Between 1971 and 1995, the area burned by fires in California (United States) averaged 361 km² per year. Since 1996, the annual area burned has quintupled, to 1,710 km² annually. California is the state with the strictest environmental legislation in that country. They are also pioneers in forest management and fire control. And there there has been no abandonment of the countryside due to migration to the cities as in Europe, because there has never been such intense human occupation of the countryside. The only thing left to blame was some climatic factor. The analysis of 50 years of data confirms the role of climate change and how, if this continues in the future, the percentage of forest on fire will increase exponentially for each degree the thermometer rises. California could serve as a model for what will happen in other regions with a Mediterranean climate, such as most of Spain, but also all those that still retain large forests, from Canada to Siberia.
