California Fire Season

Climate change has created a new wildfire reality in California, and we are proposing the single largest investment in wildfire preparedness in our state’s history – $2 billion for emergency preparedness,” said Governor Newsom. “With new investments in state-of-the-art firefighting technology and equipment and a focus on building resilience through fuel breaks, forest health projects and home hardening to protect our high-risk communities, the state is more prepared than ever to face wildfire season.

The fear of California Wildfires have been increasing recently, and rightfully so. In total, the 8619 incidents of Wildfires in California are responsible for burning 2,569,009 acres of land and damaging/destroying 3,629 structures. These statistics are incredibly high, considering that this was just 2021 alone.

Although there are wildfires everywhere, California was hit especially hard, with the number of properties at risk being nearly 3 times more than the state with the second highest number of properties at risk, Texas. California also has more properties at risk than the next 7 states combined. California is also responsible for over 1/6 of the entire nations wildfires and 40% of the total nations acres burned.

The effects range beyond destruction too. These fires have caused long term catastrophic effects such as severe drought, heat waves, and massive carbon emissions. In total, this has caused the deaths of over 86 people and hundreds of thousands of people to go homeless.

What causes these fires though? About 90% of these fires are caused by humans. For example, campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, downed power lines, negligently discarded cigarettes, and intentional acts of arson all cause these fires that spread rapidly. The remaining 10 percent are natural, for example, being started by lightning or lava. The length of fire season is estimated to have increased by 75 days across the Sierras and seems to correspond with an increase in the extent of forest fires across the state. Climate change is considered a key driver.