MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Climate change is responsible for aggravating the US wildfire season, US President Barack Obama’s science adviser Dr. John Holdren said in a video posted on the White House website.
“Climate change has been making the fire season in the United States longer and on average more intense,” Holdren said in the video released Tuesday.
According to the scientist, the impact of the climate change on the wildfires is not limited to the higher summer temperatures and reduced soil moisture.
“Climate change is also bringing us more dead trees – kindling in effect – killed by a combination of heat stress, water stress and attacks by pests and pathogens that multiply faster in a warmer world," Holdren added, pointing out that the average annual area destroyed by wildfires in western United States has increased dramatically in recent decades.
Another US official, John Podesta, US presidential counselor, addressed the same subject in a message published Tuesday on the White House’s blog.
“Make no mistake: The cost of inaction on wildfires and climate change is too high a price for Americans to pay, particularly when we have a chance to address this right now,” he urged.
This addresses come after the California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on August 2. Numerous wildfires burning through the state have damaged critical infrastructure, destroyed homes and forced more than 500 families to evacuate.
