![]() ![]() However, many plants in the chaparral community are adapted for fire some even need it to survive. When fires burn in chaparral, they’re called “crown fires” because the community is destroyed completely – all the plants are burned to the ground. Ninety-five percent of all California fires occur in the chaparral plant community, the dominate community in Southern California. Photo Courtesy of NASA – a satellite image of smoke being blown offshore from multiple fires burning in Southern California and Baja Mexico. ![]() Photo Courtesy of the LA Times – a map showing the high- and low-pressure systems that lead to the Santa Ana Winds. When fires burn during the Santa Ana’s, embers fly, and the fire quickly grows out of control. As the air travels from high to low pressure, great winds blow from east to west, reaching over 100 miles per hour in some areas. The Santa Ana’s are caused when there’s a high-pressure system in the Great Basin area and a low-pressure system in Southern California. But the dry heat isn’t necessarily what makes these fires so destructive that can be attributed to the Santa Ana Winds. And though natural ignitions (lightning) are rare, there’s millions of people here to make up for that with careless mistakes. They’re extremely dry and could ignite with the smallest spark. By this time of year, plants haven’t seen water since about March. This region has what is known as a Mediterranean Climate, which is characterized by a short rainy season and a long, hot, dry summer. Southern California is the perfect place for wildfires for a few reasons, namely the climate. ![]() Photo Courtesy of Newsweek – the western edge of the Thomas Fire as seen from the shores of Santa Barbara in December 2017. And while these large wildfires are terrible, some may wonder whether they can be prevented, or whether they are simply inevitable. The Thomas Fire, which raged throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in late 2017 and burned over 280,000 acres, quickly became the largest fire in California history, destroying homes, threatening entire cities, and even taking lives. Sometimes, as in the case of the Thomas Fire in 2017, their destructive power makes international news. They have the power to wipe out ecosystems and displace communities. Wildfires are dangerous, expensive, scary, and emotional. If you’re a long-time resident of the area, odds are you have had a personal experience with wildfires or know someone who has. Those words often bring up negative emotions for a lot of us here in Southern California. Pictured: The Thomas Fire which raged in Ventura County in December of 2017.Heat. The hotter temperatures dry out vegetation, making them easier to burn, predisposing vulnerable regions like California to more wildfires in the coming decades as temperatures continue to rise and rainfall continues to decline. It was the third-warmest year on record for the United States, and it was the second-hottest in California, bringing to the surface the question of long-term climate change and its contribution to the 2017 California fires. 2017 will be remembered as a year of extremes. The December 2017 fires forced over 230,000 people to evacuate. At the time, the Thomas Fire was California's largest modern wildfire, which has since been surpassed by the Mendocino Complex's Ranch Fire in 2018. In December 2017, strong Santa Ana winds triggered a new round of wildfires, including the massive Thomas Fire in Ventura County. Throughout 2017, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures in the state (destroyed 9,470, damaged 810), a higher tally than the previous nine years combined. ![]() In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire year on record in California at the time. ![]()
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