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In 2018, California was already in its 6th consecutive year of drought 

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setting the stage for the Camp Fire, the most destructive fire in California’s history.

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The fire burned an area larger than the city of Chicago 

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and destroyed 14,000 buildings.

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We usually think of climate change in the context of more flooding

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more intense hurricanes, 

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and rising sea levels. 

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But some areas of the world are forecasted to 

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get drier and hotter as the climate warms up.

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Fire needs two things: 

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enough fuel and fuel that’s dry enough to catch fire. 

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More droughts probably mean more fire as vegetation dries out.

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However, if those droughts continue for a long period, 

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like a megadrought, 

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it can actually mean less fire.

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Because without plants, fires may run out of fuel to burn. 

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But this actually isn’t a new problem. 

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A recent study conducted by two NASA scientists was the first to provide evidence 

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that human-generated greenhouse gas emissions were influencing drought patterns 

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as long ago as the early 1900’s. 

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NASA’s push to understand our past 

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is in large part driven by the need to predict our future

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…to stay one step ahead of fires. 

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To do this, researchers create models that not only help 

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firefighters better predict where and how a fire might spread, 

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but also help forest managers know when a planned burn is safe.

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NASA scientists monitor both freshwater and fires constantly, 

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from space, the air and the ground, 

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collecting short- and long-term data as Earth’s climate continues to change. 

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Looking to the future, models are one of the best tools we 

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have to prepare for changing drought and fire seasons around the world.

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