Causes of the 2020 West Coast Wildfires
By: Jieun Woo
Since the beginning of 2020, over 3.5 million acres have been ravaged across the state of California by over 8,000 wildfires, making it a record year. There have also been fires in Oregon and Washington as well, with over 1 million acres having been burned in Oregon and more than 500,000 in Washington. High temperatures, low humidity, and gusty winds have also made it worse, with a heat wave reaching a new high of 121℉ this year in Los Angeles County. And due to the wildfires, the West Coast has been experiencing the worst air quality in the world for the past few weeks. This all makes us wonder, what has been causing these wildfires in this area?
1.The Climate
The West Coast’s climate causes the perfect dry conditions during which just a spark would spread a fire. As temperatures continue to rise, the environment grows more arid with a form of weather whiplash of intense droughts that are followed by periods of rain. This causes the growth of thick underbrush which dries out in the droughts, becoming highly flammable kindling.
A new phenomenon that scientists are noticing is that with human-caused climate change, overnight temperatures are also getting warmer, causing the wildfires to grow dramatically overnight. For example, the Bear Fire grew 100,000 acres overnight, destroying almost every structure in the Berry Creek community. While in the past, once the sun went down, there would be a lot of progress with fire suppression as temperature dropped and relative humidity rose. The graph below demonstrates how wildfires have grown twice as much with human-caused climate change.
2.The Spark
While the climate sets up a perfect situation during which a fire could amplify, it still needs a spark to start that fire and while there are some instances where something from nature, like lightning, causes the spark, the sparks are most likely caused by people. People are increasingly moving into areas near forests and there are numerous ways people could cause that spark, spreading huge fires accidentally. For example, the El Dorado Fire, which destroyed thousands of acres east of Los Angeles, is now being contained, but was caused by smoke-generating fireworks at a gender-reveal party.
3.The Method of Suppressing Fires
Ironically, the method of suppressing fires in the past also contributed to the current fires. In the last hundred years, we continued to only suppress fires, accumulating countless spots where plants are overflowing, leading to a lot of fuel for the fire to spread. The United States Forest Service has been trying to improve the situation in recent years with a new method of “controlled” burns, also known as prescribed burns. “Controlled” burns are planned fires which can not only prevent a destructive fire by reducing fuels, but can also be designed to create diverse habitats or help endangered species recover. However, the method of using controlled burns has been used less and less as increasing fire brigades took over. The number of park rangers also decreased substantially as they began to join the better paid firefighters. But, to lower the risks of more fires, rather than just suppressing the fires, we need to prepare for it beforehand using prescribed burns.