These are the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in California history

November 2018 The Palisades Fire is expected to become one of the most destructive and costly fires in California history. This fire, along with the Eaton and Hurst fires, all ignited yesterday, Tuesday, January 7.

According to Cal Fire, the state agency tasked with overseeing the response, the Palisades Fire has burned 15,832 acres and remains zero percent contained. The fire began in the Pacific Palisades, an area nestled between Malibu and Santa Monica. It burned more than 300 structures and threatened 13,000 more.

Less than forty miles away, near Pasadena, the Eaton Fire has burned more than 10,600 acres and has also not been contained by first responders. The windy and dry conditions sparked a third fire in the Los Angeles area—the Hurst Fire—which has burned 505 acres near San Fernando and also remains uncontained.

A look at California’s wildfires in the 20th and 21st centuary

The three fires are expected to grow in the coming hours and days, and firefighters have reported that low water pressure and reserves are making their job even harder. Often, the largest fires are able to grow rapidly because of arid and windy conditions. When it comes to acreage consumed, the August Complex fire, sparked by a lightning strike, incinerated 1,032,648 acres across Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, Glenn, Lake, and Colusa counties in August 2020, ranking as the largest. Though vast, this fire led to one fatality and fewer than 1,000 structures burned.

The scale of a fire, as the August Complex fire shows, does not always indicate how deadly or destructive it is, setting aside the ecological impacts.

When looking at the worst fires in the state’s history, it is important to differentiate between the types of horrors and damage brought about by these disasters. The most destructive and deadliest fires are not the same. In 1933, the Griffith Park Fire burned 47 acres of land in Los Angeles County, but it resulted in the deaths of 29 people, making it the second deadliest fire in the state’s history (since records began being kept).

California’s deadliest fires

The deadliest fires are often a result of a failure to adequately warn residents in the area and encourage their timely evacuation. In some cases, the fire gains strength so quickly that, even with a warning, people cannot escape.

Of the ten deadliest fires in the state’s history, four have occurred in the 21st century, with the Camp Fire—which primarily impacted the city of Paradise in Butte County—topping the list. This fire also happens to be the most destructive in the state’s history, based on the number of structures that were destroyed when a powerline and fast winds ignited it in November 2018. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and displaced much of the town after it was largely engulfed in flames. The situation in Paradise was particularly deadly because very little notice was given to residents to evacuate, and the town only had one entrance and exit, meaning that traffic stalled the process—the horrors of which were captured by those impacted and shared online.

California’s most destructive fires

The most destructive fires are determined by officials based on the number of structures—including homes, businesses, schools, and other buildings—destroyed by the blaze.

The status of the fight against these disasters in Los Angeles County

Three large fires are currently burning in Los Angeles County, leading local officials to warn residents that few are safe as first responders struggle to bring the fires under control. Though large wildfires are typically seen in the Golden State during the summer and fall—when the landscape has been baking in the heat—leaders and scientists have been sounding the alarm that fire season is now a year-round event. The three fires in January will hopefully be contained and put out before they are able to be added to these dreadful lists.

By looking at the month, it is easy to tell that the worst fires are often seen from July to November. Nevertheless, the three fires and the massive evacuation process that has been undertaken, affecting thousands of people, highlight the threat faced year around by the state’s residents.

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