2020 California Wildfires Have Burned 4 Million Acres - Area Larger Than Connecticut - And Counting
The wildfires that have ravaged California have reached a bleak new milestone, having consumed 4m acres in a fire season that shows little sign of ending. The unprecedented figure – an area larger than Connecticut – is more than double the previous record for the most land burned in a single year in California.
“The 4m mark is unfathomable. It boggles the mind, and it takes your breath away,” said Scott McLean, a spokesman for the California department of forestry and fire protection, known as Cal Fire. “And that number will grow.”
Meanwhile the August complex fire, in the Mendocino national forest north of San Francisco, on Monday became the first fire in state history to surpass 1m acres. The fire is nearly five times the size of New York City and is only 54% contained by weary firefighters.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said the amount of land scorched by the August Complex was larger than all of the recorded fires in California between 1932 and 1999. “If that’s not proof point, testament, to climate change, then I don’t know what is,” Newsom said.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/05/california-fires-4m-acres-wildfires-burn
