An extremely inconvenient graph: When climate hoax promoters try to convince you that today's Southwest forest fires are "the worst ever", show them this

Forest Fire in the American Southwest-Fire Statistics

 

Figure 2. Number of fire-scar sites (chronologies) in the Southwest recording fire dates in each year, 1700 to 1990, out of a total of 63 sites. The decrease in recorded fires after ca. 1900, reflects livestock grazing affecting fine fuels, and subsequent fire suppression by government agencies. Source: Swetnam, Thomas W. and J.L. Betancourt, "Mesoscale Ecological Responses to Climatic Variability in the American Southwest" http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/biology/fires_SOI/ 4/10/03.

How the West Was Lost | OnEarth Magazine

We've known for decades that global warming would bring heat, drought, and epic widlfires, yet we've done nothing to prepare for the chaos. Now it's here.

Climate Change Fuels the Perfect Firestorm | OnEarth Magazine

"What we’re seeing really is a window into what global warming really looks like," said Princeton University geosciences professor Michael Oppenheimer during a conference call with reporters in the days after the Colorado firestorms. "It looks like heat. It looks like fires."