Western wildfires destroyed 246% more homes and buildings over the past decade – fire scientists explain what's changing

The fire risk goes beyond rising temperatures and dry conditions. Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images

It can be tempting to think that the recent wildfire disasters in communities across the West were unlucky, one-off events, but evidence is accumulating that points to a trend.

In a new study, we found a 246% increase in the number of homes and structures destroyed by wildfires in the contiguous Western U.S. between the past two decades, 1999-2009 and 2010-2020.