It’s been a busy year for California wildfires. To date, The Northern and Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Centers have reported a total of 7,541 fires for 783,968 total acres burned. To put it in perspective, that’s larger than the entire state of Rhode Island… burned.
Let’s have a look at the previous five years as reported by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC):
|
Year |
Total Fires |
Total Acreage |
|
2014 |
7,865 |
555,044 |
|
2013 |
9,909 |
577,675 |
|
2012 |
7,958 |
869,599 |
|
2011 |
7,989 |
126,854 |
|
2010 |
6,554 |
109,529 |
The previous five year average was 8,055 fires for 447,740 acres burned. And while California is a bit under the average this year, it’s only mid-September, and US Forest Service officials are expecting to see fire activity until at least November.
Fewer fires but more acreage can only mean one thing, larger fires. This year California has seen six fires over 50,000 acres in size, with four of those still actively burning. Again, let’s have a look at the previous five years as reported by NIFC:
|
Year |
Fires > 50k acres |
|
2014 |
3 |
|
2013 |
1 |
|
2012 |
2 |
|
2011 |
0 |
|
2010 |
0 |
The previous five year average was approximately one large fire per year in California. With so many large fires this season, firefighting resources have been stretched thin. Not to mention that California has sent equipment and manpower to other states that have also been impacted by wildfires this year.
