Huge winter rains and snow are continuing to reduce fire risk, experts say
A firefighter sprays flames approaching Gilman Springs Road during the Rabbit Fire late Friday, July 14, 2023, in Moreno Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
By PAUL ROGERS | Bay Area News Group
It’s nearly August, but one familiar summer trend has been very scarce this year: wildfires.
California is off to its slowest start to fire season in 25 years.
A state traumatized by huge fires over the past decade that have burned millions of acres — killing more than 200 people, and generating choking smoke and apocalyptic orange skies — has seen almost no major fire activity so far in 2023.
As of Thursday, just 24,229 acres had burned in California since Jan. 1, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That’s 82% less than the state’s 10-year average and is the lowest of any year since 1998.
Only four structures have burned statewide in wildfires so far this year and there have been no fatalities, reports Cal Fire, the state’s main firefighting agency. By comparison, one fire in July 2018, the Carr Fire near Redding, destroyed 1,614 structures and killed eight people, including three firefighters.
The reason for the state’s good fortune now, experts say, is water. Lots of it.
“I was in the mountains this past week,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of wildland fire science at UC Berkeley. “Things are green. Streams are flowing. It’s still wet.”
While fire agencies often warn that extra rain can help fuel fire danger, an analysis of 30 years of rainfall and wildfire records by the Bay Area News Group shows that wildfire risk in California is much higher after dry winters, and lower after wet winters like this year’s.
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