Wildfires in California

Australia wasn’t the only place where wildfires wreaked havoc this year. The state of California was unfortunately also a victim and lost 4,197,628 acres of land due to 9,279 incidents. In 2018, California lost 688,774 acres and 281,893 acres in 2017. According to California news live reporting, the fires are getting worse and damaging more land as time passes. This raises the very important question of why are there so many fires in California? The reason for the fires are multifaceted and intersect together to create the disasters that plague Californians:

The weather

California has a Mediterranean climate which means that the winters are cold and wet while the summers are hot and dry. The rains in California fall during the months of May and October. Due to this, the wildlands grow tall grasses and dense shrubs which essentially become tinder during the dry summers. Unfortunately, the precipitation in California has also fallen to below-average levels over the years. In the past, while the rainfall was adequate, the land was developed for agriculture and has kept expanding.

The winds

California experiences Santa Ana winds blowing from east to west. These winds blow from a region of higher elevation to lower elevations due to which they become increasingly dry. As the air passes through mountains and canyons of the state, they speed up resulting in fast-moving dry winds. These winds blow in the Northern region. In the Southern region, California has the Diablo winds (named after Mount Diablo from where the winds blow in). They are created by the same mechanisms that create the Santa Ana winds except they are magnified by the terrains in Southern California.

Human involvement

Another factor that influences the fires is people. And even though it’s immediately easy to jump to the conclusion the reference here is the irresponsibility of people during the dry seasons but it’s a lot more complicated in that. California has been attracting more people to move in over the years which has consequently led to people moving into and closer to the WUI (wildland-urban interface) areas. What this means is that all the facilities that support people living and thriving in these areas have also been installed. This is the reason for fires that took place due to the power lines. Another factor related to the California fires is the emissions from greenhouse gas, in the country fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity and heat. These gasses in the atmosphere lead to further heat and dryness in the state.

Climate change

Even though it is related to human intervention, our influence has made an impact but climate change is an organic phenomenon. Climate change has had a huge influence on California’s fires by drying up the ecosystems while making fires burn hotter, more often and cause more damage. The hot winds in California empower the flames to spread wider and farther across the landscape. Climate change has also become the reason for the fires to keep burning for considerably longer periods.

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