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Climate change making wildfires in Mediterranean ‘larger, faster and harder to stop,’ says expert
Prof Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science, Imperial College London, said: “The combination of heat, wind and people in the Mediterranean is mortal. There have always been wildfires in the South but climate change is making them larger, faster, and harder to stop.
“The intense heat of the summer dries vegetation and makes it very flammable, easier to catch fire. A heat wave or an unusually hot summer leads to even more flammable forests.
“Strong winds greatly accelerate wildfire. The combination of wind and dry vegetation makes wildfires much faster. They become walls of flames that cannot be stopped by ground crews or slowed down by airtankers.
“Large wildfires might jump over firebreaks because of the intense heat they radiate over dozens of meters, and the flying embers that can carry flames kilometres away.
“Poor management of forests leads to increased fuel loads, vegetation of the most flammable type, and few or narrow firebreaks. This is unfortunate, because fire safety and ecology require determined and wise management of the forest.
“When all goes wrong, when dry vegetation is plentiful, there is wind and previous forest management was poor, then the fire brigades cannot do much, and evacuation of communities along the possible fire path must be evacuated with plenty of time to reach a safe place.”