Climate And Wildfire Risk: A Conversation With Dr. Craig Clements

‘Climate change has its fingerprints all over’ the increasingly costly wildfire activity we’ve seen in recent years, says Triple-I non-resident scholar Dr. Craig Clements, even though most fires are ignited by people.

Clements, a professor of meteorology at San José State University and Director of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, made his remarks in an interview with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan.

‘Nine out of 10 wildfires are human caused, but it’s the conditions that are driven by climate change,’ Clements said. ‘Warm temperatures and drier atmospheric conditions affect the fuel. If you get an ignition, these conditions make the fires burn more rapidly and more intense and harder to put out.’

In California alone, there were over 2 million properties at high to extreme wildfire risk in 2021, according to latest Verisk estimates, constituting the largest number of properties of any U.S. state. Still, wildfire risk is not only a Western U.S. issue.

‘The risks this summer are in Eastern Washington, Central Oregon, and most of California as we progress through fall,’ Clements said. ‘But places like Texas are also at risk, even though people don’t usually think of Texas as a place where wildfire is a big risk.’