We should take wildfires seriously: global warming will increase the risk of wildfire (though in this century not to the levels mankind experienced prior to the middle of the twentieth century). Compared to the year 2000, an unrealistic worst-case, high-warming trend would increase the burned area globally by 8 percent in 2050 and 33 percent in 2100; but even in 2100 this would still be less than the area burned in 1950.27 For high-risk California, global warming by itself will increase the median burned area by 10 to 15 percent by the middle of the century, compared to 2000. But this increase
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