JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Amid the fiery devastation seen in California, some wonder whether they and their communities should be worried about wildfires in Mississippi.
Though wildfires are not the state’s greatest environmental threat, they do still occur. A human-caused wildfire occurred last weekend in Tallahatchie County.
California’s wildfire season is beginning earlier and ending later largely due to climate change . Warmer and drier conditions could also change the makeup of Mississippi’s forests and increase the frequency of wildfires, hurting the state’s lucrative commercial timber industry. Forestry and forest products are a $12.8 billion business in Mississippi, providing nearly 70,000 jobs. Both figures may decrease if Mississippi continues to get hotter and drier…