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The 2008 California wildfire season was one of the most devastating since the turn of the 21st Century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area exceeded that of the previous years, far exceeding the total area of each year prior to 2007. Throughout the year, 1,593,690 acres (6,449.4 km2) of land were burned.
The Rim Fire was a massive wildfire that started in a remote canyon in Stanislaus National Forest, in California. This portion of the central Sierra Nevada spans Tuolumne and Mariposa counties. The fire started on August 17, 2013, during the 2013 California wildfire season, and grew to be the third-largest wildfire in California's history, having burned 257,314 acres. As of 2018, the Rim Fire was California's fifth-largest modern wildfire. As of 2011, the Rim Fire is the largest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The Rim Fire was fully contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013 after a nine-week firefighting battle. Due to a lack of winter rains, some logs smoldered in the interior portion of the fire throughout the winter. More than a year passed before it was declared out on November 4, 2014.
The Rush Fire was the largest wildfire of the 2012 California wildfire season. The fire, which started in Lassen County, California, eventually spread into Washoe County, Nevada. The fire consumed a total of 315,577 acres of sagebrush, of which 271,991 acres were in California. At the time, the burn area in California made the Rush Fire the second-largest wildfire in California since 1932. In December 2017, the Thomas Fire surpassed the Rush Fire to become the second-largest wildfire in modern California history, in terms of the area burned in California. In mid-August 2018, the Ranch Fire in the Mendocino Complex Fire surpassed the total acreage of the Rush Fire in both California and Nevada.
2014 saw several notable wildfires igniting in California, especially during the month of May, when multiple fires were ablaze concurrently in Southern California, and during September, when several massive wildfires were burning in Northern California. In the context of the 2012–13 North American drought, as well as powerful Santa Ana winds, weather conditions were ideal for wildfires. A total of 7,865 wildfires ignited throughout the year, which burned at least 625,540 acres (2,531.5 km2) of land. The wildfires caused a total of 146 injuries and 2 fatalities, in addition to causing at least $204.05 million in damage.
The 2015 wildfire season was the largest in Washington state history, with more than one million acres burning across the state from June to September. As many as 3,000 firefighters including 800 Washington National Guard members were deployed to fight the fires. The 17th Field Artillery Brigade of the United States Army also deployed 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis–McChord to help fight the fires.
The Butte Fire was a rapidly moving wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 9 in Amador County, California. The fire burned 70,868 acres (287 km2).
On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes. Firefighters were assisted by personnel from both the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as other Canadian provincial agencies, to fight the wildfire. Aid for evacuees was provided by various governments and via donations through the Canadian Red Cross and other local and national charitable organizations.
In 2016, a total of 7,349 fires had burned an area 669,534 acres (2,709.51 km2) in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Blue Cut Fire was a wildfire in the Cajon Pass, northeastern San Gabriel Mountains, and Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California. The fire, which began on the Blue Cut hiking trail in the San Bernardino National Forest, was first reported on August 16, 2016 at 10:36 a.m., just west of Interstate 15. A red flag warning was in effect in the area of the fire, with temperatures near 100 °F (38 °C) and winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).
In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning 1,548,429 acres (6,266.27 km2) of land, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history. Throughout 2017, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures in the state, a higher tally than the previous nine years combined. State data showed that the large wildfires killed 47 people – 45 civilians and 2 firefighters – almost higher than the previous 10 years combined. The total property damage and total amount of burned land were both surpassed by the 2018 California wildfires.
The October 2017 Northern California wildfires, also known as the Northern California firestorm, North Bay Fires, and the Wine Country Fires were a series of 250 wildfires that started burning across the state of California, United States, beginning in early October. Twenty-one became major fires that burned at least 245,000 acres (99,148 ha).
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by the Washington State Governor on July 31.
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. The 2018 California wildfire season was also the second-largest on record, behind only the 2020 California wildfire season. With a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land, it was the largest area of burned acreage recorded in a fire season at the time, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. The catastrophic Camp Fire alone accounted for at least 85 lives, 18,804 razed buildings, and $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall, the fires amounted to at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs, including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs. In early September 2020, the seasonal California wildfires surpassed the record set in 2018 for total area burned.
The 2018 wildfire season involves wildfires on multiple continents. An extremely rare event occurred when wildfires broke out north of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, with one burning on the Russia–Finland border near the Barents Sea on July 20. By the end of the calendar year, the fires in British Columbia had burned more area than in any prior recorded year; and California experienced the single largest fire on record, and a fire destroyed more structures than in any other in modern history. Similarly, the UK saw the most wildfires ever recorded in a single year, at 76, while Greece saw the deadliest wildfires in its history, with 102 casualties.
The Mendocino Complex Fire was a large complex of wildfires that burned in northern California for more than three months in 2018. It consisted of two wildfires, the River Fire and Ranch Fire, which burned in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn Counties in the U.S. State of California, with the Ranch Fire being California's single-largest recorded wildfire at the time. The Ranch Fire burned eight miles northeast of Ukiah, and the River Fire burned six miles north of Hopland, to the south of the larger Ranch Fire. First reported on July 27, 2018, both fires burned a combined total of 459,123 acres (1,858 km2), before they were collectively 100% contained on September 18, though hotspots persisted until the complex was fully brought under control on January 4, 2019. The Ranch Fire alone burned 410,203 acres (1,660 km2), making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time. The Ranch Fire also surpassed the size of the 315,577-acre Rush Fire, which burned across California and Nevada, as well as the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, which was previously believed to have been California's all-time largest wildfire. It was surpassed by the August Complex in September 2020.
The 2020 California wildfire season was characterized by a record-setting year of wildfires that burned across the state of California as measured during the modern era of wildfire management and record keeping. The season is a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season. As of the end of the year, 9,639 fires had burned 4,177,856 acres (1,690,718 ha), more than 4% of the state's roughly 100 million acres of land, making 2020 the largest wildfire season recorded in California's modern history, though roughly equivalent to the pre-1800 levels which averaged around 4.4 million acres yearly and up to 12 million in peak years. California's August Complex fire has been described as the first "gigafire" as the area burned exceeded 1 million acres. The fire crossed seven counties and has been described as being larger than the state of Rhode Island. The intensity of the fire season has been attributed in part to decades of poor forest management as well as increased warming due to climate change.
Martin Fire was a wildfire in northern Nevada, United States, that started on Monday, July 05, 2018. The fire burned a total area of 439,230 acres. It was the largest fire in Nevada’s history, and one of the biggest in the U.S. The blaze destroyed six ranches, grazing land, and animal habitats.
The 2020 Utah wildfire season was a series of prominent wildfires throughout the state of Utah, lasting from June 1 through October 30, as defined by state law. Part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season, Utah saw record-breaking numbers of human-caused fires. The largest fire of the season, the East Fork Fire, burned an area of 89,568 acres. In total, the suppression costs for the fires amounted to at least $103 million.
References
- 1 2 Featherston, Suzanne (December 6, 2018), "2018 wildfire season: What made it different in northeast Nevada", Elko Daily Free Press
- ↑ Martin Fire fully contained; rewards total $28,000 KOLO-TV August 2, 2018
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