Strong winds, dry vegetation and exceptionally warm weather fueled several wildfires in northern California on Tuesday, when hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate, state firefighters said.
Fire crews were working on several fronts to contain at least five active fires that started in the burning area of the CZU Complex in Santa Cruz County. Several neighborhoods nearby were evacuated and firefighters struggled to gain access because of the dangerous conditions of the trees from the previous fire, according to state firefighters.
The complex fire started on August 16, after a flood of lightning. Separate fires melted into a complex of flames that charred more than 135 square miles in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, the NBC Bay Area reported. One person died.
“We responded to many more fires during the night, but most were contained and controlled,” the Santa Cruz firefighters said in a statement posted on Facebook. “We have other, smaller fires inside the unit, but those listed are a high priority.”
On Tuesday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said firefighters responded to at least 10 small vegetation fires in the past 12 hours. Strong winds knocked down power lines, trees and other debris in a region that saw little or no rain this winter.
O Santa Cruz Sentinel reported at least a dozen fires in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties in the past 24 hours.
Authorities have not determined what caused the fires on Tuesday.
“This is the reality that we live in and that we have lived for a few years,” said Issac Sanchez, head of the Cal Battalion of Firemen. “We realized that the year of the fire extends even more in the winter than before and starts earlier in the spring than before, and that is the situation we are sitting in now.”
Historically, the peak of the fire season runs from July to October, but climate change and poor forest management have contributed to warmer and deadlier fires that last longer than the year.
“We are no longer preparing for a fire season,” said Sanchez. “We are preparing for a year of fire.”
In the first weeks of 2021, California recorded 71 vegetation fires, compared with 39 last year, according to Cal Fire. The five-year average for this time of year is 45 fires, said Sanchez.
California’s dry winter has only exacerbated the potential for more fires. Normally, vegetation absorbs moisture from rain and snow in the winter months and blooms in the spring. But without rainfall, the vegetation remains dry and could become “a recipe for disaster” later in the year, added Sanchez.
At the end of December, the amount of water in the snow accumulated in the mountains of California was about half the average for the beginning of winter, officials from the state’s Water Resources Department warned last year. The autumn months were also exceptionally dry, especially in the mountainous Sierra Nevada region, after snow and below average rainfall in 2019.
Meanwhile, above average temperatures have been recorded in Southern California, which had several days in the high 80s last week. The National Weather Service also recorded record temperatures in San Francisco and Oakland on Monday, with temperatures in the 70s in most parts of the region.
AN fire time warning it is also in effect for parts of southern California due to high winds and low humidity during Tuesday night.
In Bakersfield, Wolf Fire quickly burned more than 75 acres in the Wind Wolves Preserve nature reserve on Tuesday afternoon, threatening wildlife, including foxes and hares, and the plants needed to sustain them.