The Park Fire now uncontrollable in the Sierra Nevada foothills may have been started by an arsonist who allegedly pushed a flaming car into a ravine and then landed up in prison for that. However, it overtook firefighters and grew significantly, transforming it into California’s sixth-largest wildfire on record, after years of build-up that had provoked this blaze. But these factors might spell danger for the next few months.
Californians for one were fully aware of how catastrophic this fire season was going to be; a single spark, or so the authority claimed could have done it – any burning car actually.
Two consecutive wet winters blanketed the state with fresh grasses and brush. The summer arrived with dry air and back-to-back heat waves, turning vegetation to tinderbox conditions. “This provided perfect conditions for fire,” explained Brent Pasqua, Cal Fire battalion chief with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). “It’s still there, the fuel is still in place as well as weather too.”
Fire fighters got some reprieve on Monday as temperatures around park fire were expected to reach just over 90 degrees. However according to National Weather Service triple digits will return by Thursday. Additionally, much of Western US including the greater part of Sierra Nevada Mountains in California are projected to experience extreme heat between 6th August and 8th August, according to US Climate Prediction Center.
Extremely high temperatures coupled with arid plants are not limited within California alone. Last week Oregon also experienced various blazes while Jasper Alberta went up in flames last week when a forest fire raced through one of Canada’s most beautiful national parks destroying much of the town. Several fires’ smoke has reached such heights covering all America. Smoke is obscuring many parts across America apart from Florida and Gulf Coast said Andrew Orrison forecaster at US Weather Prediction Center.
Typically during this time of year high pressure systems develop across the West, causing temperatures to rise and drying out the landscape. Though the annual Southwest monsoon has produced thunderstorms and some have brought little rain while striking grounds with lightning which in turn caused more fires.
So far this year, flames have charred more than 726,000 acres throughout California, according to Cal Fire, well above the five-year average of 123,388 acres by this point of the summer. Last year’s fire season was relatively quiet and as such, California is now paying for it. There were record snows in mountains that still had not melted by midsummer 2023 and cool temperatures late into spring slowed grasses from drying up. Much of what cropped up last year is still there just waiting to burn.
“There is all that biomass – fine, dry fuel – just ready to catch fire,” said Denise Knapp, conservation and research director at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Cal Fire recently stated that the Park Fire started on July 24th and has so far consumed over 370,000 acres. Witnesses saw a man set a car ablaze before pushing it down a 60-foot embankment where the fire quickly spread into grass areas leading to the arrest of Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, of Chico, California. The area currently in flames which includes parts of Lassen National Forest is characterized by steep slopes and canyons that facilitate rapid fire spread. On Monday only 12% of the blaze had been under control.
This followed weeks of hot weather which evaporated moisture from grasses and shrubs even at night. According to Daniel Swain, a climatologist at UCLA: “This double whammy—i.e., two years’ worth of extra fuel for wildfires resulting from exceptionally favorable growing conditions immediately followed by one of (if not the) hottest summer periods on record—led to vegetation that approached or exceeded historic dryness levels; particularly in lower elevation/valley locations where this fire ignited.”
Santa Ana and sundowner winds were traditionally associated with California’s fire season decades ago when they arrived during late summer or early fall. However, over the past several years fires have started during times previously believed to be safe such as droughts. In recent weeks many counties across northern and eastern California have gone abnormally dry meaning one classification away from being officially declared drought ridden according to the US Drought Monitor. Approximately 21% of California was abnormally dry or drier as at July 23. The rains will come only after wildfires retreat.
“It’s a fire year for us in California,” Pascua said. “We have to face up to that.”
