Climate Change and Wildfires Hearing: Forest Chief's Opening

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is currently holding a hearing examining the scientific link between a changing climate and the frequency and intensity of wildfires. The frequency and intensity of wildfires have increased in recent decades throughout the Western United States. Last year, the Forest Service spent a record $2.5 billion fighting wildfires that burned a record 9.9 million acres (4 million hectares), compared to the ten-year average of 6 million acres. This year 8.7 million acres have burned thus far. The current fires burning in California are expected to cause over $1 billion in property damage alone and have already burned an area the size of Rhode Island. Mounting scientific evidence indicates that the growth in wildfires is linked to global warming and that this trend is likely to intensify in the coming decades. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell testifies.

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News & Politics

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• Democrats
• Congress
• Climate
• Change
• Hearing
• Wildfire
• Forest
• Service
• Chief
• Abigail
• Kimbell