Pa. has avoided large wildfires, but that could change, scientists say

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Climate extremes could prompt the drought and extreme heat that dries up the state’s dense undergrowth, which could serve as the fuel to a wildfire.

A firetruck drives along California Highway 96 as the McKinney Fire burns in Klamath National Forest, Calif., Saturday, July 30, 2022. Wildfires could someday make their way into the Keystone State and possibly into your backyard, climate, fire and forestry scientists say.

Pennsylvania has averaged about 600 wildfires per year that vary in amount and severity depending on the given year, officials said. Those fires tend to be on a smaller scale, burning about an acre each, and Taylor noted those wildfires result from the burning of forests’ understory, which are the small shrubs and trees between the forest canopy and floor.

“We are seeing and expecting more drying, drought and heat waves through our summers, and there’s a logical link between drought, drying, heat, flammability and therefore fire that can occur,” said Meg Krawchuk, a fire ecologist and an associate professor at Oregon State University. Lee Hendricks, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service, said Pittsburgh experienced two of its rainiest seasons during the past five years in 2018 and 2019, when there were 57.83 and 52.46 inches of precipitation, respectively. He explained those totals are well above the area’s average of 39.61 inches.

The National Park Service reported that about 85% of wildfires are started by humans, with the other fires starting through lighting or overheating. But in Pennsylvania,, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. However, some critics have concerns. With rising dry spells and increasing temperatures, they say those prescribed fires could become out-of-control blazes.in the state’s history scorching more than 500 square miles and hundreds of homes. But their prescribed burn failed to account for climate change-related variables that worsened the out-of-control burn through, according to a Washington Post report.

 

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