Those parts of the world have always had wildfires, nothing new there, just like over here we get floods, my parents talk about them being kids and being flooded from time to time, again nothing new. The difference is that such events are given real-time airtime now with a social commentary feature 24/7 available in the palms of billions at the same time instead of in the living rooms of the family TV set of old.
Did these activists get to these locations in oil-free vehicles would be an interesting question, are teh clothes they are wearing manufactured from 100% recycled materials? Is the food they eat to stay alive produced and then transported in a completely fossil-fuel-free burning way? The list goes on.