Such drought leaves trees stressed for water, which makes them susceptible to beetle infestation and exacerbates tree mortality further. One study focused on the concentrated mortality of densely populated conifers of the Sierra Nevada "found that die-off was closely tied to multi-year deep-rooting-zone drying" and that severity of that dryness can be used to predict mortality. Tree mortality is linked to a period during the 2010s of "anomalously warm droughts" that were severe and long-lasting enough to stand out even amongst California's existing history of wildfires and exceptionally dry conditions. By December 2017, there was a record 129 million dead trees in California.
Increase in fuel Ī direct contributor to the 2018 California wildfires was an increase in dead tree fuel. For example, characteristically dense forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains harbor fuel-driven fires while the open central valley from the south Bay Area to San Diego County are more prone to wind-driven fire over dry grasslands. Primary causes of wildfire vary geographically based on many factors, such as topography.
2018 NORTH BA YCAL FIRE SERIES
A combination of increased fuel loading and atmospheric conditions influenced by global warming led to a series of destructive fires. Several factors led to the destructiveness of the 2018 California wildfire season.
1.3 Residential construction in the wildland-urban interface. Another study, published two years after the fires, estimated the total damages at $148.5 billion, including capital losses, health costs and indirect losses. AccuWeather estimated the total economic cost of the 2018 wildfires at $400 billion (2018 USD), which includes property damage, firefighting costs, direct and indirect economic losses, as well as recovery expenditures. The Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 85 people, with 1 still unaccounted for as of August 2, 2019. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire. In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of large, destructive fires that occurred across the state. In September 2020, the August Complex surpassed the Mendocino Complex to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. The Mendocino Complex Fire burned more than 459,000 acres (186,000 ha), becoming the largest complex fire in the state's history at the time, with the complex's Ranch Fire surpassing the Thomas Fire and the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. The Carr Fire in July and August 2018 caused more than $1.5 billion (2018 USD) in property damage. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared in Northern California, due to the extensive wildfires burning there. In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state. The catastrophic Camp Fire alone killed at least 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings and caused $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall the fires resulted in at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs, including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. It was also the largest on record at the time, now third after the 20 California wildfire seasons. The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history.
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