Burning out

摘要

PARADISE, A SMALL Californian town, looks like hell. Some 80-90% of its homes have been incinerated by the state's deadliest-ever wildfire, which so far has killed 48 people and left over 200 missing (see United States section). Measured by area burned, nine of California's ten worst recorded fires have occurred since 2000.President Donald Trump says that poor forest management is the sole cause of the blaze. Scientists beg to differ. John Abatzo-glou and Park Williams, two academics, have shown that temperature and dryness exacerbate wildfires in the western United States. Without global warming, they reckon, only half as much woodland would have burned between 1984 and 2015.