With Climate Change, a Terrifying New Normal for Western Firefighters

This weekYale Environment 360, presents an e360 video that focuses on the massive wildfires — fueled by a hotter, drier climate — that have become a regular occurrence in Colorado. Produced by The Story Group, the video goes onto the front lines with Colorado’s firefighters, who now confront a terrifying “new normal” as record-setting blazes break out every year in their state.

In Canada massive forest fores have swept thousands of hectares of forests in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, causing unprecedented damage and loss of property and straining the fire fighting resources of all three jurisdictions.

Notes Environment 369, “To many people, climate change is a distant, abstract concept. But to the men and women who battle wildfires in Colorado and throughout the American West, evidence of a warming world is something they face on a daily basis. In recent years, these fire crews have fought blazes that are larger, more frequent, faster-moving, longer-lasting, and increasingly unpredictable — the result of rising temperatures, diminishing snowpack, and more frequent droughts.”

This e360 video, “Unacceptable Risk: Firefighters on the Front Lines of Climate Change,” produced by The Story Group, focuses on the people battling to save lives and property in a rapidly changing environment.

It is a moving tribute to those who risk everything to battle these enormous blazes, and is well worth the few minutes to watch,