![]() ![]() “There’s still a big snowpack there this year going into July.”Ĭalifornia has suffered from repeated brutal fire years over the past decade. “Some of our biggest fires occur in the Sierra Nevada,” he said. So far, the moisture levels are about a month behind where they normally would be, he said.Īs hotter weather arrives, Clements said fire risk will increase, particularly in September and October, which are usually the most dangerous for wildfires because conditions are driest and seasonal winds often blow from hot inland areas toward the coast.Ĭlements said cooler-than-normal weather the past few months has also contributed to the slow start to fire season. “The higher the fuel moisture, the lower the potential for ignition,” said Craig Clements, director of the Fire Weather Research Lab at San Jose State University. Even though grasses grow high after rainy winters, providing fuel for fires to burn in the summer, moisture levels remain higher in shrubs and trees for longer, fire researchers say. It’s as much of a prediction as a public relations message to remind residents to remain vigilant.īut in recent decades, California’s worst fire years, measured by total acres burned, have happened more often after dry winters than wet winters. Traditionally as summer begins, fire officials warn that every year could be a bad fire year. Through Monday, 2,251 wildfires had started in California this year, compared with 3,284 this time last year and 3,067 on average over the past five years, according to Cal Fire. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said the 2023 wildfire season, which has seen 19 million acres burn so far, already is the worst in that country’s recorded history, exceeding 1989.īut in California, where atmospheric river storms this winter ended a three-year drought, caused flooding and buried the Sierra Nevada in the deepest snowpack in 40 years, wet conditions have helped keep wildfires at bay. ![]() On Thursday, 487 wildfires burned across Canada, sending thick, choking smoke across East Coast and Midwest cities and parts of Europe. “We live in this new reality,” he added, “where we can’t necessarily attach ourselves to some of the more predictive models of the past because of a world that is getting a lot hotter, a lot drier and a lot more uncertain because of climate change.” “In the last four years, we’ve had two of the most extreme wildfire seasons - some of the worst and most destructive in terms of acreage and property and lives lost - and then two of the more modest fire seasons,” Newsom said during a visit to the Cal Fire Air Attack Base in Grass Valley. Gavin Newsom and state fire leaders urged residents on Thursday not to be complacent as the Fourth of July nears and summer weather begins to heat up. 18.Ĭlick here for a map showing all wildfires of any size burning in California.With reservoirs full and snow still deep across the Sierra Nevada following one of the wettest winters in recent decades, California’s fire season is off to a slow start this year.īut Gov. French Fire, Kern County 13,341 acres, 10% contained.Walkers Fire, Tulare County 2,845 acres, 15% contained.Tamarack Fire, Alpine County 68,637 acres, 82% contained.Caldor Fire, El Dorado County 98,149 acres, 0% contained.Glen Fire, Yuba County 184 acres, 99% contained, 10 structures destroyed.Began on July 3 all evacuations have been lifted. Beckwourth Complex, Lassen and Plumas counties 105,670 acres, 98% contained, 148 structures destroyed.Dixie Fire, Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama counties 721,298 acres, 37% contained.McFarland Fire, Trinity, Shasta and Tehama counties 117,985, 66% contained.Evacuations along Highway 299 and Highway 3 in Trinity and Tehama counties. Monument Fire, Trinity County 147,323 acres, 16% contained.River Complex, Siskiyou and Trinity counties 85,257 acres, 10% contained.McCash Fire, Siskiyou County 18,143 acres, 1% contained.Started by lightning in late June all evacuations have been lifted. Lava Fire, Siskiyou County 26,409 acres, 85% contained, 23 structures destroyed.Evacuations of a large but sparsely populated area. Antelope Fire, Siskiyou County 66,021 acres, 30% contained.Click on a fire’s name for updates and a detailed map of its perimeter and evacuation zone. Cal Fire’s latest update lists 14 large wildfires burning in the state, all but two in Northern California.Īlmost 12,500 firefighters were battling those blazes as of Friday, said the summary from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.Ĭrews were bracing for a windy weekend, with gusts of 30 to 35 mph expected Saturday in much of the state, including Lake Tahoe, Lassen County, eastern Plumas County and eastern Sierra County.Ĭal Fire gave these details of the 14 fires. ![]()
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