February 18, 2018

Beginning early in the year, 2018 faced a particularly active wildfire year. With nearly 50 wildfires that burned 1,000 acres or more (16 of those fires burning more than 10,000 acres) dry conditions, coupled with wind, brought an estimated 1 million+ acres burned in the state of California. (US Forest Service) (Wikipedia list of 2018 California Wildfires). The Mendocino Complex Fire surpassed the Thomas Fire to become California’s largest modern wildfire, and on August 4, 2018, California Governor Brown announced that the White House approved the request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration.

Impact of major fires that burned >50,000 acres:

• Mendocino Complex Fire— 1 firefighter fatality, 459,123 acres burned, 280 structures destroyed
• Carr Fire–3 firefighter fatalities, 229,651 acres burned, 1,604 structures destroyed
• Ferguson Fire–2 firefighter fatalities,  96,901 acres burned, 10 structures destroyed
• County Fire–No fatalities, 90,288 acres burned, 20 structures destroyed
• Delta Fire–No fatalities, 60,705 acres burned, 20 structures destroyed (98% contained as of 09/24/2018)

Total Impact (as of 09/25/2018):

• Estimated cost: >$3.334 billion (National GACC)
• Total fatalities: 6 firefighters, 8 civilians

Related Resources:

• Lessons Learned from Previous Audit Reports Related to California’s Practice of Managing Public Assistance Grant Funds
• Wildfire Costs in California: The Role of Electric Utilities
• Impact of Changing Wildfire Risk on California’s Residential Insurance Market
• HSDL Search Results for California Wildfire
• HSDL In Focus: Wildfires

Photo: Wildfires in Northern California as seen from the ISS. (Credit: NASA)