A Media Matters review of national TV news coverage of the Western U.S. and Canadian wildfires from July 24 through July 28 found:

• Cable news networks — CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC — aired a combined 137 minutes across 72 segments about the Western U.S. and Canadian wildfires.

• Corporate broadcast TV networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — aired a combined 66 minutes across 42 segments about the Western U.S. and Canadian wildfires.

• Only 1 segment, which aired during the July 27 episode of CBS Saturday Morning, referenced climate change.

Climate change is dramatically altering wildfire patterns across North America. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and more frequent heat waves are creating ideal conditions for larger, more intense, and more frequent wildfires. These climate-driven changes are turning vast swaths of land into tinderboxes, primed for unprecedented devastation.

California's Park Fire, which ignited on July 24, rapidly became the state's fifth largest wildfire in recorded history, scorching nearly 390,000 acres as of this article’s publication. Although the fire was reportedly started by an arsonist, global warming created the perfect storm of conditions for this fire to spread rapidly and burn with extreme intensity.

Simultaneously, 84 large fires raged across the United States. Across the border, a wildfire in Canada’s Jasper National Park consumed an estimated 79,000 acres between July 22 and July 30, destroying roughly a third of the town of Jasper. Now having grown to become the park’s largest wildfire in the last 100 years, the fire is expected to burn for months.

These catastrophic events exemplify climate change’s effects on wildfire patterns as global warming creates longer fire seasons and more favorable conditions for extreme blazes to burn  across North America.

As is typical for devastating extreme weather events, national TV news provided steady coverage of these wildfires, though the extent varied significantly across networks. 

On cable news networks:

• CNN aired 107 minutes across 46 segments.

• MSNBC aired 12 minutes across 8 segments.

• Fox News aired 18 minutes across 18 segments.

On national broadcast networks:

• ABC aired 31 minutes across 19 segments.

• CBS aired 28 minutes across 19 segments, with 1 segment referencing climate change.

• NBC aired 7 minutes across 4 segments.

However, despite the clear link between climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires, national TV news shows rarely connected these devastating fires to the broader climate crisis. This omission continues an unfortunate trend in wildfire coverage, leaving viewers uninformed about the root causes of these increasingly frequent disasters.

For example, in March, most TV news networks neglected to mention climate change's role in Texas' largest wildfire on record. Similarly, just 4% of national TV news segments about the Lahaina, Hawaii, wildfire last August discussed the climate connection.

National TV news networks must improve their extreme weather coverage to better address the climate crisis. Networks should integrate climate change into their reporting by framing extreme weather stories through a climate lens and contextualize events within broader climate trends. They should also connect these events to the 2024 election, discuss implications for climate justice, and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable.

Broadcasters could begin by adopting concise, scientifically-grounded language to explain the climate connection. For wildfires, this simple statement clearly communicates the link: “Human-caused climate change is intensifying wildfires by increasing temperatures, prolonging droughts, and driving more frequent heat waves. These factors contribute to drier vegetation, longer fire seasons, and more extreme fire behavior.”

By implementing these changes, national TV news networks could provide viewers with a more comprehensive understanding of global warming and its concrete impacts. Failing to connect extreme weather events to climate change leaves the public ill-equipped to grasp the full scope of the crisis. Integrating climate context into weather reporting would not only inform viewers but also empower them to make educated decisions about climate actions and policies.

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original episodes of ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS’ Mornings and Evening News, and NBC’s Today and Nightly News as well as all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC for any of the terms “Oregon,” “Durkee fire,” “California,” “Washington,” “Alberta,” “Jasper,” “Canada,” “North Dakota,” “Montana,” “Wyoming,” or “Colorado,” within close proximity to any of the terms “wildfire,” “fire,” “smoke,” or “blaze” from July 24, 2024, through July 28, 2024.

We included segments, which we defined as instances when the wildfires were the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the wildfires. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the wildfires with one another.

We did not include passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the wildfires without another speaker engaging with the comment, or teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the wildfires scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We then reviewed the identified segments for whether they mentioned climate change or global warming.