According to author John Vaillant, wildfires will dictate their own “terms of engagement.”
“Fires are going to burn hotter in a warmer, dryer atmosphere,” he told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday. “And that’s what we’re seeing -- these more common extremes of heat, and dryness and fire intensity, especially in the Canadian West.”
Vaillant’s new book, “Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast,” unpacks this phenomenon, breaking down the nature of extreme wildfires that are the result of a hotter climate.
“When you get enough heat, the fire grows bigger to create its own weather system,” Vaillant explained.
“With those winds and with the massive height of the clouds, it actually generates its own lightning, which means it can start its own fires 20 miles away, 30 miles away.”
Vaillant said that a fire controlling its own weather system can keep fires going “basically indefinitely.”
His book centres on the wildfire that decimated Fort McMurray in May 2016, driving 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon, melting vehicles and turning whole neighbourhoods into crackling firebombs.
Vaillant warns this event was not unique as climate change renders the world more flammable. Unfortunately, recent events allow this to ring more true.
According to the National Wildland Fire Situation Report, there are currently 58 uncontrolled wildfires in Western Canada.
As Vaillant explains, the term “‘fire weather’ is the way that fire scientists and firefighters measure the flammability of the forest.”
This accounts for the dryness of the soil and forest litter, as well as the relative humidity and temperature.
“It puts it all together and you get a fire weather index rating,” he said. “Obviously, last week, the fire weather index was really high.”
To learn more about Vaillant’s research and new book, watch the CTV’s Your Morning clip above.
