Over a decade of boiling temperatures and a nearly constant fires are rather a more serious problem for plant life...
I searched the article again, and found no reference to a decade of boiling heat. I did find this, and it may have given you that impression with a quick read:
“Scientists have speculated for more than a decade that the entire surface of the Earth below would have been baked by the equivalent of a global oven set on broil.” I think a few days would be more the case.