10 California Wildfires Destruction Facts - WMNews Ep. 46

10 California Wildfires Destruction Facts - WMNews Ep. 46

#10: What Are the California Wildfires?
The Situation

California, and western USA in general, are currently in the midst of an exceptionally hot and dry period. The California wildfires were sparked as a direct result of these weather conditions, and they raged from June-September 2015 and beyond. September, in fact, saw some of the largest, most destructive fires; mainly the Butte (beaut) Fire, which began on September 9th, and the Valley Fire, which began on the 12th. Butte and Valley combined have scorched through close to 150,000 acres of land.

#9: How Much Damage Have the Wildfires Caused?
The Destruction

Since the area they affected was so huge, the damage brought about by the Butte and Valley fires is largely unparalleled in modern state history. As of mid-September 2015, the Valley disaster had destroyed close to 900 homes, while Butte had burned over 530 residences to the ground. Over 20,000 people had been displaced, and those figures were expected to rise. The damage to farmland was also extensive, and economically crippling for some families and businesses. By mid-September, California had also lost about 700,000 acres of previously farmable land because of drought and fire, and over 8,000 jobs within the agriculture sector, equating to around $1.8 billion.

#8: How Many People Are Affected?
The Deaths

Not only did the fires make tens of thousands of people homeless; they also proved fatal. As of mid-September 2015, three people had been killed in the Valley fire, and a further two victims had been claimed in the Butte fire. The 15,000 firefighters working to contain the blazes had achieved some success, however, with Valley 35% contained, and Butte 49% as of the 18th of that same month. The overriding aim was to stop the spread of the fires so that no one else would lose their property, livelihoods or lives. Unfortunately, a mixture of continually dry weather and fairly unpredictable wind patterns meant that the ongoing threat remained severe.

#7: Which Areas Have Been Affected?
The Magnitude

Though California proved to be the most notably affected state, the fires tore through huge sections of America’s West while even creeping over the border into Canada. Over 8 million acres of land had been affected as of the beginning of September 2015; an area larger than the state of Maryland. With around 60 fires raging at any one time, California was joined by Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and even Alaska. Heading further north into Canada, the southwestern provinces were also affected, with large-scale fires burning in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia beginning in July of 2015.

#6: How Will the Wildfires Affect the Wine Industry?
The Vineyards

One of the more specific economic concerns relating to the wildfires in California surrounded the state’s wine industry. California is responsible for 90% of the United States’ wine production, and, in 2014, it sold over $24 billion in wine. But, some vineyards became inaccessible in 2015 because of evacuation orders, and the damage was only set to increase should the actual fires spread onto specific vineyards. The problem for wine producers concerned the duration of the evacuation: as of mid-September 2015, some companies still had up to 80% of their grapes on the vine, and were desperate to gain access as quickly as possible in order to begin the harvest process. If left too long, the ripening schedule would be put out of sync, smoke would likely damage the plants, and huge amounts of grapes would be wasted.

#5: How Much Have the Wildfires Cost the State of California?
The Study

California’s agriculture sector was expected to lose around $1.8 billion in 2015, all told. And that was according to conservative predictions; some forecasts claimed that, when taking into account more indirect losses as well, that figure could rise by almost a billion, to $2.7 billion. As of mid-August 2015, it had been estimated that close to $600 million had already been spent pumping groundwater reserves, around $900 million had been lost directly through crop waste, and a further $350 million had been scythed away from the dairy and livestock industries. However, agriculture is a large part of California’s economy, and the state is expected to recover. The loss represented just one tenth of 1% of California’s total annual economic output, and around 5% of its approximately $45 billion agricultural industry.

#4: Why Has 2015 Been Extra Damaging?
The Heat

California and western North America are not unaccustomed to wildfires; in fact, there’s an annual ‘fire season’ for which state preparations are made. However, since records began, only six other years have seen over 8 million acres of land burned nationwide – and all of those years have fallen within the twenty-first century. As of September, the 2015 figures looked set to outstrip those for 2006 – the worst year ever recorded – with more than 9.8 million acres consumed. Commentators attributed 2015’s severity to a dangerous combination of extremely dry land (caused by unrelenting heat), and extremely low water supplies. California’s desert scrub was said to be as “dry as kindling,” making fires easy to light and spread, while the state reservoirs were said to be holding less than half of their typical volume of water.

#3: How Bad Has the Drought Been?
The Issue

In short, California’s drought has rewritten its record books. In January 2015, Governor Jerry Brown declared a ‘drought State of Emergency’ as the issue headed into its fourth consecutive year, and by early May, authorities had imposed unprecedented water usage restrictions on residents. Rivers and lakes appeared to be literally disappearing, and state ‘snowpack’ levels – which is the snow covering the Sierra Nevada that normally provides California with water – had been reduced to 5% of what it usually is - the lowest level experienced in half a millennium. According to an American Geophysical Union-accepted study, the general climate conditions in California during its 4-year drought were the worst in 1,200 years.

#2: How Are Citizens Handling the Drought?
The Drilling

In general, there was an unrivalled effort to preserve water – although high statistical targets were often missed. However, there was also a very real need for the agricultural sector to find alternative ways of working, especially as there were indications that similar disasters are likely to occur in the future. Drilling for groundwater has become a hugely important business, as farmers anxiously look underground, with less and less obtainable from the Earth’s surface. In some areas, drills have bored more than 1,500 ft., tapping water millions of years old. A desperate measure in desperate times, the water is sometimes so rich in unknown minerals that it’s actually killing crops itself, or mutating their future growth.

#1: How Is This Related to Climate Change?
The Science

With 2015 marking California’s fourth year of drought, there were real concerns regarding the lack of water and what that could mean for the future of the state as it continues to battle the ever-spreading wildfires. This of course brings up the question of climate change and whether or not it is related to the drought itself, and the subsequent fires. While the American Meteorological Society found no conclusive connection between California’s plight and climate change, there is continual evidence showing that rising temperatures have resulted in overlapping dry periods. That four-year period on America’s west coast proved an especially damaging example of the power of Mother Nature.

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