Event: Wildfire Seasons

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Wildfire Seasons Are Starting to Overlap. That Spells Trouble for Firefighting.Simultaneous emergencies in different parts of the world could stop countries from sharing ground crews and equipment, new research warns.A wildfire this month in Chubut Province, Argentina. Different parts of the world have historically had different fire seasons, allowing regions to rotate resources.Credit...Gonzalo Keogan/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFeb. 27, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ETConverging wildfire seasons around the world are increasing the risk that firefighting agencies will be less able to share resources like ground crews and water bombers, according to a new study.The study, published this month in the journal Science Advances, found that the extreme weather conditions that stoke wildfires around the world are happening on more days each year, causing fire seasons in different regions to overlap more.“If a fire season is increasing and eventually overlapping, it will shrink the window of opportunity to help each other in terms of firefighting,” said Cong Yin, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced, who led the new study. “These changes are attributable to climate change, so we need to mitigate climate change if we want to avoid this future.”Different parts of the world have historically had wildfire seasons at different times, which has meant that states, provinces and countries can share firefighting resources. In January 2025, when wildfires burned around Los Angeles for three weeks, Canada and Mexico contributed firefighters and other resources. When Spain and Portugal were burning in 2023, countries as far-flung as South Africa sent help.“Resource sharing can be quite beneficial,” said John Abatzoglou, a climate scientist at U.C. Merced and an author on the new paper. “If you’re unable…