Climate-fueled wildfires hit tropical Pacific islands and wreak havoc on native ecosystems.
A Big Island firefighter puts out a blaze near Waimea, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. The area was scorched by the state's largest ever wildfire. Experts say wildfires in the Pacific islands are becoming larger and more common as drought conditions increase along with climate change.
The fire has burned more than 70 square miles in the two weeks it has been going. But it wasn’t the first time this area has burned, and won’t be the last. Like many islands in the Pacific, Hawaii’s dry seasons are getting more extreme with climate change.“Everyone knows Waimea to be the pasturelands and to be all the green rolling hills. And so when I was young, all of this was always green,” Kamohoalii said. “In the last 10 to 15 years, it has been really, really dry.
But it’s not just burnt land that is affected. Fires on islands harm environments from the top of mountains to below the ocean’s surface. Walker said such non-native grasses that have proliferated in Hawaii are adapted to fire, but native species and shrubs are not. On average, Fejeran said, 6,000 to 7,000 acres of the island burns each year, amounting to about 5% of its land.
“Of course it was scary,” she said. “But I had faith that the strong, the brave and the talented, and along with nature and Akua, which is our name for the universal spirit, would take care.”
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