More, bigger wildfires scorching Western states


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Utah is heating up and drying out right now, which means we're on the verge of wildfires in many parts of the state that are not covered by high-elevation snowpack.

As firefighters get ready, a new study by a University of Utah fire scientist shows a worsening trend of bigger fires and more of them across the Western U.S. over the last three decades.

Phil Dennison studied satellite images that detailed areas scorched by fire. He says the data enabled his research team to put the numbers on something that firefighters have been seeing over the decades.

The associate professor of geography found that the number of fires is rising about seven per year.

"These are fires over 1,000 acres, so seven large fires per year," he said.

The acreage burned rose by 90,000 acres per year 1984 to 2011. That's an area the size of the city of Las Vegas.

They found the trend in the deserts, mountains and plains that stretch from Nebraska to California.

"What that tells us is that we're probably seeing the impacts of climate change," he said. "Warmer temperatures and higher drought severity are leading to higher fire occurrence."

The areas with the largest increase in fires, he said, also experienced the highest increase in drought severity. The new study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal published by the American Geophysical Union.

Among major fires they studied was the Milford Flat Fire that burned 363,000 acres in July 2007 and still ranks as Utah's largest wildfire. They also examined the Big Pole Fire that burned 43,000 acres in the western Stansbury Mountains in August 2009.

"There has been an uptick," said Jason Curry, public information officer for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

State statistics show Utah experienced 51 percent more fires over the last 10 years than we saw from 1982 through 1992. But acreage burned remained relatively constant. Curry attributes holding the line on acreage, in part, to improved firefighter training among local departments across the state.

He says the trend for bigger fires concerns state firefighters and the federal and local partners they work with on the fire lines.

"It used to be every few years you would get one of these major, catastrophic fires," he said. "Nowadays, it seems like those catastrophic fires are becoming more frequent. We even get them on a year-to-year basis."

With the number of catastrophic fires on the rise, and limited funding to fight them, Curry said they will have to come up with innovative approaches for prevention and suppression.

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