This Has Been The Worst Year For California Wildfires In The History Of The State

endoftheamericandream.com

We have never seen a year like this in the history of the state of California. Yes, there are large wildfires in California every year, but this is one for the record books. Well over half a million acres have already been burned, and we still have three weeks remaining in 2017. At this moment, the fires that have absolutely ravaged Ventura County for the past seven days are moving into Santa Barbara County, and at this point no end to the crisis is in sight.

It would be hard to overstate the devastation that has been caused by these fires in recent months. One climatologist even used the term “apocalyptic conditions” to describe what he has been witnessing. The following comes from the Los Angeles Daily News…

From Jan. 1 to Dec. 3, there were 6,762 fires that destroyed 505,391 acres. That’s 43 percent more events for the same time period last year, when 244,297 acres were destroyed, according to Cal Fire.

“Fuel. Ignition. Meteorology. Each component of the formula are off the charts this year,” said Bill Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “When all three elements in the equation are supersized, you’re set up for apocalyptic conditions.”

Please keep in mind that the “505,391 acres” figure does not include anything that has burned over the past week. So to get an updated total, you would need to add at least 150,000 more acres to that number.