As wildfires ravage southwestern France this July, forcing more than 220,000 people from their homes in the Gironde region near Bordeaux and burning some 42,000 hectares (162 sq. miles) of forest, the familiar refrain returns: climate change is to blame. France is now enduring its worst fire season on record.

Extreme heat and drought clearly worsen conditions. But blaming climate alone hides more immediate, controllable causes: human ignition, fuel buildup, and forest management choices that turn landscapes into tinderboxes.

French authorities have detained well over 160 people since early July for suspected arson or reckless fire-starting. Officials say nine in 10 fires have human origins, whether deliberate or careless, from discarded cigarettes to illegal machinery and fireworks.

The most serious blaze alone has destroyed roughly 240 homes and pushed to within about nine miles of Bordeaux.

In Spain, parallel blazes near Madrid have produced arrests linked to farm equipment and other human activity. Matches and carelessness light most fires. Weather merely fans them.

The forests themselves amplify the danger. Much of the Gironde and the neighboring Landes de Gascogne is managed maritime pine plantation, Europe's largest artificial forest of even-aged, resin-rich Pinus........

© Townhall