Adam Coates

As firefighters strive to contain the blaze threatening to consume homes in Malibu, California, other wildfires burn in Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Forest fires are natural phenomena, yet studies show they are becoming more widespread, consuming larger areas of forest each year. “Natural ignitions occur as a result of lightning strikes in the growing season,” said Virginia Tech fire ecology and management expert Adam Coates. “Fire has been part of the ecosystem for millennia. In fact, we now know that indigenous peoples utilized fire for a variety of purposes, even burning in the dormant season. In the 2020s, many factors have contributed to create an environment in which forested lands are inundated with dense vegetation that under ideal circumstances would have been managed and removed, thus supplying a lot of material that can catch on fire,” Coates said.