Source: www.npr.org - Saturday, July 06, 2013
The New World Of Firefighting: Politics, Climate And Humans by Liz Halloran July 07, 2013 2:50 AM Enlarge image i An aerial tanker drops fire retardant on a wildfire threatening homes near Yarnell, Ariz., on July 1. An elite crew of firefighters was overtaken by the out-of-control blaze on June 30, killing 19 members as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields. Chris Carlson / AP Writer and photojournalist Michael Kodas has been documenting firefighting and firefighters for more than a decade. His current book project, Megafire , an examination of the new world faced by firefighters, will be released in 2014. Kodas, also the author of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed , lives in Boulder, Colo. He traveled to Arizona after 19 elite Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters from Prescott died June 30 battling a lightning-sparked wildfire in nearby Yarnell. You have said that the Yarnell Hill tragedy is a case study in three overarching themes driving the global increase in wildfire. But before we get to that, could you briefly characterize and quantify this "global increase" you're talking about? "The United States is not the only nation that's experienced a surge of wildfire. A day before the tragedy in Arizona, I returned from Greece, which has also had a huge increase in wildfire in recent decades. Israel, Australia, Russia, Spain and Portugal have also had a big increase in fi
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