Wildfire prevention has always been a challenge in the West. Hotter, drier weather is making it worse.

Per Grist, Utah's Cottonwood Fire scorched more than ninety-seven thousand acres after igniting on June twenty-second. It reached ninety-five percent containment by late week. Lawmakers touring the burn scar blamed inadequate forest management—thinning and controlled burns could have limited the damage, they said. But climate researchers counter that weather now overwhelms fuel management. Dominik Kulakowski, a geography professor at Clark University, says climate change has become the dominant factor in determining wildfire behavior. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirms climate change has been the primary driver of wildfire risk in the Western United States for the last two decades. These modern megafires move faster than traditional defenses can: embers travel about a mile, flames jump fire breaks hundreds of yards wide, and intense heat can sterilize soil, preventing forest regrowth. Some fire experts still believe fuel management helps in typical conditions, but they acknowledge these extreme events now overwhelm traditional prevention approaches.

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