In times past, this would be the time of year when the wildfire season is approaching in California. Nowadays, the prevailing view is that there is no fire season—because in California, it’s always fire season.
New York Magazine‘s David Wallace-Wells took a deep dive into Southern California’s wildfire situation in a May 13 story (see: “Los Angeles Fire Season Is Beginning Again. And It Will Never End,” by David Wallace-Wells). As the climate warms, California, always a fire-prone state, has become a cauldron of fire, Wells writes: “Already, the fires are different. Cal Fire used to plan for wind events that could last as long as four days; now it plans, and enlists, for 14. The infernos bellowed by those winds once reached a maximum temperature of 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, Cal Fire’s Angie Lottes says; now they reach 2,100 degrees, hot enough to turn the silica in the soil into glass. Fires have always created their own weather systems, but now they’re producing not just firestorms but fire tornadoes, in which the heat can be so intense it can pull steel shipping containers right into the furnace of the blaze.”
Winter snowfalls and a cool, rainy spring have put an end to the state’s recent severe drought. But that doesn’t mean summer fire isn’t a risk. On the contrary: Spring growth in rainy weather becomes tinder for more severe fires when summer’s dry heat arrives. “A new wave of wildfires will most likely hit Northern California in 2019, potentially worse than the devastating 2017 and 2018 firestorms, thanks in part to tremendous growth in native grasses that will dry out (‘cure’) in the coming months and create a trove of combustible materials throughout the summer,” reports Curbed San Francisco (see: “New wildfires coming to Northern California, warns fire agency,” by Adam Brinklow).
In terms of people, the fire risk is most severe for those who live in locations most prone to fire—and riskiest of all for those who live in areas where roads are few and escape is hard. Capital Public Radio carries this Associated Press report: (see: “California Towns At Risk From Fires Often Have Few Ways Out,” by Megan Diskin and Evan Wyloge). “From the mountains, lakes and forests of northern California, to the San Diego suburbs, some residents in the most fire-prone areas have far fewer evacuation routes than the vast majority of the state,” the report says. Last year’s Paradise fire killed 85 people who were unable to escape the flames on narrow, choked roads. Says the report: “About 350,000 Californians live in areas that have both the highest wildfire risk designation, and either the same number or fewer exit routes per person as Paradise.”
