ENDING THE ERA OF MEGAFIRES

IN TOO MANY CORNERS OF THE WORLD, THE SUM- mer skies now arrive with a sepia haze, telltale smoke that signals both burning forests and systems under strain.

- BY MARC BENIOFF AND ED RUSSO

First responders rush into wildfires knowing they may not return home. Families evacuate. Homes and businesses are destroyed. Air and water are contaminated. In the U.S. alone, wildfires now drive hundreds of billions of dollars in annual losses, while the destruction of biodiversity and forest health locks in a feedback loop that makes each fire more likely, and often more destructive than the last.

And yet perhaps the most surprising fact about wildfires is not how grave a crisis they’ve become— but how preventable so many of them are. We know where the risks are highest. We know a great deal about what works. Advanced satellites, AI-enhanced forecasts, autonomous drones, and real-time data platforms allow us to detect fires far earlier and at much smaller scales than before, creating the opportunity to act during the critical early window when they can still be contained.