The surging price tag of wildfires, in one chart

The modern age of burning has been ignited by human hands.

Though wildfires are natural and necessary in many ecosystems, their expanding path of destruction in recent years has been worsened by all the different ways humanity has reshaped the environment. Cities have sprawled out further, populations have grown, the global economy has expanded, natural fires have been suppressed, and the climate has warmed.

Now, the pace of destruction from massive wildfires is accelerating. In a new study published today in the journal Science, researchers have pulled apart these drivers and found that rising average temperatures are contributing to the gargantuan price tags of these blazes, with a major spike in just the past decade.

Just earlier this year, the Los Angeles fires led to estimated loss