Wildfire Exposure Rises, Hits Africa Hardest

The population directly exposed to wildland fires increased by 40% globally from 2002 to 2021, according to a new study by Seyd Teymoor Seydi and colleagues. This increase occurred even as there was a 26% decrease in burned area during the same period. The increase was mainly driven by more people living in the wildland-urban interface – in other words, people moving into the areas where wildland fires occur. What's more, 85% of global wildland fire exposures between 2002 and 2021 occurred in Africa, where fires do not usually reach catastrophic levels, although wildfire disasters in North America, Europe, and Oceania have garnered much more attention. Wildland fires from 1990 to 2021 are responsible for at least 2,500 deaths and 10,500 injuries, and 1.53 million deaths globally can be attributed to wildfire-induced air pollution. To quantify where direct exposure is happening, Seydi et al. looked at 18.6 million fire records from the Global Fire Atlas, along with population data and land cover and use data. In regions where fires spread rapidly, such as western North America and Australia, it is important to use "home hardening" structural and landscaping practices to enhance fire resistance, and "there is also a need for increased intentional fire use as a vegetation management tool to mitigate wildfire disasters," the authors write.