California’s 2020 Wildfire Season!

More than 9,900 wildfires burned about 4.3 million acres in 2020.

This is more than twice the amount of acres burned which previously became a record in California. The Burn rates increased compared to the Euro-American settlement. This data on wildfires before European settlement was made by the University of California. This study basically summarizes the 2020 fire season and examines its drivers.

The study, published in the journal Global Ecology said that 2020 was the first year in recorded history that burned areas in California came super close to rates seen before the 1800s. This is an estimated 3-4 million acres burned in an average year.

Increased fire severity is a big concern. The authors advise that resource and fire managers working in forests shift their job from reducing the burned area to reducing fire severity and the damage which is caused by the fires to people and their property.

Fires are starting to get bigger and if we don’t do something soon, maybe eventually, an entire state could be wiped out by these wildfires!!

Let’s take action immediately! We need solutions that can predict and reduce the wildfires to make our earth a better place to live.

Author: Sri Nihal Tammana

Source: University of California – Davis