[Anchor]
New scientific analysis of the wildfires that have raged across the U.S. state of California this summer shows that they have been made worse by climate change.
The blazes have destroyed thousands of homes and killed 26 people.
The BBC's Matt McGrath reports.
[Reporter]
This new review of more than 100 research papers says the scale and impact of the fires seen in California are being driven mainly by rising temperatures.
The Western U.S. is now fundamentally more exposed to fire risks than it was before humans started altering the climate, the authors say.
Many people built homes in forested parts of the region believing they were safe from fire because none had occurred there previously.
But climate change has altered this outlook say scientists and the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.
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