Wildfire Increase Linked to Climate. Higher temperatures over 34 years — rather than land-use changes — have led to more blazes, researchers say. They’re sure it’s not a fluke.

Rising temperatures throughout the West have stoked an increase in large wildfires over the past 34 years as spring comes earlier, mountain snows melt sooner and forests dry to tinder, scientists reported Thursday.

More than land-use changes or forest management practices, the changing climate was the most important factor driving a four-fold increase in the average number of large wildfires in the Western United States since 1970, the researchers concluded.

By Robert Lee Hotz, Times Staff Writer

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