Long-term Trends of Wildfire Damage in California 

A very interesting report shared on WildfireToday, and collaborated by Hanna Buechi (Environmental Market Solutions Lab, UCSB), Dick Cameron (The Nature Conservancy), Sarah Heard (The Nature Conservancy), Andrew J. Plantinga (Environmental Market Solutions Lab, UCSB), and Paige Weber (Environmental Market Solutions Lab, UCSB) has identified a number of long-term trends in Californian ‘wildfires’; also known in Australia as ‘bushfires’.

Data from this report illustrates that Californian wildfires are becoming more intense as the years proceed. In this article we are looking at the ‘end result’ ie the trends in wildfires over the past decades in California, such as acres burnt, civilian and firefighter deaths, and so on. There are a lot of theories as to ‘why’ the wildfires are becoming more intense, however Thermaguard™ is simply sharing data from the report as mentioned, and does not claim to have the required knowledge and experience on Californian soil to comment. We believe it is better to leave it up to those in the profession!

The report reveals that the number of acres burned per year is not only increasing, but is rather accelerating. Further to this, the Californian fire season is being prolonged well out of it’s peak from June to October, and with more acreage burnt in late fall than previously.

Please note that some of the data in the report does not include fires on lands protected by federal agencies – including US Forest Service, BLM, and National Park Service.

Found this blog riveting? Read full report here: http://emlab.msi.ucsb.edu/sites/emlab.msi.ucsb.edu/files/wildfire-brief.pdf