2019 California wildfires

2019 California wildfires
Smoke from the Kincade Fire on October 24 as viewed from GOES-17
Statistics[1]
Total fires7,860
Total area259,823 acres (105,147 ha)
Impacts
Deaths3
Non-fatal injuries22
Structures destroyed703 [2]
DamageUS$163 million (suppression efforts)[3]
Map
A map of wildfires in California in 2019, using Cal Fire data
A map of wildfires in California in 2019, using Cal Fire data
Season
← 2018
2020 →

The 2019 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the U.S. state of California as part of the 2019 wildfire season. By the end of the year, according to Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, 7,860 fires were recorded, totaling an estimated of 259,823 acres (105,147 hectares) of burned land.[1] These fires caused 22 injuries, 3 fatalities, and damaged or destroyed 732 structures.[4] The 2019 California fire season was less active than that of the two previous years (2017 and 2018), which set records for acreage, destructiveness, and deaths.

In late October, the Kincade Fire became the largest fire of the year, burning 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) in Sonoma County by November 6.

Massive preemptive public safety power shutoff events in 2019 were controversial. Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric preemptively shut off power to 800,000 electric customers to reduce the risk of wildfires by preventing electrical arcing in high winds from their above-ground power lines.[5][6] While large areas were without power for days, people in fire danger areas had trouble getting information, and life support equipment would not work without backup power.[7]

Early projections

Fire behavioral experts and climatologists warned that heavy rains from months early in the year had produced an excess of vegetation that would become an abundance of dry fuel later in the year as the fire season gets underway.[8] According to the US Forest Service and US Department of the Interior officials, early projections indicated that the fire season would possibly be worse than the year prior, stating that "if we're lucky, this year will simply be a challenging one." This assessment was written on the basis of noting that the state has recently been seeing consistently destructive fires more often than ever before.[9]

Wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties:

Name County Acres Start date Containment date Notes Ref
Refuge Kern 2,500 May 7 May 9 1 structure destroyed [10]
Boulder San Luis Obispo 1,127 June 5 June 5 [11][12][13]
Sand Yolo 2,512 June 8 June 17 7 structures destroyed, 2 injuries [14][15]
West Butte Sutter 1,300 June 8 June 10 [16][17]
McMillan San Luis Obispo 1,764 June 12 June 14 [16][18]
Lonoak Monterey 2,546 June 25 June 26 Downed PG&E power line was the cause[19] [20]
Rock Stanislaus 2,422 June 25 June 27 [21]
Cow Inyo, Tulare 1,975 July 25 October 11 Caused by lightning strike [22]
Springs Mono 4,840 July 26 October 7 Caused by lightning strike [23]
Tucker Modoc 14,150 July 28 August 15 Unintentionally caused by vehicular traffic along California State Route 139[24][25] [26][27]
W-1 McDonald Lassen 1,020 August 8 August 11 Caused by lightning strike [28][29]
Gaines Mariposa 1,300 August 16 August 20 [30]
Mountain Shasta 600 August 22 August 26 14 buildings destroyed, 7 damaged and 3 people injured [31]
Long Valley Lassen 2,438 August 24 August 27 [32]
R-1 Ranch Lassen 3,380 August 28 September 5 Caused by lightning strike [33]
Tenaja Riverside 1,926 September 4 September 14 [34]
Walker Plumas 54,608 September 4 September 25 9 structures destroyed [35]
Taboose Inyo 10,296 September 4 November 21 Caused by lightning strike [36]
Lime Siskiyou 1,872 September 4 September 19 Caused by lightning strike [37][38]
Middle Trinity 1,339 September 5 October 5 Caused by lightning strike [39]
Red Bank Tehama 8,838 September 5 September 13 Caused by lightning strike; 2 buildings destroyed [40]
South Tehama 5,332 September 5 October 11 Caused by lightning strike [41][42]
Lone Modoc 5,737 September 5 September 13 Caused by lightning strike [43][44]
Springs Mono 4,840 September 6 September 23 Caused by lightning strike [45][46]
Briceburg Mariposa 5,563 October 6 October 24 1 structure destroyed [47][48]
Sandalwood Riverside 1,011 October 10 October 14 Trash in a garbage truck caught fire and spread to nearby brush
74 structures destroyed, 16 structures damaged, 2 civilian fatalities
[49][50]
Caples El Dorado 3,435 October 10 November 1 Caused by a controlled burn that went out of control [51]
Saddleridge Los Angeles 8,799 October 10 October 31 Unconfirmed cause, but reported that high-voltage SCE transmission line malfunctioned near point of origin
25 structures destroyed, 88 structures damaged, 1 civilian fatality, 8 firefighter injuries
[52][53]
Kincade Sonoma 77,758 October 23 November 6 Caused by electrical transmission lines located northeast of Geyserville owned and operated by PG&E[54]
374 structures destroyed, 40 structures damaged, 0 reported deaths, 2 firefighters injured
[55][56][57][58][59]
Tick Los Angeles 4,615 October 24 October 31 22 structures destroyed, 27 structures damaged [60]
Getty Los Angeles 745 October 28 November 6 Caused by a tree branch that fell on a power line during high winds
12 homes destroyed, 5 homes damaged
[61][62][63]
Easy Ventura 1,806 October 30 November 2 Threatened the area near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley and 3 buildings were destroyed [64] [65][66][67]
Hillside San Bernardino 200 October 31 November 14 6 homes destroyed, 18 homes damaged [68]
Maria Ventura 9,999 October 31 November 5 Brush fire broke out at around 6:15 p.m. October 31 on South Mountain in Santa Paula[69] [70]
Ranch Tehama 2,534 November 3 November 15 3 injuries, acreage reduced from 3,768 due to better mapping [71][72] [73]
Cave Santa Barbara 3,126 November 25 December 14 Caused by arson,[74] acreage reduced from 4,330 due to better mapping[75][76] [77][78][79]

Other fires

Three people were injured during the Moose Fire (August 12–17).[80] Two people were injured and four structures were destroyed during the Country Fire (September 3–6).[81] Four people were injured during the Lopez Fire (September 21–27),[82] and one during the Electra Fire (September 25).[83] A small brush fire ignited in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles County on October 21. The fire burned 42 acres (17 hectares) within a few hours, forcing the evacuation of 200 homes.[84] Three firefighters suffered injuries, while one civilian was treated for respiratory illness.[84][85]

See also

References

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  2. ^ "2019 Incident Archive". CALFIRE. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
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  43. ^ "Lone Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov. September 9, 2019.
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  45. ^ "Springs Fire". Los Angeles Fire Department. October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  46. ^ "Fire Tracker: Springs Fire". San Francisco Chronicle. September 23, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  47. ^ "Briceburg Fire". California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  48. ^ "Full Containment Reached On Briceburg Fire".
  49. ^ "Sandalwood Fire". California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
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  53. ^ "Saddle Ridge Fire Incident Report".
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  74. ^ Nguyen, Julia (November 25, 2020). "Officials: Cave Fire was set intentionally". KEYT. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
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  82. ^ "Lopez Fire". Los Angeles Fire Department. September 30, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  83. ^ "Electra Fire". Los Angeles Fire Department. September 25, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  84. ^ a b "Palisades Brush Fire". Los Angeles Fire Department. October 25, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  85. ^ Hannah Fry, Alejandra Reyes-Belarde, Colleen Shalby, Sonja Sharp, and Leila Miller (October 21, 2019). "Evacuations are lifted after brush fire burns near Pacific Palisades homes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 29, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)