administration’s legal justification for doing, or not doing, whatever they please. All of these claims against wind energy are unsubstantiated, and require court challenges to be undone.  Meanwhile, experts and advocates of wind energy state these projects are an important part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions, which are causing climate change.   

The Devastating Impacts of Climate Change

I was surprised to hear that the wildfires in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona were still ablaze. We all heard a couple weeks ago about the devastation caused by these fires, known as the Dragon Bravo fires, when they burnt several thousand acres of land in the Grand Canyon area, as well as several structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.  This famous building had been there since 1937. Ironically, the original lodge was built in 1928, burned down in 1932, and then was rebuilt and re-opened in 1937, so it's not the first time fire consumed the Grand Canyon Lodge.  Hopefully the lodge will be rebuilt once again.  Hearing that these wildfires were still burning in Arizona got me thinking about how we are constantly hearing about wildfires burning somewhere in the world.  And then, the other day I heard that wildfires are now burning again in Napa County, in Northern California.  While all wildfires cause devastation, these two fires in particular hit home with me, as they are causing destruction in two of my favourite regions of the United States, Arizona, and wine country in California. 

Canada has been dealing with wildfires for most of 2025, in Western Canada, and in the Maritime provinces.  Early in 2025 the news was full of reports of wildfires in the Los Angeles areas and other parts of Southern California. And, of course everyone remembers the devastating wildfires that burned in Australia in January 2020.  These are just some of the more infamous wildfires that made the news.  As I looked into this wildfire phenomenon, I learned that this has been an issue across the planet for many years. 

What happened in the 2020 Australian wildfires?

I can’t believe it has already been five years since the Australian wildfires took place. These Australian fires burnt more than 59 million acres of land, destroyed over 3,000 buildings, and directly killed 33 people. Wildfire smoke was responsible for an additional 417 deaths. Lightning strikes in East Gippsland started three fires which grew to the widespread wildfire disaster that burned throughout Australia for months on end. These blazes were caused by extremely dry conditions after three years of drought in parts of NSW and Queensland, which experts say has been made much worse by climate change. 

The largest wildfire in recorded history is the Siberian Taiga fires of 2003, which burned an estimated 55 million acres across eastern Siberia. This vast fire was fuelled by extreme temperatures and dry conditions, also caused by climate change. 

Canadian Wildfires

In Canada, the 2025 wildfire season is considered the second worst on record, behind only the 2023 wildfire season in terms of acres of land burnt.  So far in 2025, Canada has had 18.3 million acres of land burnt by these wildfires.  18.3 million acres is more three times the size of the state of New Jersey. The entire country of Ireland is 5 million acres in size, so Western Canada has lost an area to these wildfires that is more than three times the size of Ireland. While more than half of this has occurred in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, wildfires are burning in eight of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories.  These fires have led to the evacuation of 68,000 people, and have led to damage or destruction of 631 buildings.  According to Reuters, experts are expecting these fires to continue in the Fall, because of warm and dry conditions, particularly in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Southern British Columbia. In the Atlantic provinces, authorities are banning outdoor burning.  In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick outdoor activity on publicly-owned forest land is currently prohibited; all of this is in an effort to prevent further wildfires from occurring.    

In Canada, managing forest fires is primarily the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments, in cooperation with local authorities. The federal government also plays a role, particularly on federal lands like national parks. Wildfires are considered a shared responsibility, with the federal government providing support and resources to provinces and territories when needed. So everyone has a hand in limiting the damage caused by wildfires in Canada. 

Prior to 2025, I recall Ottawa experiencing smoke from fires in Quebec in 2023.  Smoke from these 2025 Western Canadian fires has drifted to bordering US states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Needless to say, the impact of these wildfires reaches much further than the burnt land in the immediate vicinity.  I've been living in Canada, and following Canadian news for decades.  Other than the past five years or so, I don’t recall wildfires being so prevalent in the past. 

In the United States, as of mid-August there were 49 active large wildfires burning, having consumed 875K acres of land. During 2025 the United States experienced approximately 44K wildfires that consumed 3.8 million acres of land. Over 18K structures were destroyed in these fires and 31 lives were lost.  As if this wasn't bad enough, the outlook for the remainder of the US wildfire season is not great.  Nearly 45% of the western United States is experiencing severe drought conditions, with critically low vegetation moisture, due to a lack of rainfall, making this region susceptible to further wildfire activity. And all of these dry conditions can be directly attributed to climate change. 

Extended periods of heatwaves, warmer-than-average temperatures, coupled with much less precipitation, result in decreased levels of snowpack, lower soil moisture, and elevated drought conditions. These factors all impact the frequency and severity of these wildfires.  How can this increase in wildfires and their devastating impact be attributed to anything other than climate change?  How can anyone call climate change a “hoax” when the discussion above outlines how bad the devastation from wildfires has become.  

How Do These Wildfires Start?

We discussed the devastation caused by wildfires and how widespread this phenomenon is.  But how do these wildfires start in the first place? Most wildfires are started by people, sometimes on purpose but mostly by mistake, though experts have also said that lightning is the cause in many of Canada's fires, especially in remote areas. 

The Palisades Fire, in the Los Angeles area, the largest of the January 2025 wildfires, may have been caused by the ignition of fireworks set off on New Year's Eve. 

The Eaton Fire began on January 7, 2025, in Altadena, California. The suspected origin point was a transmission tower belonging to the electric utility,  Southern California Edison. A surge of current on energized lines, possibly interacting with an idle line, is a potential cause.  

The deadliest wildfire in recorded history is the Peshtigo fire, which occurred in Wisconsin on October 8, 1871. It's estimated that between 1,500 and 2,500 people perished in the fire. 

The Loss Of Human Life - A Not-So-Random Fact

The common cause of death in a fire is smoke inhalation, which can lead to asphyxiation from carbon monoxide and other toxic gases, or direct injury to the lungs and airways. While thermal burns contribute to deaths, they are less immediate than the rapid and dangerous effects of toxic smoke. 

Chemicals Used To Put Out Fires

The chemicals used to extinguish wildfires include ammonium phosphates or sulfates in long-term fire retardants, which are applied to the grass, trees and plants, to slow the spread of fire by creating a chemical barrier, and various foaming and wetting agents that reduce water's surface tension, allowing it to penetrate fuel more effectively. 

Ammonium Phosphates and Sulfates: These are the most common active ingredients in aerial fire retardants, such as the Phos-Chek brand. They function as long-term fire retardants by inhibiting the combustion process, acting as a chemical barrier on vegetation to prevent it from burning and absorbing heat. However, Phos-Chek's has an environmental impact that stems from its components, which can lead to water quality issues like elevated ammonia levels when they enter waterways. This also poses risks to aquatic life, affecting growth and development in fish and amphibians. Additionally, the retardant can disrupt soil ecosystems by altering soil composition and impacting plants. Thus, even our current approach to extinguishing wildfires is not without its' consequences.

I Didn’t Realize How Close I Was To A Wildfire

A few years ago I used to do a lot of work in the state of California, which included driving up and down the State from the Bay Area in the north, to/from Los Angeles in Southern California. For these trips I would take the I5 interstate highway.  It was a beautiful drive through the rolling green or brown hills, depending on the time of the year. On one such drive I was approaching Northern California, probably close to the town of Hollister, when I noticed some flashing lights up ahead.  As I got closer I realized there were two fire trucks pulled over to the side of the road.  There I saw four firefighters walking along the side of the road with their hoses, spraying water or chemicals on the nearby grass.  I noticed flames burning further in the fields at the side of the road. I realized they were trying to contain a small wildfire.  This was the closest I’d been to an open wildfire. I was surprised by what I saw, but didn't think much about it at the time. When I arrived at my destination in Berkley, I went online and searched the news for information on these fires. It turns out this was part of the wildfire that had consumed parts of Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, and had devastated that year’s grape crops.  My experience and proximity to fire in Hollister was a long way away from wine country, but it was all part of the same wildfire system, several hundred miles away. It was then that I realized how far-reaching these fire systems could be, and how easily they could be started.  An errant unextinguished cigarette, flicked into some dry brush would do the trick.  As I said, I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but as I researched wildfires for this article, I recalled my own experience and how that was part of a larger devastation that impacted Northern California.  

Climate Change & Wildfires

Rising global temperatures, together with more frequent and prolonged droughts, evaporate moisture from soil, trees, and other vegetation. This turns forests and grasslands into tinder, making them more susceptible to igniting fires and rapidly spreading wildfire. Warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt, extend the fire season well beyond the traditional summer months. All of this means there are more days in the year when conditions are ripe for wildfires.

Climate change is leading to more frequent and intense periods of "wildfire weather"—hot, dry, and windy conditions that are ideal for igniting and fanning flames. Warmer winters allow for the greater infestation of pests. These insects can kill vast swaths of trees, creating massive amounts of dry, flammable fuel. The extreme conditions fuelled by climate change can lead to unprecedented fire activity. This includes wildfires that burn for months, torching entire communities, and that spread quickly at night, even when temperatures are cooler.

As described above, a warmer, drier climate creates conditions that make wildfires more likely to start and more difficult to contain. 

The relationship between climate change and wildfires is a feedback loop - When forests burn, they release massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, as well as black carbon, into the atmosphere. This adds to the existing greenhouse gas burden, further intensifying the warming of the planet and completing the cycle. The amount of carbon released from a single large fire can be more than a country's entire annual fossil fuel emissions. 

If you find yourself in a conversation where someone claims climate change is a hoax, insist they read this article, or any one of countless written or video content that has been published on climate change.