Updated: October 28, 2020 7:56:21 am
NASA’s Earth Observatory has noted that wildfires ignited in California in August after an “unprecedented burst of dry lightning.” (Photo: AP)
Fast-moving wildfires in Southern California have seriously injured two firefighters as of Monday, and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate in what has been called the worst wildfire season the state has ever seen.
Of the six largest wildfires recorded in California since 1932, five occurred in 2020. The largest of them was in August, called the August Complex fires, and burned an area of approximately 1,032,264 acres, resulting in one death. This year has also seen the most destructive and deadliest wildfires, with the North Complex wildfire coming in at number five in both categories since records were kept.
The fires turned the skies around the San Francisco Bay area and in parts of Oregon and Washington orange as a result of smoke and ash, and also affected air quality in these areas.
California wildfire season
Typically, the wildfire season in the western US runs from late spring until the seasonal winter rains and snow arrive. Also, around the world, forest fires or wildfires occur during hot and dry seasons. Since dry leaves, shrubs, grass, and dead wood are easily combustible, they are easy to ignite. Ignition can occur naturally, like a lightning strike, or it can be accidentally triggered, like cigarette butts.
Sometimes, however, the ignition can be intentional, such as clearing the land or controlling an incoming wildfire by removing vegetation that would provide you with more fuel. These fires usually end when there is no more vegetation to burn or due to rain.
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How did the California wildfires start this year?
NASA’s Earth Observatory has noted that wildfires ignited in California in August after an “unprecedented burst of dry lightning.” This year there have also been at least ten complex lightning fires. One reason could be that climate change is causing more thunderstorms.
But there are other ways that wildfires can be started. According to The New York Times, the majority of wildfires in California are caused by people. The El Dorado fires, for example, which have mostly been contained now, were ignited after a family used a “pyrotechnic device” to announce the sex of their new baby, the report said.
Other reasons include power transmission lines or other utility equipment that can start fires in remote areas. Once fires start, strong, dry winds exacerbate them.
The fires caused the skies around the San Francisco Bay area and in parts of Oregon and Washington to turn orange as a result of smoke and ash. (Photo: AP)
According to an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2017, humans are responsible for 84% of wildfires. This article’s co-author, Jennifer Balch, told Science magazine in an interview the same year as in the US, Of the 1.5 million recorded wildfires, 25 percent started due to burning of Trash and debris, approximately 22 percent were started due to unknown human causes and the next main reason for wildfires includes arson, followed by heavy equipment, campfires, children and smokers.
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Why are they especially deadly this year?
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), while wildfires are a natural part of the state’s landscape, the fire season in the state and throughout the western US begins earlier. and ends later each year.
The department notes that climate change is a “key driver” of this trend, with warmer temperatures in spring and summer, reduced snow cover and earlier spring thaw creating longer and more intense dry seasons. These dry seasons have increased the water stress on vegetation and thus have made forests more susceptible to severe forest fires.
The Silverado Fire burns on Monday, October 26 in Irvine, California. (Photo: AP)
According to CAL FIRE, from January 1 to October 25 of this year, there have been more than 8,800 wildfires in the state that have burned an area of more than 4 million acres. The fires have caused 31 deaths and have damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 structures. A combination of record temperatures, strong winds, and increased thunderstorms could be contributing to the severity of California’s current wildfire season.
The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was published in 2013, identified some factors that could influence the way wildfires develop. These include a global increase in mean temperatures, global increases in the frequency, intensity and extent of heat waves (exceeding historically extreme temperature thresholds), and regional increases in the frequency, duration and intensity of droughts.
So is climate change the only culprit?
Scientists are wary of attributing a single contemporary event to climate change, mainly due to the difficulty of completely ruling out the possibility that the event was caused by some other reason or as a result of natural variability.
In an analysis of scientific papers published since January 2020 that established a link between climate change and fire risk, the authors note that natural variability overlaps with the increasingly hot and dry conditions that have resulted from climate change, which has caused more extreme fires. and more extreme fire seasons.
The New York Times has noted the suppression of fires, strong gusts of wind called the Santa Ana wind, and the possibility of people starting fires as reasons other than climate change that are making wildfires in California especially catastrophic. 📣 Click to follow Express Explained on Telegram
What is the situation right now?
According to CAL FIRE, due to high winds across much of California, firefighters are on high alert, while Red Flag warnings are in effect across much of the state due to extreme fire weather conditions.
At the moment, the Silverado Fire, which spans 7,200 acres, and the 3,000-acre Blue Ridge Fire, are some of the largest fires in the state. Both have been contained at zero percent as of Monday. The current situation in Southern California is likely due to an onslaught of extreme winds and low humidity levels.
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