“Peat fires burn ‘old’ carbon,” Smith said in an email, meaning that the carbon has taken thousands of years to accumulate. “So in a few weeks, a fire can burn through hundreds of years worth of carbon sequestration.” https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv7g3m/the-arctic-is-on-fire-and-it-might-be-creating-a-vicious-climate-feedback-loop