California's wildfires are spreading faster and burning more this year. Experts say it 'can only get worse'
By Jennifer Calfas
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A seemingly never-ending heatwave has put many cities in the state on track to set records in July — and that’s just part of the issue. Each year brings some new heat record in California, and the accumulation of year after year of sweltering summers has created dry grass, brush and millions of dead trees that spread fires at explosive rates. And this summer in particular, heat waves have exacerbated the issue.
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Those same temperatures have created hoards of dry brush and grass, making more fuel for a fire to burn through quickly. Intense heat has dried out the typically damp vegetation in the understory of a forest. “There’s nothing to stop a fire; almost everything becomes flammable when conditions are this extreme,” says Jessica Halofsky, a fire research ecologist at the University of Washington.
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Rising temperatures aren’t the only reason fires have grown in size and aggression, though scientists are quick not to place blame entirely on climate change. Urban development in vulnerable areas can make fires more devastating, and many of the state’s most destructive fires were started by humans including the Carr Fire. Max Moritz, a specialist in cooperative extension at the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resource, says hotter temperatures have made fire seasons longer, too. Scientists see a direct link between rising temperatures and the amount of dry brush and ample fuel, which makes the fires fast-moving and often more explosive.
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Craig Clements, an associated professor at San José State University who works at the school’s Fire Weather Research Laboratory, says vegetation throughout the state already has low moisture levels heading into August. For fires, October, which sits just before an ideally wet winter, is typically the month where grass, trees and brush are at its driest points. That, combined with those late summer and early fall winds that hit California, could cause more aggressive fires.
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