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Wildfires are a natural part of forest life that help to shape diverse habitats. But the extreme ‘megafires’ that ravaged California in 2020 (pictured) and 2021 were more severe and about ten times more widespread than the yearly average in the region since records began, as Ayars et al. report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (J. Ayars et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2312909120; 2023).
Competing Interests
The author declares no competing interests.