SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – With months still to go in California’s fire season, the state has already shattered records for the amount of land scorched in a single year – more than 4 million acres to date, with one blaze alone surpassing the 1 million-acre mark. Five of the 10 largest wildfires in state history have occurred since August.
Beyond their size, how do the scope and devastation of this year’s fires compare to previous wildfire seasons in California? Here are some comparisons:
4 MILLION ACRES
The 6,250 square miles or 16,000 square kilometers that have burned this year are more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in the state – roughly the size of Connecticut. The previous record was set in 2018 when deadly wildfires destroyed 1.67 million acres (2,609 square miles or 6,760 square kilometers). The August Complex, burning in the Coast Range between San Francisco and the Oregon border, surpassed 1 million acres, another record.
“We used to think a 50,000-acre fire was huge. Now we’re dealing with an average of over 300,000 acres,” said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, who called this year’s blazes “horrendous.”