Of 200 Biggest Global Fires Since1980 - In Terms Of GDP Losses - 43% Took Place In The Last 10 Years

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Of the 200 most damaging fires since 1980 – that is, the fires with the highest direct costs relative to each nation’s GDP – 43% happened in the last 10 years. Half of the fires that cost US$1bn or more were also in the last 10 years. Over the 44 years analysed, the frequency of fires causing 10 or more deaths tripled while the population only went up by 1.8 times.

Temperatures and the dryness of the atmosphere and of the vegetation – all factors promoting fires – all got significantly worse between 1980 and 2023. Half the wildfires happened while local weather conditions were in the worst 0.1% on record for fire danger.

Many studies have found the weather conditions that promote fires around the world are getting worse, and happening more often, because of global heating. But the last major study that looked globally at the cost of those wildfires and the deaths related to them was in 2016 and found no trends. The period since then had been “punctuated by major fire disasters with disturbing regularity,” the authors said.

“We went looking for that study showing things were getting worse. We felt intuitively that they were, but there was no research,” said Cunningham, of the University of Tasmania’s Fire Centre. “Climate sceptics have seized on that gap, so we hope this puts to bed the idea it’s not getting worse. Things are getting worse. “It is unambiguous and it is clear climate change is playing a role. These aren’t just bigger fires, they’re fires occurring under increasingly extreme weather conditions that make them unstoppable.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/02/earths-wildfires-growing-in-number