Hundreds of wildfires ignited across California in the past two weeks have collectively burned an area larger than the state of Delaware and forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire protection (Cal Fire) reported Wednesday that thousands of lighting strikes since Aug. 15 are responsible for more than 700 new fires in a state already prone to the dry, hot and windy weather conditions known to stoke massive blazes.
In the same time period, more than 1.3 million acres have caught fire throughout the state, making up nearly 83% of all acres burned in California this year.
“We are putting every single asset we possibly can, pulling every single conceivable resource to battle these historic wildfires,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Wednesday.
Newsom says the state has already crossed the threshold to set an unprecedented pace in terms of acreage burned so far in 2020, noting that more than 400 lightning strikes in the past 24 hours ignited 50 new fires that have since been suppressed.
“It gives you a sense of the magnitude and scope of what these incredible leaders, these incredible frontline heroes are doing every single day,” Newsom said of fire crews.
It has already been a record-breaking year for the Golden State, with temperatures consistently soaring into triple digits in recent weeks and the first ever warning issued for a rare fire tornado, also known as a “firenado,” occurring in Northern California earlier this month. Excessive wildfire smoke has also caused air quality to quickly deteriorate as the state continues to struggle to contain a pandemic virus that largely affects the lungs.
This wildfire season seems to be following that trend, with two of the complex fires — where multiple fires are active in close proximity or have merged together — currently burning having become the second and third largest wildfires in California history in just over a week. …
Cassie Dickman 