Fire & Climate: The Multiplicative Impacts of Climates Changing

The significant interconnections between climate change and wildland fire have long been the subject on inquiry in the International Journal of Wildland Fire and beyond. Yet, the challenges of climate change are not just found in direct atmospheric and biogeophysical effects. As we argue in this paper, the complexities of climate change are multiplied by other influences on fire regimes, from past fire suppression to community design. Even more strikingly, however, we suggest that the changes in many climates – including social, political, economic, and philosophical climates – will continue to animate many challenges for fire managers, fire guardians, and fire affected communities over the decades ahead, compounding the multiplicative effects of what we’d typically consider in climate change. After laying out these arguments for attending to ‘climates changing,’ we introduce the eight papers that make up this special issue. Originating from the Fire and Climate conferences held in Pasadena, California and Melbourne, Victoria in 2022, these papers grapple with the many faces of climate change and its impact on wildland fire management and practice globally.