We’re in an Age of Fire
Wildfires on Maui prove once again that the world must face the dawn of the “pyrocene.”
Updated at 9:15 p.m. ET on August 10, 2023
A few days ago, the hurricane forecasts looked good. Dora was going to miss Hawaii, passing by far to the south. And yet the storm still ended up wreaking havoc on the islands, not as a rain-bearing cyclone but as wind—hot, dry wind, which, as it blew across the island of Maui, met wildfire.
A fire with no wind is relatively easy to control; a fire on a gusty day, especially in a dry, mountainous area with. At least 53 people have died so far.
