{"id":8686,"date":"2017-10-20T10:47:10","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T14:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=8686"},"modified":"2025-06-10T17:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:00:13","slug":"why-were-california-wildfires-so-deadly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2017\/10\/20\/why-were-california-wildfires-so-deadly\/","title":{"rendered":"Why were California’s wildfires so deadly? The answer lies in the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was updated on October 23, 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"The intense fires that have ravaged my neighboring communities over the last week have been on my mind constantly.<\/p>\n

My heart goes out to those who have experienced great loss \u2013 loss of houses, loss of cherished items, loss of pets, and loss of life.<\/p>\n

Many of us are left wondering, how could this happen? Could it have been prevented? How can we avoid another extreme event like this?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have all of the answers. No one does.<\/p>\n

But we do know some things that can help us become more resilient in the face of increasingly intense and frequent fires.<\/p>\n

What we know about the California fires<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know that in California, wildfires often occur in October after dry, hot summers. This year, we experienced record heat. When coupled with the high winds we\u2019ve experience in recent months, small fires can quickly become monstrous and deadly. \u00a0<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Why were California’s wildfires so deadly? The answer lies in the forest, via @GrowingReturnshttps:\/\/edf.org\/XUW”]<\/p>\n

In addition to the heat and winds, California has experienced record drought in recent years. Yes, we did experience record rainfall this past winter and spring, but this summer\u2019s extreme heat turned most of the new plant growth into dry vegetation that added fuel to the fires.<\/p>\n

There are reports that sparking electrical wires from power lines may have instigated the large fire in Sonoma County. It\u2019s important that we find out how these fires started, but it\u2019s just as important that we understand how a spark can turn into a blaze that burnt more than 50,000 acres in a matter of days. We can\u2019t prevent all fire starts and therefore we need to find ways to reduce their intensity and make communities more resilient to inevitable fires in California and throughout the West.<\/p>\n

To help us understand that, I\u2019ve asked my friend Gregory Giusti, a retired advisor on forest management for the University of California Cooperative Extension, to tell us a bit more about wildfires and forest management, and how we can be more resilient in the future.<\/p>\n

“The conditions that are responsible for these fires continue to exist over thousands of acres of California\u2019s populated landscapes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

First, our hearts go out to the folks affected by these fires in your part of California.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks, Eric. People are hurting and it will take time to heal the wounds.<\/p>\n

Can you give us a sense of the weather and vegetation conditions\u00a0that allowed these fires to turn catastrophic so quickly?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The winds were horrific that day. They literally sounded like a freight train coming at you at full speed. The winds, along with low humidity, persisted all of Sunday and into Monday. Vegetation conditions were much like the rest of California this time of year: leaf moisture conditions are low, plants are aging, further drying leaves, and fuel loads are high from years of fire suppression and lack of active tree management.<\/p>\n

What factors led to the development of these conditions? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The driving force was wind. Other factors responsible for the devastation include:<\/p>\n