USA: Californian fires worst in recorded history.
Sat 17 Nov 2018

The Woolsey Fire, California. Photo taken while evacuating Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway on 10 November. Grant Denham.

The past 9 days have seen the most intense wildfires in California's history flare up with alarming speed causing death and destruction on a massive scale. One, the Camp Fire, NE of San Francisco, is the deadliest in Californian history. State officials said 157,000 people had been evacuated or had self-evacuated across the state as of Friday 9^th, with the BBC and AFP stating more than 250,000 by Sunday 11^th [AP via San Francisco's Press Democrat, BBC, AFP].

As of 1900 AEDT 16^th, two fires continued to burn. The Camp Fire in Butte County, 200km NNE of San Francisco, has burnt through 567 sq km and is 40% contained while the Woolsey Fire in Ventura County, 50km NW of Los Angeles, has incinerated 398 sq km and is 62% contained. The smaller Hill Fire, also in Ventura County, is mostly contained. Sixty-three people were officially confirmed dead in the Camp Fire and three in the Woolsey Fire with 631 people still missing. The Camp Fire has destroyed 11,858 structures and damaged 205 while the Woolsey and Hill Fires have destroyed 548 and damaged 157. In terms of destruction, the Camp Fire has destroyed more than twice the number of structures razed in the October 2017 Tubbs fire (5,636), the previous most destructive wildfire in Californian history. This map shows the locations of the fires. [CalFire, ECHO, Reuters and others]

The current fires follow extreme wildfires in August/September in California and British Columbia, and the previous most catastrophic Californian wildfires in October last year. The current fires come unusually late in the season to Australian eyes - the equivalent of our May - but are the product of California's dry Mediterranean climate from late spring to autumn combined in particular in this case with hot, strong and dry Santa Ana winds.

There has been saturation media coverage of the fires, but a number of articles and posts stand out.

• Bob Henson and Dr Jeff Masters have covered the developing fires and the meteorology behind them in their blog on Weather Underground on Friday 9^th, Sunday 11^th and Wednesday 14^th. If you want detail and accuracy, this is the place to go.
• The explosive development of the devastating Camp Fire over just 35 minutes is shown in this dramatic tweet from Nevada Fire Cameras over the border from California. Four hours after ignition, it had engulfed half the large town of Paradise [LiveScience].
• The intensity of the fire was captured in many posts on social media: the roiling smoke rising from the Woolsey Fire near Malibu (and here); vortexes, both small and immense, that helped make the fire uncontrollable and spread quickly; and this extraordinary video in the heart of a fire as a whole neighbourhood is consumed [Severe World Weather]. The Guardian produced this gallery.
• This satellite loop from Monday 12^th showed the extent of the the three fires [NOAA, RAMMB]. Los Angeles, whose lights can be seen sprawling east of the coastal indentation near the bottom of the loop as it enters night, has the small Hill Fire and the Woolsey Fire to its west. The greatest amount of smoke comes from the Camp Fire burning north of San Francisco. The city is located on the twin bays visible north of the centre of the image.
• Nearly 27,000 residents of Paradise, in the Sierra foothills 230km NNE of San Francisco, suffered most in the Camp Fire. It rushed in so soon after the evacuation order was given that there was little warning to leave. The first warning many received was flames rushing upon them. Roads became gridlocked with people desparate to flee, many leaving their cars to attempt to escape on foot. For those who had a clear road, however, it was still a horrific journey [The Guardian]. The fire expanded from 10 acres to 10,000 acres (40 sq km) in a matter of hours, according to the Los Angeles Times, virtually destroying the town [CBS News].
  
  By Sunday 11^th, BBC reported 23 confirmed deaths in the town and figures of those missing in the area were given as about one hundred. By Friday 16^th, however, Reuters reported the number of confirmed deaths in and around the town as 63, while on Thursday 15^th the list of missing soared to 297 then 631 due to a detailed review of emergency calls and missing people reports, and the extension of the search for victims. On Saturday 17^th, the death toll was reported as 71 and the number of people missing had jumped again to 1,011 [The Guardian]. This number is expected to continue to vary as missing people are found and new missing persons are reported. The final death toll will not be known for weeks, due to the intensity of the fire and difficulties in search and identification, and it is doubted that a precise figure will ever be achieved.
  
  A detailed article on the Paridise fire is given in the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday 10th, while this drone footage shows the absolute devastation caused by the intensity of the fire [The Guardian]..

There have been numerous well-researched media articles written in the past week on the causes of the fires and what can be done to reduce them in future. They are relevant, not only to western North America, but also to Europe and Australia. Decades ago, fires such as these just did not enter large towns and cities, and a major factor in the present escalating destruction by wildfires is that communities have expanded into areas that have always been the wildfires' domain.

There is also no doubt that global warming is a major factor behind the steady increase in fires, particularly in California. At the same time as the state is warming, rainfall has been decreasing and wet seasons shrinking in length. The hottest five years in the state's 124-year climate history have been the last five. Four of the five largest fires in Californian history have occurred in the last six years and seven of the twenty most destructive fires have occurred in the past two years in terms of number of houses, outbuildings and commercial premises razed.

Reuters examines the state of the forests, criticised by President Donald Trump, and also the movement of housing into former bushland which is the fastest growing land-use type in the contiguous United States. In The weather and climate behind the California infernos that wrecked Paradise and torched Malibu, The Washington Post takes a comprehensive look at what has lead to an alarming upswing in wildfires in the state. In The Conversation, David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science at the University of Tasmania, takes a broader, more international view. He argues that the current military-style approach to firefighting involving small armies of fire fighters supported by aircraft has failed, and that across the fire science community there is growing recognition that a new approach, which he outlines, is needed.

The lengthening fire seasons in both Australia and the United States also threatens a long-standing co-operative arrangement of sharing equipment and personnel between the two countries. The USA is moving away from the concept of a "fire season" towards fire impacts throughout the year. In particular, this would threaten the ability of Australian states to lease firefighting aircraft, such as the well-known Elvis, which has been brought out by the Victorian Government for each fire season since 2001-2002. [The Guardian]