#WildfireNews #CaliforniaState @GavinNewsom
Wildfires have burned a record 2 million acres in California in2020 and the danger for more destruction is so high the US Forest Service announced it is closing all eight national forests in the southern half of the state. After a typically dry summer, California is parched heading into fall and what normally is the most dangerous time for wildfires. Two of the three largest fires in state history are burning in the San Francisco Bay Area. More than 14,000 firefighters are battling those fires and dozens of others more around California.
A three day heat wave brought triple digit temperatures to much of the state during Labor Day weekend. Central Los Angeles reached 111 Fahrenheit or 44 Centigrade on Sunday and a record-shattering high of 49.4 Centigrade was recorded in the nearby Woodland Hills neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley. It was the highest temperature ever recorded in Los Angeles County. Meanwhile, central San Francisco set a record for the day with a high of 37.7 Centigrade on Sunday, smashing the previous mark by five degrees.
But right behind it was a weather system with dry winds that could fan fires. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said a blaze in San Bernardino County called the El Dorado Fire started on Saturday morning and was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender. The unidentified couple chose the location to reveal their baby's gender. They were accompanied by their young children and had a friend or relative videoing on a cell phone. The family went into a field and fired off the device, which quickly ignited 4 foot grasses. Conditions were perfect for a fire to spread quickly triple-digit temperatures, low humidity, dry vegetation and a stiff breeze.
The fire has since spread north to Yucaipa Ridge, prompting evacuation orders to be enforced on Oak Glen, Yucaipa Ridge, Mountain Home Village, and Forest Falls. While the two mammoth Bay Area fires were largely contained after burning for three weeks, firefighters struggled to corral several other major blazes ahead of the expected winds. Evacuation orders were expanded to more mountain communities as the largest blaze, the Creek Fire, churned through the Sierra National Forest in Central California. It was one of many recent major fires that has displayed terrifyingly swift movement. The fire moved 15 miles in a single day and burned 56 square miles. The Creek Fire had charred more than 114 square miles of timber after breaking out Friday. The nearly 1,000 firefighters on the scene had yet to get any containment.
Late on Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Bernardino and San Diego counties due to the wildfires.
California has seen 900 wildfires since August 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes in mid-August. The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres or 2,343 square miles. There have been eight fire deaths and more than 3,300 structures destroyed. Cal Fire said 14,800 firefighters were battling 23 major fires in the state.
The last time the number of acres burned got close to two million was in 2018, the same year as the devastating Camp Fire, when a little more than 1.9 million acres went up in flames.
