Map: 1 of every 8 acres in California has burned in the last 10 years. Here’s where the biggest fires spread — and are burning now
If it seems like wildfires in California are getting larger, they are. Nine of the state’s 10 largest wildfires since 1932, when modern records began, have occurred in the past decade. And amazingly, the eight largest have all burned since 2017. Why? “It’s a combination of everything — climate change, decades of fire suppression and drought,” said Craig Clements, director of San Jose State University’s Fire Weather Lab. Some fire experts call them “megafires,” blazes larger than 100,000 acres that once were rare but are becoming increasingly common.
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