Welcome to Locally Sourced, a biweekly Covering Climate Now newsletter for journalists working to localize the climate story. Share this newsletter with colleagues and journalism students interested in localizing the climate story.
Story Spark: Wildfires
Wildfire season is starting earlier and lasting longer due to climate change. Warmer temperatures increase evaporation, drawing moisture from plants and soil, worsening drought and creating a vicious cycle. The more dry vegetation there is, the more fuel for fires when they light.
Between 1984 and 2015, the amount of US land burned by wildfires has doubled, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some areas of the country are more vulnerable than others, especially the American West and Southwest.
Not only does climate change fuel fires, but fires contribute to climate change by destroying natural carbon sinks, like forests, and emitting huge quantities of planet-heating carbon into the atmosphere.
The effects of wildfires aren’t isolated to places where wildfires mostly occur either. Over the last few summers, skies above New York City and all along the US Atlantic Coast have turned orange as smoke from fires as far away as Canada blotted out the sun, making the air dangerous to breathe. Wildfire smoke is especially dangerous for children, whose lungs are still developing, and has been linked to early death.
Story Examples
- Ten of the largest wildfires in California history have occurred in the last 20 years, National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). San Francisco’s KGO explained how global heating is making wildfires more severe and the role local wetlands play in the carbon cycle.
- In 2023, smoke from wildfires burning in central Canada blanketed much of the US Atlantic Coast, including Asheville, N.C. The local ABC station, WLOS, drew the climate connection with the worsening wildfires for North Carolinians.
- A scientist from the Boulder-based National Center for Atmospheric Research ran simulations and found that climate change doesn’t just make wildfires more severe, it also increases the number of simultaneous fires. “If we’ve got more fires happening simultaneously, that could lead to a point where we don’t have enough resources to fight them,” the scientist told Colorado’s 9News.
- In Texas, climate change is making air warmer and drier during the winter months when the state has a fire season. These conditions dry out vegetation, creating more fuel, and warmer, drier, windy days create the right conditions for fires to spark in the Texas Panhandle, the Texas Tribune reports.
Reporting Tips
CalMatters’ project reporter for the environment desk, Julie Cart, offers tips for reporting on wildfires. Cart received the 2023 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award for “Trial by Fire: The Trauma of Fighting California’s Wildfires,” an intimate piece about the devastating effects of frontline wildfire work on firefighters.
Cover the war, not the battle. Unless you have specialized training and appropriate equipment, it’s not likely that you’re going to report from a fireline. Better to pull back and write about the army arrayed against the blaze. Modern firefighting is a 24-hour undertaking and crews are coming into a fire command post from shifts at all hours, including mental health teams to assist anyone experiencing trauma or stress. Chances are that someone will be willing to talk to you. Try sitting in on daily situational briefings to strike team leaders and others.
Understand the lingo. If you are talking with firefighters, and you should, it’s critical to understand the lingo. You’ll understand better what fire officials are describing to you and establish your credibility as a reporter. People who do specialized work are always grateful when reporters do a modicum of research. Of course, avoid jargon in your copy, but including a few carefully chosen terms can help readers feel like they’re pulled into the firefighting world.
It’s not over until nature says so. After the fire engines have left and the crews have gone home, other phases of firefighting kick in. Mop-up crews walk the fire footprint, scouting for smoldering vegetation, structures, and dead trees that are still standing. Intense fires can burn deep into the soil, and it is not uncommon for root balls to continue to burn for months. Once all the fire has been eradicated the Burned Area Emergency Response teams come in to rehab the burned landscape. Follow one of these teams to give readers a real sense of the scope of fires.
Stay on the story. Be prepared to return to the fire area months later, as denuded hillsides and ravines are at high risk for catastrophic mudslides or flooding, which can cause as much death and destruction as the fires themselves.
Not all wildfires are terrible. A lot of researchers and tribal leaders are happy to talk about the notion of “good fire” and the natural role of fire on a landscape, which helps reduce the intensity of future fires by reducing the “fuel load,” or combustible matter that fuels fires.
Make the climate connection. Climate change does not start fires, although you could make a strong case given that increasingly dangerous lightning events on the West Coast, with tens of thousands of powerful strikes, are sparking multiple fires. Our hotter, drier climate is creating the conditions for more, larger, and more dangerous fire. Climate change is also making fires less predictable, confounding efforts to stop them. For a different take, try interviewing a fire behaviorist.
Fire is a public health concern. Pervasive wildfire smoke also presents a public health problem — check with hospitals or public health agencies to see if they are noting a spike in admissions for respiratory or heart-lung complaints. Just another health concern brought to you by climate change.
Resources
Key facts and visuals.
- Climate Central’s guide “Burning Hot: 50 Years of Fire Weather Across the United States” (published in 2023) digs into historical fire weather trends.
- Download local data and graphics from Climate Central’s “Longer, More Intense Fire Weather Seasons” (published in 2024).
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains how climate change is fueling wildfires. Climate change was responsible for doubling the number of large wildfires in the western US between 1984 and 2015, according to a 2016 study.
- The Environmental Protection Agency breaks down how wildfires have changed since the early 1980s, including the total number of burned acres in the US, burned area by state, and more.
- Dig into your community’s wildfire risk (and download relevant data) using the National Risk Index, which scores the relative risk of building and population loss by county and census tract.
Trauma-informed. Beware of the enduring psychological impact that wildfires can have on you, as a journalist, and your sources. Check out the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma’s guide for covering wildfires, including a list of specific tips and resources to help you go deeper.
Via Social
CCNow’s resident meteorologist and TV engagement coordinator, David Dickson, looks at how climate change is fueling wildfires in our video series Ask David.
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Before We Go…
Want more tips on how to localize the climate story? Check out CCNow’s recent webinar, “Telling the Climate Story Locally.”
Send us local stories where you’ve made the climate connection, especially when it’s not obvious to audiences. We’d love to consider them for Locally Sourced and our media trainings and social platforms. Email local[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org.
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