The Scale of the California Wildfires

California Wildfires have burned across the west coast of the United States. For the past month with a size and intensity the likes of which have never been seen in recorded history. 

While California and the Pacific Northwest face wildfires every year, the sheer size this year has been astonishing. The fires have already burned through about 6.7 million acres. An area larger than nine states and 30 people have been killed across California, Oregon, and Washington. In Washington state more acres have burned in a single day than typically do in an entire year. In Oregon, half a million people – over a tenth of the state’s population – are under an evacuation order. According to New York Magazine, over 30,000 firefighters and support personnel have been on the front lines battling to control the fires. 

The Effect of this Catastrophic Event 

The smoke from the fires has entered the atmosphere on the west coast, blocking the sun and turning the entire sky red. The inundation of smoke into the atmosphere caused a drastic air quality reduction. The smoke has spread out across the entire country, leading to hazy weather as far as the east coast. According to The Washington Post, the west coast has the worst air pollution on the planet. 

The combination of rising global temperatures, a long-term drought in California, and lightning storms have primed the region for wildfires. For the past 20 years, California has been enduring a “megadrought”. Which is thought to be the second worst of its kind in the last 1,200 years. According to the Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaSince 1999 the frequency of dry years has been twice the average frequency of the previous 100 years. On top of the drought, the west has faced an unprecedented heat wave with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit for multiple days in a row and even overnight. The humid air created ideal conditions for lightning storms. The lighting storms were what ended up starting many of the fires in San Francisco Bay area. 

Pandemic that Added Fuel to the Fire 

Adding to the perfect storm of wildfire conditions is the COVID 19 pandemic, which has made it easier for fires to spread and harder to fight them. Typically, many of the firefighters who work to contain these wildfires in California are prison inmates.

Due to the rapid spread of the pandemic through prisons, many prisoners are sick, in quarantine, or have been released to house arrest and are unable to help. Moreover, social distancing rules have meant that firefighters have to limit their services to small groups and running evacuations has been more difficult. 

Let’s look at the causes

One of the most frightening and awe-inspiring elements of the wildfires is the development of fire-induced tornadoes or “firenadoes.”

Firenadoes occur when fire heats the air above it and sucks in cool air below it, creating a form of cyclone. However in 2020, “firenadoes” have become somewhat commonplace, with one fire north of Lake Tahoe producing up to four, the Creek Fire producing another two, and the Plumas National Forest Fire creating “a handful” in a single night, according to the Washington Post.

Over the past few decades wildfires have become increasingly common and increasingly intense. According to CNN, the annual area burned by wildfires in the US had increased by 500% since the 1970s. While BBC reported that the west coast is at the center of this trend with five of the 20 biggest fires in California occurring in 2020 alone. The long-term implications are difficult to predict with severe consequences for the west coast and the entire United States.

We understand that this news installment has been uncharacteristically bleak. And may not seem directly related to our work as a company. As energetic pragmatists, we believe in the value of recognizing the problems we face today. Anticipating those we will likely face in the future, and identifying innovative solutions to those problems that open opportunity. OpenEyes’s history of making our clients’ lives better and more secure through IT solutions rests on this philosophy. The past year has unveiled a multitude of pressing issues and has challenged everyone in a variety of ways.  

At OpenEyes we recognize that these are hard times for many. We see many opportunities for creative, data-driven solutions that can help us all get where we need to go.