Whitley Strieber wrote a similar kind of fictional warning about Denver’s air quality in the opening chapter of Nature’s End back in the 80s. Thousands of people in 2019 die over a few days from a black smog event. It’s part of a story where humans are headed for extinction because they have killed off most of the forests and badly polluted the air and ground. It’s an apocalyptic story from the the late 80s worry over deforestation, acid rain and over population. But it does predict serious wildfires rather well.

It doesn't. It pontificated, not predict. Predictions say "this, and only this, can and will happen". Fictional pontification says "this is one of the millions of things that might happen, let's have a look at how one of another million ways it can play out, plays out."

The difference between the two couldn't be bigger.