‘We got really lucky’: Why California escaped another destructive fire season in 2022
‘We got really lucky’: Why California escaped another destructive fire season in 2022
Updated 03.14.20
Firefighters in Paradise, Calif., this week fanned out across the city after more than 100 homes and businesses burned to the ground in the deadliest fire in state history. But the tragedy is just the latest wildfire disaster to hit the San Francisco Bay Area, with two-thirds of California’s wildfire deaths this past summer connected to the region. For some, such wildfires come as no surprise.
How many firefighters died?
The deadliest fire in state history claimed the lives of 28 firefighters in Northern California. The Paradise fire, by far the largest, killed at least 86 people during its three-day rampage. California, meanwhile, saw an average of 5.1 fatalities a year over the last decade.
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How many homes burned?
This was a far larger blaze than anyone had ever seen in the Bay Area — the Paradise tree-ring chronicle said at least 2,000 structures have gone up in smoke (The New York Times). As of early August, at least 17 of those homes have been rebuilt. More than 5,300 residents now evacuated.
How many people died?
More than 100 people died during the Northern California fires. A total of 26 people died in the Loma Fire in Southern California.
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Did California see its deadliest wildfire year ever?
The 2017 California wildfires killed 22 people and destroyed 230 homes. That year’s Loma Fire was the second-deadliest in California history.
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Why do these fires occur so frequently?
The Bay Area has been vulnerable to wildfires for decades, according to a study out of the University of Minnesota published this summer in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: “California has a significant history of high-intensity, statewide fires which have killed more people than any other fire situation on record.”
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The majority of California wildfires, the study found, have been caused by human activities, like dry vegetation, lack of fuels, fire suppression and human error, like using flammable materials to make plywood or burn tires in a drive-through.
How do you fight them?
In California, fighting the deadly