The wildfire season in Alaska and the western US is 78 days longer that it was five decades ago and, in California, the season now lasts all year. Nevertheless, the number of federal firefighters has fallen by More than half in recent years, due to cost-cutting and competition from extractive industries, including fracking. Alaska, which is extensively forested and warming at twice the global rate, has been particularly badly affected. In 2015 10 million acres of US forest burned, setting a new annual record. more than 2,000 of these acres were in Alaska.
The wildfire season in Alaska and the western US is 78 days longer that it was five decades ago and, in California, the season now lasts all year. Nevertheless, the number of federal firefighters has fallen by more than 2,000 in recent years, due to cost-cutting and competition from extractive industries, including fracking. Alaska, which is extensively forested and warming at twice the global rate, has been particularly badly affected. In 2015 10 million acres of US forest burned, setting a new annual record. More than half of these acres were in Alaska.