2020: California's Year Of The 'Mega-Fire'

CALIFORNIA — As recently as a decade ago warnings that climate change posed an existential threat to human life were mostly theoretical.

Scientists were virtually monolithic in their view that global warming is real, and that greenhouse gases are the primary culprit. But how soon climate change would affect life on Earth, and how much time we would have to remedy it was to some extent open for debate.

No more.

Californians lived it this year, as one massive wildfire after the next tore through the state.

The Bay Area awoke to orange skies on a September morning as wildfires in all directions not occupied by the Pacific Ocean seemingly exploded simultaneously.

Smoke filled the airs and produced some of the nastiest air quality the Golden State has ever seen.

As of Dec. 3, 9,279 reported California fire incidents scorched a state record 4.2 million acres according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Some 10,488 structures were damaged or destroyed and at least 31 were killed. Of the state's six biggest fires recorded since 1932, five were this year.

"We are essentially living in a mega-fire era," said Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit (SCU) Chief Jake Hess at a news briefing in August.

"These significant events have been outpacing themselves every year."

The August Complex alone burned more than 1 million acres, more than all recorded fires in the state between 1932 and 1999, Gov. Gavin Newsom told The Associated Press.

“If that’s not proof point, testament, to climate change, then I don’t know what is,” Newsom said.

Scientists warn that 2020 is no anomaly, but rather the start of a new normal that figures to get much worse as global temperatures soar at a staggering rate.

"That's what we saw this year," climatologist Dan McEvoy told NPR. "We saw a record high and it was almost double compared to the previous record. So we're seeing this play out in real time."

BY THE NUMBERS

5 Largest California Wildfires of 2020

• August Complex
  Counties involved: Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, Glenn, Lake, & Colusa
  Total acreage burned:1,032,649
  Total structures destroyed or damaged: 935
  Total known fatalities: 1
• SCU Lightning Complex
  Counties involved: Stanislaus, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, & San Joaquin
  Total acreage burned: 369,624
  Total structures destroyed or damaged: 222
  Total known fatalities: 0
• Creek Fire
  Counties involved: Fresno & Madera
  Total acreage burned: 377,693
  Total structures destroyed or damaged: 853
  Total known fatalities: 0
• LNU Lightning Complex
  Counties involved: Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Yolo & Solano
  Total acreage burned: 363,220
  Total structures destroyed or damaged: 1,491
  Total known fatalities: 6
• North Complex
  Counties involved: Butte, Plumas & Yuba
  Total acreage burned: 318,930
  Total structures destroyed or damaged: 2,352
  Total known fatalities: 15

Source: CalFire