“These mega-fires show how fast climate-driven extreme heat and dry landscapes can turn wildfires into devastating national disasters,” said United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell in a statement responding to the findings. They then compared this year’s situation to the worst conditions in previous summers and juxtaposed the current climate with a simulation of the planet’s pre-industrial state. The study also established that in today’s climate, similar fire weather is expected to occur every 20 years in southwestern France and every six years in central Spain. A key driver of the increased fire risk was weather whiplash earlier this year, with a dry spring following a wet winter, the scientists added. "Every fraction of a degree of warming pushes us into unknown territory, and these fires show exactly what that risk looks like," she added.