With California’s climate, the state is very prone to fires. California experiences droughts year-round due to its hot temperatures and lack of rainfall. The state receives the most precipitation in the later months of the year, leaving the warmer months dry and prone to fires. Isabella Isaacs-Thomas, an author at PBS, states that “Ninety percent of wildfires in California are caused by human activity.” The activities that can cause a fire include downed powerlines, people committing arson, campfires, smoking, fireworks, etc. Kendra Pierre-Louis and John Schwartz, authors for the New York Times, explain that “Even if the conditions are right for a wildfire, you still need something or someone to ignite it” (2021). The increase of people moving closer to forests is another reason for the rise of wildfires. The other five percent of wildfires are caused by nature, mostly lightning. Lynne Tolmachoff, chief of CalFire, reports, “the fires [the lightning] sparks tend to burn more acreage than those caused by humans” (Isaacs-Thomas 2020). Lightning is more likely to strike higher places, causing the fires to be harder to reach, another reason for the ultimate increase in the fires.
In the past five years, California has had eight of its ten biggest wildfires on record and twelve out of the top twenty fires. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the twelve fires have burned around the size of Connecticut, which is around four percent of California’s land. In 2020 alone, there were over 10 thousand fires in the state, which burned over 4 million acres of land. The Verisk Wildfire Risk Analytics estimated that around 2 million properties were at risk for wildfires in 2019. The damage caused by these fires costs hundreds of millions of dollars and puts the lives of California’s population in danger.
California’s wildfires engulf anything in its path, causing damage to people’s houses, places of work, schools, etc. To fix these damaged buildings, the government has to pay a lot of money. According to UCL, the Californian wildfires of 2018 cost the United States economy 148.5 billion dollars. Businesses have lost their revenue due to the fires. An example of this is the wine industry. Many vineyards were burnt down, which caused the business to lose the majority of its product. If a vineyard was not burnt down, the smoke would taint the grapes, preventing them to be used. The fires have also caused a decrease in visitors, which harms the distilleries because they lose revenue from wine tastings. The wine industry, one of the many industries that have been affected by the wildfires, has lost over 3 billion dollars in revenue and product.
Norbert Schwarz, the head professor of Psychology and Marketing at the ISC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, observes that “The weird color of the sky — from orange to bloody red to oddly green — is upsetting because it drives home that the threat is close. It isn’t burning somewhere far away. It is right here, and it is affecting you. Moreover, you can’t escape it because it is in the air you breathe. It surrounds you, and it can seep into your house.” (Hopper 2020). The smoke released by the fire is toxic, which contains chemical carcinogens, and pollutes the environment. The smoke also carries debris and ash that has any object including plastic, paint, chemicals, etc. The toxic ash falls into lakes, rivers, reservoirs, etc. Experts must test the water and air as the fires worsen to make sure that the population is safe.
Though wildfires are needed in California to clear the dead trees and refresh the soils, humans need to strive to stop the preventable wildfires. It is important that everyone is responsible and tries to protect the Earth. The U.S. Department of the Interior posted 10 ways that everyone can help to prevent or decrease the number of wildfires. First, it is important to check the weather to see the drought conditions. If the area has a high drought, no one should conduct any activity that involves fire. The second and third way is to build campfires away from anything flammable and to put the fire out with water until it is cold. Another way is to stop not use your vehicle or any equipment on dry grass because it can release sparks. It is important to keep sparks away from any dry type of vegetation to make sure that the vegetation does not catch on fire. If someone is going to use fireworks or something similar, they should check the conditions to make sure that it is safe. Finally, never burn debris in a restricted or windy area.