California Faces a Brutal Wildfire Season, With More Land Burned to Date Than in Recent Years

California is in the midst of a particularly intense wildfire season that has so far burned almost a quarter-million acres across the state, the equivalent of more than 370 square miles of land.

“We are not just in a fire season, but we are in a fire year,” Joe Tyler, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said at a news conference, per Janie Har and Rio Yamat of the Associated Press (AP). “Our winds and the recent heat wave have exacerbated the issue, consuming thousands of acres. So, we need to be extra cautious.”

Tyler added that more than 95 percent of wildfires are caused by humans and urged caution when engaging in activities that can cause sparks, reports NPR’s Ayana Archie.

This year, 3,986 wildfires have ignited in the Golden State as of July 18, burning 242,039 acres, according to Cal Fire. The total land burned dwarfs the 21,541 acres burned by 3,323 fires at this point last year, and it is more than double the average area burned at this point over the previous five years. (Prior to July 10, the average burned area for the previous five years was only 38,593 acres—more than five times lower than this year’s total at that time.) More than 128 structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to a statement from the office of California’s governor.

Fires have killed one California resident so far this year, in Mendocino County. The person, found in a burned home last week, has not yet been identified but is believed to be a 66-year-old woman reported missing by her family, per the AP.

After heavy rainfall the past two years, vegetation in California has grown rapidly—and now, the current warm and dry summer conditions have turned these grasses into parched tinder, fueling fires, writes the New York Times’ Jill Cowan and Jonathan Wolfe. And according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, “when relative humidity decreases, fire behavior increases, because fine fuels like grass and pine needles become drier quickly.”

Numerous locations in California, including Palmdale, Redding and Las Trampas, have set records this year for the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the area. Palmdale and Lancaster also experienced an unprecedented six straight days with temperatures that reached or eclipsed 110 degrees Fahrenheit earlier this month.

Last weekend, several fires raged across Kern County north of Los Angeles. In a statement released Sunday, the Kern County Fire Department said that three fires had burned 3,412 acres, 9,590 acres and 20,000 acres respectively. The fires largely remained uncontained at the time. More than 1,000 people were evacuated, and a home and outbuilding were destroyed, according to the statement.

According to the most recent data from Cal Fire, the largest blaze currently burning is the Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County, which has scorched 38,664 acres so far and is 63 percent contained. A fire’s containment is the percentage of its perimeter controlled by firefighters.

Other large, ongoing wildfires include the Shelly Fire in Siskiyou County, which started July 3 and has burned more than 15,000 acres, as well as the Basin Fire in Fresno County, which has burned more than 14,000 acres since June 26. Eleven active fires across the state have burned more than 1,000 acres each.

Breathing in wildfire smoke can be harmful to human health, causing problems including reduced lung function, bronchitis, aggravated asthma, heart attack and stroke.

The California governor’s office said in its statement that the state aims to bring on more firefighters and has added to its fleet of aircraft, drones and bases for firefighting in response to the increasing wildfire risk.

Will Sullivan | | READ MORE

Will Sullivan is a science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Inside Science and NOVA Next.