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Wildfires are getting deadlier and costing more. Experts warn they’re becoming unstoppable.

Guardian 2nd Oct 2025,

Of 200 fires in the past 44 years, half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were in the last decade

Graham Readfearn Environment and climate correspondentFri 3 Oct 2025 04.00 AESTShare

Wildfires tore through central Chile last year, killing 133 people. In California, 18,000 buildings were destroyed in 2018 causing US$16bn (A$24bn, £12bn) in damage. Portugal, Greece, Algeria and Australia have all felt the grief and the economic pain in recent years.

As the headlines, the death tolls and the billion-dollar losses from wildfires have stacked up around the world, so too have the rising temperatures – fuelled by the climate crisis – that create tinderbox conditions.

For the first time scientists say they have shown unambiguously that the numbers of “societally disastrous” wildfires – the ones that hit economies hard and take lives – have increased around the world as global heating bites.

“We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how wildfires impact society,” said the Australian scientist Dr Calum Cunningham, who led research published in the journal Science. “Climate change sets the stage for these disasters.”

Looking at the 200 costliest fires between 1980 and 2023 – pulled from a private database maintained by global re-insurer Munich Re – the trends were clear.

Of the 200 most damaging fires since 1980 – that is, the fires with the highest direct costs relative to each nation’s GDP – 43% happened in the last 10 years.

Half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were also in the last 10 years. Over the 44 years analysed, the frequency of fires causing 10 or more deaths tripled while the population only went up by 1.8 times.

Temperatures and the dryness of the atmosphere and of the vegetation – all factors promoting fires – all got significantly worse between 1980 and 2023.

Half the wildfires happened while local weather conditions were in the worst 0.1% on record for fire danger.

Disturbing regularity

Many studies have found the weather conditions that promote fires around the world are getting worse, and happening more often, because of global heating………………………………………………………………………………………… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/02/earths-wildfires-growing-in-number

October 5, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change