Moth outbreak leaves Siberian forests dead and fuels uncontrollable wildfires

An insect outbreak has left Siberia's forests dead while also transforming the region into a tinderbox where wildfires are now spreading beyond human control. The trees burning across Krasnoyarsk this year were, in a lot of cases, already dead. Not from the fire or the drought, but because of a small moth.Dendrolimus sibiricus, the Siberian silk moth, has spent the last several years stripping needles from fir, spruce, larch and pine across huge stretches of central Siberia and a tree that loses its needles for numerous consecutive seasons simply dies where it stands. It will not decompose, but stand upright in the cold, dry climate until something eventually sets it alight. This year, it was the flame of an unusually hot, dry stretch of Siberian summer.Striking a fireThe Siberian silk moth has burned up the forests, without ever touching the fire.